ratus Posted October 9, 2014 Report Share Posted October 9, 2014 Hi I wondered if anyone could pass on some advice, as my sister has incurred a debt of £15k over a period of 15 years, £11k due to been over paid by income support twice, this had a knock on effect to her paying her utility/ rent, she has no luxury items at all, and is always in her over draft, nshe works cleaning caravans, which is seasonal. one company has had a letter saying she could be sent to prison! My wife has been a gem and spent most of the day on the phone trying to reduce payments and speaking to a charitable organisation who give advice, they have suggested bankruptcy which she was told costs £700 to apply. My sister has no idea how to deal with this and stuck her head in the sand unfortunately. We want to help and my wife has suggested she come and live with us for 6 months, if she is successful (would this effect our credit rating, or could the bailiffs turn up at my house and take goods to cover her debt)? Sorry for all the questions but she's only visiting till Saturday and would like to be able to give some advice to her, and I go away on Tuesday. Many thanks for any advice Bemmy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ben0850 Posted October 9, 2014 Report Share Posted October 9, 2014 Go to citizens advice, try looking at an IVA...I'm sure other people on here will be along shortly with much more helpful advice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbiep Posted October 9, 2014 Report Share Posted October 9, 2014 It probably would affect your credit rating - you'll automatically be 'associated with' another person living at your address when it comes up for credit searches for yourself. You can have a note placed on the credit file 'disaccociating' yourself from someone, however. If she did have baliffs turning up, then quite simply it would need a declaration, signed by you and your wife, that none of the property in the house belongs to your sister, and is yours. At that point, they would not be allowed to remove anything. However, baliffs need to be sent by the courts, usually following at the end of a long process, so if anything official arrives it needs to be dealt with immediately. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
welsh1 Posted October 9, 2014 Report Share Posted October 9, 2014 Hi I wondered if anyone could pass on some advice, as my sister has incurred a debt of £15k over a period of 15 years, £11k due to been over paid by income support twice, this had a knock on effect to her paying her utility/ rent, she has no luxury items at all, and is always in her over draft, nshe works cleaning caravans, which is seasonal. one company has had a letter saying she could be sent to prison! My wife has been a gem and spent most of the day on the phone trying to reduce payments and speaking to a charitable organisation who give advice, they have suggested bankruptcy which she was told costs £700 to apply. My sister has no idea how to deal with this and stuck her head in the sand unfortunately. We want to help and my wife has suggested she come and live with us for 6 months, if she is successful (would this effect our credit rating, or could the bailiffs turn up at my house and take goods to cover her debt)? Sorry for all the questions but she's only visiting till Saturday and would like to be able to give some advice to her, and I go away on Tuesday. Many thanks for any advice Bemmy First thing first,if it gets to a stage where bailiffs are chasing your sister they can only seize her goods, no one else's,only hers. If your sister has large debts and no reasonable chance of clearing them then her life will be a constant struggle to meet her creditors,and should she have only a small change in her circumstances then the whole thing could spiral out of control. From what you say of her debts and her work situation i would say to consider Bankruptcy,From what you say she has no property,and i am guessing no large pensions or the like. This will give her the fresh start she seems to need,and if she does go Bankrupt she needs to make sure that when it ends that she does not let it get to that position again. This may help if she decides to go down that route. https://www.gov.uk/bankruptcy/declare-bankruptcy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgguinness Posted October 9, 2014 Report Share Posted October 9, 2014 You can claim disassociation from her if it affects you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
figgy Posted October 9, 2014 Report Share Posted October 9, 2014 CAB should be her first call. The government states a person needs a certain amount to live on, if the government are asking for too much per month, she should be able to have this adjusted to suit her circumstances. There was a big ho ha about this a while ago as some people were on breakfast tv in tears with demand for £36.000 for on lady. Best of luck, and good on you and your wife to help her. Figgy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malkiserow Posted October 9, 2014 Report Share Posted October 9, 2014 Suggest you contact www.capuk.org first thing and get your local office in. They are well trained and the people know are all superb. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
figgy Posted October 9, 2014 Report Share Posted October 9, 2014 (edited) edit threads been merged. Figgy Edited October 10, 2014 by figgy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malkiserow Posted October 9, 2014 Report Share Posted October 9, 2014 They will give all advice for free and deal with all the debt collectors Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ratus Posted October 9, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 9, 2014 Welsh 1, Thanks for link appreciated, my wife spoke to the charitable organisation and they said the same as quoted, ref no house or pension etc.. Thanks again Bemmy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ratus Posted October 9, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 9, 2014 Thank you all for your advice, guy's for taking the time to reply all posts really appreciated need to get this nailed ASAP and get her having a decent life again. Thanks Bemmy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ratus Posted October 9, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 9, 2014 Figgy, Yes just realised that, it's my sausage fingers, do apologise. Malkiserow, thank you very much for website Bemmy They will give all advice for free and deal with all the debt collectors Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Browning 425 clay hunter Posted October 9, 2014 Report Share Posted October 9, 2014 Are the debts over 5 years old. If so she can send a statuette barred letter available online. I had a loan with tesco for 4k. I hadn't had contact with them for 5 years. They sent letters but I never acknowledged them. I sent them the letter 8 months ago and haven't heard from them since. Definitely worth looking in to. People will say go to citizens advice, I did and the advice I got was less than useful. She asked my name,age and amount of debt I had, then said 'just go bankrupt'. That was 2 years ago. With hard work and settlement offers I've got my debt down from 11.5k to £1600 now. Whatever she does make sure she doesn't rush into a decision because being bankrupt really is the LAST resort. Hope my experience might help. Keeps us informed. ATB 425 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happy.plinker Posted October 9, 2014 Report Share Posted October 9, 2014 You should be ok with her staying with you , it used to be the case that you were associated by the same address but that changed a few years ago. Hope she gets back on her feet soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ratus Posted October 9, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 9, 2014 425, Thank you ref' statuette barred letter, Googled it and got a very informative web site which I will be trawling through tomorrow. Thank you for your help 425 Yours gratefully Bemmy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bruno22rf Posted October 9, 2014 Report Share Posted October 9, 2014 If she has fallen into debt thru over payment of benefits then she needs to contact the relative office and agree an affordable and reasonable amount to repay the money. If an agreement cannot be reached then a court will look into her financial status and make a decision-do not worry about it because this is common and the courts are very fair-sometimes as little as £1/week until her circumstances change.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaun4860 Posted October 9, 2014 Report Share Posted October 9, 2014 Go to the Citizens Advice, They have a very good debt advisory section and will sort her out with an interview, She MUST tell them the full extent of her debts, They can help in writing to the debtors and get a ruling on how much she pays, they can't chase her for more than the courts decide, After a set period the debts can be wiped, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ratus Posted October 9, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 9, 2014 Thanks again for all advice, will be getting in touch with relevant agencies etc.. Tomorrow, thanks again for all your kind advice and sharing some of your experiences. I will keep you updated, my sister can't believe how much info I have acquired in such a short while, Thanks Bemmy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dunkield Posted October 10, 2014 Report Share Posted October 10, 2014 All three topics merged Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ratus Posted October 10, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 10, 2014 Thanks Dunkield Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
four-wheel-drive Posted October 10, 2014 Report Share Posted October 10, 2014 Could you not lend her the £700 so that she can go bankrupt and get rid of all of her debts for once and for all my neighbour did it he owed thousands on credit cards he made the classic error of borrowing from one to pay of another all that did was make everything go from bad to worse better to do that than risk having here come and stay with you as that could make problems for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Browning 425 clay hunter Posted October 10, 2014 Report Share Posted October 10, 2014 Go to the Citizens Advice,They have a very good debt advisory section and will sort her out with an interview, [/quote I hope she has a better experience than I did, as i mentioned when I went to CAB It was a help centre for money worries in the local library. I was in there for less than 30 seconds, I was asked how old are you, how much do you owe, OHHHH I'd just go bankrupt. Not the advice that suited my situation. Luckily my boss sat me down and explained about statute barred letters and how detrimental declaring bankrupt can be in the future. It really is the last resort. The one thing I learnt with debt is nothing happens fast. I've owed company's money for years, had loads of ccj threats but nothing ever materialised. Best thing she can do is as much research on the Internet as possible. I'm sure there's someone on this site who's more informed than me to offer advice. I found the hardest part if debt was admitting to others that your in trouble and need help. Go easy on her. ARB 425 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ratus Posted October 10, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 10, 2014 Could you not lend her the £700 so that she can go bankrupt and get rid of all of her debts for once and for all my neighbour did it he owed thousands on credit cards he made the classic error of borrowing from one to pay of another all that did was make everything go from bad to worse better to do that than risk having here come and stay with you as that could make problems for you. We've had a sit down today and bankruptcy is looking like the route she is going down, we are giving her the £700, so she can start the process. Thanks to everyone for all your quick responses, opened my eyes that's for sure. We're in the process of filling out the 30 pages requires to apply. 425 thanks for your personal experience's and advice, all taken on board, and you've done well getting back on your feet, spoke about the statute barred letters to some advisors, but some of her other debts (utilities etc) are less than 6 years old. Cheers to all Bemmy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
four-wheel-drive Posted October 10, 2014 Report Share Posted October 10, 2014 We've had a sit down today and bankruptcy is looking like the route she is going down, we are giving her the £700, so she can start the process. Thanks to everyone for all your quick responses, opened my eyes that's for sure. We're in the process of filling out the 30 pages requires to apply. 425 thanks for your personal experience's and advice, all taken on board, and you've done well getting back on your feet, spoke about the statute barred letters to some advisors, but some of her other debts (utilities etc) are less than 6 years old. Cheers to all Bemmy I think that you will find that going bankrupt is the best and quickest way out for her one point about letting her have the money it may be best if you go to the court with her and pay the money in as if you gave the money to her to pay in to her bank I would not trust her bank not to keep the money just a thought. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
truflex Posted October 10, 2014 Report Share Posted October 10, 2014 Maybe she should make an attempt to pay the money she owes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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