I received a letter from the OR today confirming how much I will be paying in my IPA.  The bad news is it’s more than I was told on the phone, but the good news is it’s less than half what I was paying in my IVA, and I am confident I can live off it.  My payments will start on 4th June for 36 months.

I will be put on a NT tax code for the year of my bankruptcy.  This means I will pay no tax, but sadly I can’t keep the extra!  The OR has stated that I will pay the extra £278.00 into my IPA, and this will commence when the Inland Revenue apply the code and will continue for the rest of the tax year.

My amended allowances are as follows:

Rent:  £200.00
Housekeeping:  £350.00
Electricity:  £25.00
Water:  £8.00
Mobile:  £35.00
Travel:  £100.00
Clothing:  £40.00
Council Tax:  £50.00
TV Licence:  £6.00
Opticians:  £10.00
Dentist:  £10.00
Prescriptions:  £10.00
Holidays:  £20.00
Car Expenses:  £100.00
Hairdressing:  £10.00

If I disagree with this I have to put it in writing to the OR, but to be honest I’m not too unhappy with it.  The main thing is I can keep my car.  I have to return the signed form within 14 days and I will then be advised how I make the payments.Â

Here is what the OR allowed me in my income and expenditure.  I have no children and live in a one bedroom flat with my partner:

Rent / Mortgage - £200.00 (Mortgage is solely in my partner’s name and this is less than half)
Electricity - £25.00 (This is half of the monthly bill and we have no gas)
Mobile phone - £35.00 (Contract with Vodafone)
TV Licence - £6.00 (Approximately half)
Council Tax - £50.00 (This is just under half)
Food - £350.00 (For 2 people - I pay for all the food)
Clothing - £40.00
Hairdressing - £10.00
Car Insurance - £30.00
Petrol - £100.00
Car Maintenance - £50.00
Breakdown Cover - £10.00
Car Tax - £10.00 (I’ve got a Vauxhall Corsa so quite cheap)
Incidentals - £50.00
Holidays, Christmas, Birthdays etc - £50.00
Contact Lenses - £10.00
Medical - £25.00

Yesterday was my day of destiny - I had my telephone interview with the OR at 3pm.  I was a bag of nerves before hand and I thought I was going to be sick, but to be honest it was nowhere near as bad as I was expecting.  The phone rang shortly after 3pm and as I spoke I realised that my voice was now a nervous squeak, but the lady conducting the interview was fine with me.  She started off going through the legal bits and pieces and the reason for the interview, and I then had to tell her why I was in debt.  I couldn’t remember some dates so I told her that and she was fine. 

We soon established that I have no assets (embarrassing really with £65k of debt) apart from my car which is exempt as I need it for work.  They are not interested in my laptop.  As I have surplus income I am eligible for an IPA (which I will start paying into in approximately 8 weeks) and I will be paying £115 per month, which is around 50% of my surplus income.  I will receive a letter confirming that my car is exempt, and another one confirming the IPA. 

If the OR needs to speak to me again she will contact me either by letter or phone, and if there are any irregulaties I may need to attend for a face to face interview, but hopefully everything will be straightforward and that will be it.  Fingers crossed!

I will post a list of my allowances later on so people have an idea of what is allowed.

Good luck to everyone else going through this.

Well, it arrived today, and to be honest wasn’t as bad as I expected.  It contained: 

a letter advising the date of the interview and who will be calling,
a checklist letting you know what to send back, a form that needs to be signed and witnessed that gives you information about the Insolvency Act 1986,
a letter authorising the OR to have access to your tax details,
an ethnicity form
a copy of the Insolvency Service charter
information leaflets

You have to send the following information:

12 months bank statements
3 months wage slips
12 months credit card statements
Loan or HP agreements
Any chequebooks or cards still held

I have managed to find most of the information, although most of my credit card statements have been shredded and I am one bank statement missing.  Apparently the OR can get this information quite easily though.  All the information has to be with them by Monday 9th April, which is Easter Monday, so there was a bit of a mad rush tonight so that I can get it back to them by Thursday!

Now that I have done this the next stage is the meeting with the OR.  I will be glad to get that over and done with - then perhaps this headache will go!

I’ll post again when there are any more developments!

Well I’ve spoken to the Official Receiver’s Office!  The lady that I am going to be dealing with rang me on Friday afternoon to let me know that I have got my telephone interview on Tuesday 10th April at 3pm, and it is scheduled to last half an hour.  She also wanted some bank sort codes.  I had heard about interviews lasting for three or four hours so I am quite pleased really!  I am also pleased that it’s a telephone interview as I didn’t fancy getting to Croydon - not a nice journey.

While I was talking to her, I asked about my car.  It’s my one and only asset, and I have been worrying about it as it would make life quite difficult if I couldn’t keep a car of some description.  She asked do I need it for work (yes), how far from work do I live (6-7 miles) and can I get the bus (yes but I wouldn’t get to work on time).  She then told me that she would let me know on Monday if I could keep it.  I was not looking forward to thinking about that all weekend!

I put the phone down, and that was it, I couldn’t stop crying.  Everything seemed to hit me, and I was really sobbing.  I phoned Dave, and kept telling him I was going to be a prisoner in the flat (a bit of an exaggeration!) and that I would be dependent on him (he sounded scared at this point!).  Eventually I pulled myself together and asked him to get me the sort codes the OR needed, and decided to phone her back and get that bit over and done with.  Low and behold, she told me that my car was exempt.  I had a blonde moment at that point (as I often do!) and couldn’t work out what that meant (I thought I was exempt from having a car - I put it down to stress, not my stupidity!) so she patiently explained that not only can I keep a car, but I can keep the one I’ve got!  I was so pleased, it really made my weekend.  It sounds pathetic really, it’s only a car after all, but it meant I can stay at my job (they’re not so well paid nearer home) and try and keep some normality in my life.

I’m now waiting for my bankruptcy pack to arrive - I’ll post again when I’ve got it, as I’m sure you’re all dying to know what’s in it!!!!!