OK, it’s midnight 14th February, what are most people doing now? Â Well ok, Mrs. Wen works nights so that’ll have to wait until the morning, but yes the next best thing… i’m checking the Insolvency Register and what does it say?
Status | Discharged On 14 February 2009 |
 It’s unbelievable to think how quickly the 12months has gone, but we have come through it.  Turning the clock back a few months, I went back into the Co-op bank to see if they would give me a savings account to keep our car tax/mot/extra savings money in.  As helpful as always they tried to put it through, but it did eventually come back declined.  I had been dealing with the Branch Manager (no less), and she said that as I was still bankrupt the credit department probably have issues as a bankrupt shouldn’t really be in a position to have much ‘savings’ money (unless you’re Kerry Katona of course!)  She did however ask if I wanted a second Cashminder account, and although I would still not be earning any interest (BOE @ 1% I don’t think that’s a problem at the moment!) at least I would have the second account to stash my spare cash in – which was the purpose of the account anyway.  We were “instantly approved” (that felt good!), and the account was opened.  Whether or not now we are discharged they will let us open a savings account only time will tell, but I have to say though as far as dealing with finances through your bankruptcy year, there is no-one better than the Co-op for this.  Yes it’s “only a Visa Electron” but there are plenty of prepaid debit/credit cards out there if you really do need that status of a “full card”.  I have a Utility warehouse prepaid mastercard which works for me, we get cashback too and I only rarely had the need to be forced to use it over the Visa Electron due to acceptance issues.
As far as dealings with the Official Receiver were concerned, we were contacted by her in July with regards to buying back some old insurance policies (they had lapsed anyway), but apart from that – absolutely nothing (which in my view is a good thing!!), I was worried we might end up with a BRO/BRU, but it seems I was worrying too much.
Any regrets or advice? Given the choice again standing in the court a year ago, I would take the bankruptcy everytime.  I am not saying it is right for everyone.  It is a serious issue, we are needing to buy/lease a new car due to Mrs. wen getting a new job (congrats to her – she has worked her way up from the bottom of the pile to one of the top dogs in the space of 15months and i’m very proud of her), whereas the APR I got for my car 3 1/2yrs ago was 3.9%, we are now looking at an APR of 39%!  No doubt one day when we try to get a mortgage, due to the credit crunch and our credit record, it will be very very difficult, so do not for a second think bankruptcy is an easy way out.  It is not.  If we could have taken an IVA I would have done, as I still feel guilty now about not being able to pay our creditors, however the pressure of our debts were driving us under and threatening our marriage too, and that is when we decided enough was enough, take our heads out of the sand and face the consequences.Â
One piece of advice I would offer is tell your closest family. Â My family were superb through this, did not judge us, but were there to listen and help in anyway they could, and it lifted a huge weight knowing we were not just going through this alone. Â Even when our washing machine broke down during the year (I used it for once), and we had to scrimp and save to buy a new one our family helped us, and to all of them I am grateful.
The iva forum has continued to be a wealth of information and somewhere to go just to remind yourself you are not the only ones out there suffering with debt – especially with the way the recession is hurting people. Â I am so glad Mrs. Wen found the forum as it has comforted and left us certain of answers to questions we were clueless about.Â
Now we have officially put the past behind us, as much as we can now, circumstances worked against us, and we ended up in a lot of financial trouble, but we have a second chance now, and even though i’m fairly young (although i’ve found a couple of grey hairs!) it has been a massive learning experience, and we have really found what really matters in life… your loved ones. Â You can have all the money in the World, but if you have no-one around to share it with, it is worthless. Â We have a wonderful family and some great friends, and anyone out there that feels they have come to the end of the road and there is no helping themselves, please please please, make a phonecall to someone like Melanie who can offer the professional advice out there and get you to recovery… believe me there is always hope, even on those darkest of days… it’s nearly 1am but the sun is well and truely shining…
Mr. Wen