UK Bankruptcy experience (so far!)

M

Muntjac

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I'm probably a bit quick off the mark posting considering I'm barely a wet week in the UK, but just made the big move & thought I'd share my experience of same for anyone interested.

We're a family of 2+3, 1 was working part time, one unemployed & in <1 year arrears of mortgage, negative equity of €200k approx. One personal loan of >€5k, no credit cards, two mobile phone contracts of >€100 altogether.

We both applied for employment, one of us got work, so moved over 3 weeks ago.
It's all still very new & lots to be done keeping us busy ie, applying for bank account, National insurance no., registering family for NHS no. etc

One thing I will say is to allow for a few grand in moving costs. Obvious as this might sound, they can add up! we're already up to approx. €4k owed to our very kind family for rent+deposit, flights over, UK car insurance, there are a lot of costs that don't be long about adding up.

One thing that caused me great concern was renting a house as the estate agency run a credit check on you. I have since been advised that this is irrelevant as it checks your UK history only, not Irish.

If you decide to buy a UK registered car in Ireland before you move (to transport stuff over) then make sure it's taxed & MOT'd as it can take several weeks to get the car registered in your name then either tested or taxed.

House removal firms can be costly, pallet companies are much cheaper & you can fit a surprising amount of possessions on a pallet. I found costs ranged from €80+ per pallet for 48 hour delivery Ireland to UK.

If you plan to visit UK prior to moving, it might be a good idea to pick up a UK mobile or a sim for an unlocked phone on that visit. It means when applying for jobs you have UK contact immediately & if you run in to problems on your travel over, you will have a functioning phone. I found out the hard way that roaming was not set up on my Irish phone despite my provider advising me differently!

I returned my keys by jingle mail with advice of our new address.
 
Hi Muntjac

This promises to be a very interesting thread. Thanks for starting it.

Some very practical tips there.

As a matter of interest, did you try to reach any sort of agreement with your mortgage lender before you handed back the keys? Did you try to sell your house by agreement? I presume you didn't sign a voluntary return form? I think it's better to do all that and to go to the UK with only unsecured debts. This makes the OR's job much simpler and the process is a lot tidier.
 
Thanks Cantalia

Brendan, I tried fruitlessly for over a year to deal with my lender and they blanked me, they would not meet with/speak with me, I was left with no option.
Not the ideal situation granted but by the time I arrived at the situation to go to the UK I had reached the end of the line.
Our family income was decimated over the past few years with little chance of recovery. I can only assume that we were very low down their list of priorities, and it was inevitable that we were going to end up in a repossession situation. I just expedited it for them by returning the keys.

I didn't sign a voluntary return form, I just posted the keys in with a cover note explaining that we were surrendering the property as we could not afford it. I agree it would have been better to leave with unsecured debts, for the sake of my mental well being we had to leave when we did, we were struggling to survive on the income we had and the stress of waiting for the inevitable to happen was too much.
 
Hi Muntjac

That is appalling behaviour by the bank. Under the circumstances, you had no choice.

It is probably too late for you, but someone in a similar situation should consider a short-term PIA. If they have documented the non-cooperation of the lender, the PIP should propose that the shortfall be written off immediately. Thus no need for bankruptcy. No need to move to the UK. And an immediate release from debts.
 
Really glad a thread has been started on this. Can i ask where you moved too and i you had family there? Also how old are you children and how have they settled into school for you. Wishing you the very best of luck and please keep us updated.
 
Muntjac said:
One thing that caused me great concern was renting a house as the estate agency run a credit check on you. I have since been advised that this is irrelevant as it checks your UK history only, not Irish.

House removal firms can be costly, pallet companies are much cheaper & you can fit a surprising amount of possessions on a pallet. I found costs ranged from €80+ per pallet for 48 hour delivery Ireland to UK.
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I'm curious about these Muntjac. These are the things that are taking my focus at the moment ( i know, pretty minor stuff). I understand that estate agents in the UK charge for running the credit checks, and that these fees can be significant. What was your experience given that they didn't check yours?

I can't imagine fitting too much on pallets. Did you simply bring small possessions or did you move all your furniture? If you left your furniture here what have you done with that?

Thanks for posting about this. I think a thread like this will be a great help to many people. Your experience will enable people to make a better informed decision. And if you were to fill us in on how things are progressing I am sure it would be appreciated by all.
 
best of luck with that move Muntjac, will be very interested to read this thread as it grows as I have almost 100% decided that this is the way forward for me. Thank again
 
Some agents do not charge for credit checks but most do. We paid 140 pounds for ours and it was a curious experience because we got the flat but at the same time we have a zero credit history here! I understand that for some agencies the fee can be in excess of 200 pounds.
 
If you go bankrupt in RoI and move to the UK would the bankruptcy appear in a UK credit check?
 
When I contacted the Experian group they confirmed that any arrears, loans or judgements in Ireland would not appear on your Uk credit report. But not sure about bankruptcy in another country. Doubtful though
 
MY UK credit rating is good so I don't want it to be effected by going bankrupt in the UK. As far as the banks in northern Ireland are concerned I have never moved out of the parental home.
 
Sorry for the delay responding, we've been kept busy over here getting settled in.

We moved to East Anglia due to a job I took. The place is lovely but I do regret now not holding on a little longer til I got a job on the West of the Country or at least nearer to an airport so it would be cheaper/faster to commute home when we went to visit and for family to visit us. That said, maybe when we settle in things might not be so much of an issue.
We had family visiting over the weekend and the homesickness now they're gone back is pretty bad I'll admit. It feels a bit like being trapped in a prison sentence, they can head home and we're stuck here regardless. At least it's for a finite period though.

Brendan, I wasn't aware of that with non cooperation clause regarding the PIA. It is a shame as this is a route I would have more likely opted for rather than uprooting our family to move where we didn't want to. Hopefully others will see this information and be able to use it in their circumstances though.
Is there somewhere online I could seek further information about this short term PIA? as it might not be too late for us yet.

Toodles thanks, as above we moved to East Anglia, good few jobs about and cheaper rents than London. I moved here as it's where I was offered a job. Our kids are not school age yet so not an issue with schools thankfully.

Nobizere, the insolvency practicioner told me also that the estate agents can only check your UK record of which I had none not having lived here before. Knowing this I do wonder are they fully aware that you wouldn't have a record and charge anyway but don't run a check. either way, it wasn't an issue. I still couldn't rest easy til I signed the tenancy agreement as I was convinced they would return and tell me they'd found out about my Irish record somehow which I won't lie, was stressful.

@JayPee, thanks v much, feel free to PM me if you have any queries you would like to ask & I'll help if I can
 
Muntjac said:
Nobizere, the insolvency practicioner told me...
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Out of interest have you got written confirmation from your insolvency advisors that you will in fact meet the criteria to be declared bankrupt in the UK, given you change in circumstances - new job etc....?
 
Sorry in response to the query re transporting good over, 2 pallets fit all of our clothes & bed linen (boxed), a washing machine, fridge freezer, 1 x double bed & mattress as well as a few boxes of documents/small possessions.

The rest we brought with us in the boot of the car (small mpv) and our larger furniture/appliances we'd already sold to part finance the move.

Where we're renting the majority of houses are rented unfurnished. I thought this would be an issue as I didn't have the funds to lay down to kit out a new house, however between Gumtree UK, Ebay UK before we arrived and several British heart foundation/other similar charity shops when we arrived, we were able to provide a basic kit out of the house. We found several charity shops selling furniture, you'd pick up a wardrobe or chest of drawers from £30 to give you an idea.
Nothing fancy at that price granted, but good enough to do us the next 15-18 months.
 
Jim nothing in writing, but I did explain in full what we had done prior to moving and they confirmed all would be ok in that respect. My job was reduced to part time hours in Ireland and the job here will be full time. They didn't say it would be an issue.
 
Steve Thatcher said:
I doubt it very much by why would you want to do it that way?

Steve Thatcher


Hi Steve, Perhaps if they like the UK and wanted to spend the next 5 years at least there then they wouldn't want to mess up their UK credit rating.

What if they did decide to stay in the UK, could they just ignore the Irish debt and the IRL banks wont do anything til they come back, if ever? Would they be ok over time acquiring assets in the UK like a car & house with the debt left behind in Ireland?

regards,
D
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