CA Somerset

In 2004 I bought my dream house, a 250 year old cottage in Somerset. The best thing about it was the fact it had a brand new garage at the top of the garden that I could convert into a studio for my painting business. It all started fine, but then business dropped off and I found I was starting to struggle to pay my mortgage, so I started to take cash off my credit cards and put that into my bank so the mortgage would go out every month. I was being charged for this but at the time, I thought as long as my mortgage goes out, everything else can wait. I then became ill and was unable to work for a good few months, that’s when it all went horribly wrong. My credit cards were maxed out and I had to borrow money to pay my mortgage, because of interest rates I was now attempting to pay over £1300 per month!

I started to think about selling my house, prices were just starting to come down and I did think I might be in negative equity. I had a few valuations done and decided that if I didn’t sell, I might even get repossessed! With two small children and being on my own, that was not an option. I then heard about through a recommendation. I met with a consultant who went through all the options and to be honest, was the best thing I ever did. I worked out I owed about £40,000 and then decided to go into a debt plan, so paying a small amount each month and then this gets spread over all my creditors. The best thing about this is it takes all the pressure off, the worst thing is the phone calls and letters which can be constant, I dealt with this by sending on the letters to the company and not going through any sort of security with the phone calls, hence no–one could ever talk to me about the debts.

After about a year of being in this debt plan, I made the decision to sell the house at a ‘cheap’ price – In my mind I thought it would be better to sell the house quickly and get rid of my asset and mortgage, than to keep going for a higher price, but having to keep paying £1300 per month, maybe for another year. I managed to sell quickly and then we went into rented. We moved into a tiny two bed roomed flat, sharing a room with my daughter, it had no garden and so we had to find our dogs new homes! It was a very upsetting time for all of us. I then decided to go bankrupt, I had many, many conversations with the consultant who I had got to know quite well, and the reassurance was there from her every single time we spoke. So I went ahead and in January 2007 I was made bankrupt. It was traumatic at the time, but the consultant was with me every step of the way, and because I didn’t have an asset to lose, I knew I couldn’t lose my home.

After a year of being bankrupt, my children and I went on holiday – first one in years. I could afford something decent! I know I will never get a mortgage ever again, which is fine by me, I never want that sort of debt. I don’t own any credit cards, which again is just perfect. I deal with cash and I have a debit card. My children and I have just moved into a 3–bed house – rented, of course and its lovely. Bankruptcy was the best move forward for us, we are now completely debt free and very happy!

Contact us if you think we may be able to help you.

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