I Declared Myself Bankrupt in the UK But Worried About Charge Against My House. – Hayley

“Dear Jon,

I have recently declared myself bankrupt and this was all agreed and I have an official receiver whom I am providing information to, old banks statements, credit reports and personal information about my working life and why I got into debt. However before I was declared bankrupt I had a loan where the company would not agree a pymt arrangement with me and they ended up getting a charge on my house which was not included in the bankruptcy cause it could not be!? Short version of events is loan was for 11,000 and we paid over 9,000 but they had added on interest and PPI and an insurance and are still saying that we owe over 20 grand, can I still claim back the PPI and get them to reduce the amount of the charge that they have on our property. They are saying that they are going to get the charge made active and make us sell….we have 3 children under 13.

Can they make us sell, or could we make it easier and less stress on ourselves by walking about from the property so that they can sell and get what they can back if there is any equity left in the property?

A company called Restons are saying that they are going to ask the court to force the charge.

Hayley”

Hayley,

When a creditor gets a charge against a property the debt then becomes secured, and secured debts cannot be included in bankruptcy. That is why the debt could not be included in your bankruptcy.

Once a creditor has a charge against a property, they can then go to the court to obtain an enforcement order, which in essence is trying to force the sale of the property. While a creditor may try to do this, it is a judges decision as to grant the enforcement order or not. It is rare that a creditor may try to obtain an enforcement order, and also rare if a judge would grant it.

As you have a family, I would be doubtful that a forced sale would occur, but it is a remote possibility.

You can try to reclaim the PPI back, but as you are bankrupt you would need to notify the Official Receiver handling your bankruptcy of this and advise them prior to beginning the process. Then if you were to receive any PPI back, it would be taken for the bankruptcy. Even once your bankruptcy has been discharged if you were to reclaim the PPI it would be taken for the bankruptcy. This is outlined on the government’s insolvency web site.

I hope this helps.

Regards,

Jon

Jon Emge is an experienced UK debt advisor who has helped thousands and thousands of people in the UK to deal with problem debt. Jon specialises in finding good solutions for problem debt using a variety of UK specific techniques.

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