A few weeks ago I was contacted by a BBC researcher called Jonathan Davenport.  He asked if I would be interested in appearing on a show due for broadcast on BBC TV sometime in July - the programme (actually a set of three programmes I think) is to cover many money related issues and as part of that they want to hear stories from people who have gone through insolvency.  After much thought (you wouldn’t believe how much) I decided to decline his offer.  It was a very difficult decision as I feel very strongly that it is important to get our insolvency experiences to a wider audience - if only to counteract the ridiculous stories of bankers being paid millions in bonuses! Last year one in every 320 adults in our country went insolvent, one in ten never clear their overdrafts each month - we are a substantial group and our voices should be heard and our experiences should be told.

In the end my decision wasn’t based on what my family and friends thought of me (everyone to  a man has been totally supportive), but based on my work.  I’m employed in quite a large organisation and there was always the possibility that my bankruptcy being made public could make my position untenable - and frankly I need the money.  To assuage my guilt I offered to post a message on this blog for Jonathan - I hope that some of you will contact him. Here is his message:

Are you in an IVA/DMP or going bankrupt? 

Have you had the right advice? 

Do you want to share your story? 

My name’s Jonathan and I’m researching a new series for BBC 2 called Money Watch - looking at people’s real life financial stories across the country. I’d like to hear your experiences about what it’s like dealing with debt. If you’re interested this could lead to some filming for the show. I look forward to hearing from you - my number’s 020 8008 3989 or email’s jonathan.davenport@bbc.co.uk

—————————- 

Jonathan Davenport 

Money Watch 

MC4 B4, BBC Media Centre 

London, W12 7TQ 

Tel: 020 8008 3989

(Originally posted to http://averagejoegoesbankrupt.blogspot.com 11th. March, 2010 - I don’t duplicate every post here, just a choice few. If you want to read more then check out my main blog. Thanks!)

Life takes its toll occasionally, and so I’ve taken a brief break from writing about bankruptcy - for a while there I needed to remember that I’m simply a person too rather than just a bankruptee.

I now have some good news to report.  The Official Receiver has reduced my Income Payment Agreement (IPA) payment to a lower (and payable) sum. I used the basis of the figures in Data for family expenditure (available as a spreadsheet from the Insolvency Service’s website - www.insolvency.gov.uk/DocumentLibrary/Policy/Excel/Household%20Expenditur.xls) to challenge some of the Official Receiver’s original views on my outgoings and I was successful in most areas. One thing surprised me - I wasn’t allowed £20 a month to give the kids at least some enjoyable experiences during the holidays. No complaints though, I immediately signed the agreement and expect my copy through the post any day.  I’m actually looking forward to beginning to pay the IPA - the sooner I start the sooner the 36th payment.

Still no news on the house - but I know I’ll hear at some point and I’m not pressing for it.

(Originally posted to http://averagejoegoesbankrupt.blogspot.com  2nd. March, 2010 - I don’t duplicate every post here, just a choice few. If you want to read more then check out my main blog. Thanks!)

The BBC have covered the figures too: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8499939.stm

“Over 2009 as a whole, there were 134,142 people declared insolvent in England and Wales. This was up 26% compared with 2008, and higher than the previous record - in 2006 - of 107,288. Records began in 1960.”

There you go, I’m a record breaker - and I didn’t even know it.

Update : I posted a comment on this page - in fact this:

I’m one of the 134,142 people declared insolvent last year - or to put it another way, I’m one of the 1 in 320 adults in England and Wales who became insolvent in 2009.

These days bankruptcy is seen as ‘an easy way out of debt’ - and I wouldn’t be surprised if you received emails in this vein.

The truth is that bankruptcy is a terrifying experience. I’m about two and a half months into my bankruptcy and only now is my life attaining any level of normality - or rather a new normality. On my day in Court six of us were declared bankrupt - just average people that you would pass on the street - all walks of life, men, women, young, old.

What I would like everyone to know is that there are so many others out there living on this precipice - something like a million people. Before you judge these 134,142 individuals please remember the millions who are already sliding into this hole, and all those uncounted millions who are only one small disaster from being included in this year’s figures. I hope you are not one of them.

On the basis of this I received an email from a BBC journalist doing a piece on the bankruptees side of the story, and so was interviewed over the phone for something like 15 to 20 minutes. I hope I gave him useful information - I tend to suffer from verbal diarrhoea when I’m talking about something I’m passionate about. He said there was a possibility that this blog might get linked to - I hope so, if it reaches a wider audience and helps one more poor soul going through insolvency then it’s all worthwhile.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8501489.stm

Update 2 : No link, but still they managed to make me sound coherent - thanks BBC!

Update 3 : How nice of them - they added the link!

These figures were released by the Insolvency Service this morning.

134,142 - That is the total number of individual insolvencies in England and Wales for 2009. Of this 74,670 were bankruptcies (me being one of them) - the numbers are up over 10% of the 2008 figure. Astoundingly this is approximately 1 in 320 of the adult population. Not only am I not alone, the chances are that if there isn’t anyone else going through this in my street then they are pretty much only a street away.

Check out http://www.insolvency.gov.uk/otherinformation/statistics/201002/index.htm for the full report.

Sobering, or what.

(Originally posted to http://averagejoegoesbankrupt.blogspot.com 5th. February, 2010 - I don’t duplicate every post here, just a choice few. If you want to read more then check out my main blog. Thanks!)

Mrs Average wants us to separate. What a year this has been.

How are Insolvency Service letters like buses? When three come at once, of course.

So, some news at last, some of it good and some that needs to be challenged.  First the good news - we get to keep the car and we don’t have to ‘buy’ any interest in it, so that is a big relief. I never thought I’d be as relieved as this - I don’t even like the damned noddy car - but at least it’s ours and we don’t have to go through the experience of having our car sold from under us. Chalk one up to our side for once!

Next up, on looking at the budget details that I gave them they want me to agree to an Income Payment Agreement of £300 per month for the next three years.  Now, I was hoping to avoid an IPA, but I guess I did really expect one - after all I’m a bankrupt and the Insolvency Service has to do it’s best to claw something back for my creditors (even if they are faceless banking corporations - the same bastards that screwed our country for years to come).  The amount of £300 feels a bit steep - and frankly I don’t know how I’ll pay it at the moment - but the first step is to challenge some of the figures from the Insolvency Service;  I have realised over the last couple of months that I missed a few things off that I’m able to claim for and so I’ll have a go at reducing the IPA to something that feels a little more reasonable.  Of course, I may not succeed - in which case I shut up and get on with paying, but I have to try.

Still no news on the house, but I guess I feel a little better that I’m close to an agreement on the IPA (even if it makes things tight for three years).  I hope soon to be in the phase where I just get my head down, pay monthly what I need to pay, have no more scary paperwork to deal with - and get to the point where I’m no longer bankrupt.  I realise that following that is still the huge stage of trying to recover my credit rating - but that is still a long way away, and one step at a time.

(Originally posted to http://averagejoegoesbankrupt.blogspot.com 22nd. January, 2010 - I don’t duplicate every post here, just a choice few. If you want to read more then check out my main blog. Thanks!)

I never thought it was possible, but there are some people in the world who are worse than bankers:

Thousands of households have taken out loans with interest rates averaging 825% during “the worst Christmas in a generation” for illegal doorstep lending, according to a new report.

Read the whole thing at : http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2010/jan/15/loan-sharks-poorest-households (The Guardian, 15th. January, 2010)

(Originally posted to http://averagejoegoesbankrupt.blogspot.com 16th. January, 2010 - I don’t duplicate every post here, just a choice few. If you want to read more then check out my main blog. Thanks!)

No real surprise to those of us who have suffered or are in the process of suffering money problems - it has just been reported that up to a million families have had to resort to paying for their mortgage or rent with credit cards over the last year. Well done Shelter for exposing this, the following is a quote from the Guardian:

About 1 million families have resorted to using credit cards to pay their mortgage or rent during the past year, the housing charity Shelter claimed today.

A survey by the organisation found around 6% of households had used their plastic during the past 12 months, in order to keep up with their housing costs.

People in working class professions were most likely to use debt to cover their mortgage or rent at 8%, but 4% of ABC1s also admitted they had used their credit card in this way.

Read the whole thing at : http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2010/jan/11/credit-card-mortgage-rent (The Guardian, 11th. January, 2010)

(Originally posted to http://averagejoegoesbankrupt.blogspot.com 12th. January, 2010 - I don’t duplicate every post here, just a choice few. If you want to read more then check out my main blog. Thanks!)

Christmas and the New Year are now behind us and, most importantly, the kids had a great time. Hopefully they didn’t spot much of a difference from previous years. Last year one of my New Year’s resolutions was to reduce my debt - and it just goes to show that the saying ‘be careful what you wish for, you may get it’ is so true! Yes, here I am with far less debt than last year, but I would have never expected the means by which I reduced that debt! This year therefore I decided that my only resolution should be to make sure that I enjoy myself more - life is too short, after all. Last Saturday myself and a few friends went walking in Northumberland, along part of Hadrian’s Wall - and it was glorious. You have to remember what is real.

Happy New Year.

(Originally posted to http://averagejoegoesbankrupt.blogspot.com 6th. January, 2010 - I don’t duplicate every post here, just a choice few. If you want to read more then check out my main blog. Thanks!)

One month down, a maximum of eleven months to go.

(Originally posted to http://averagejoegoesbankrupt.blogspot.com 17th. December, 2009 - I don’t duplicate every post here, just a choice few. If you want to read more then check out my main blog. Thanks!)