I have finally made myself bankrupt and thought some people may like to know my experiences so far. Firstly though I would like to say what a godsend this website and forum are. I regulary ask Simon for advice and I always read the posts on this forum.
Anyway I went to the courts a couple of days ago, seen the Bankruptcy clerk (she was really nice) she went through the forms, asked a couple of general questions, I paid the fee (was exempt from the court fee £140 - as I get working tax credit), she then said she would take me up to see the judge (this is where I starting panicing), we got to the waiting she asked me to sit down and wait while she seen the judge first, then after about 10 minutes she came over and said I did not need to see the judge as he was happy with everything (relief!). She then suggested I go get a coffee in the court cafe for 15 minutes while she filled in forms and faxed them etc. Afterwards I went back to clerk she handed me my order and then I spoke to the OR by telephone at the desk for about 10 minutes he just confirmed some details with me, confirmed that he had no interest in my car or bank account and said he would phone me in a couple days to set either a telephone or in person interview, once he had received and looked over my forms. (he seemed really nice too).
Then I left the courts and that was it, it took about 45 inutes from start to finish (and 15 minutes of that was in the cafe), I was walking around the town in a sort of daze, not really believeing I had finally done it, the court bit was over with so quickly and a bit of nervousness about the OR interview to come. I have read a few posts saying that the courts bit was really quite simple and atraight forward but I suppose I thought something would go wrong for me but no it really was quite straightforward and all the staff were really nice and were really just going through motions like they obviously do many times a day.
Anyway since then I have a call from one debt collection agency, so I told them I was bankrupt and she just asked for the order reference number and what court she said it was so she could flag it on my file so no one would call again! (she was nice too so different to normal), I also informed my supplier who does my gas and electric (I had over £1000 of arrears so had to include then) and for the account to be switched to my partners name and they said no problem and are going to send out forms to my boyfriend to fill in (so fingers crossed it's that easy) she even asked if I was ok and not to worry. I also went and opened a Nationwide account yesterday no problem at all. Then about an hour ago the OR phoned me to say he had received my forms, looked through them and he thinks it is all straightforward and could he arrange for a telephone appointment for the week after next, he said it should take about half an hour. So just need to worry about that for a week and a half
