Welcome to Bankruptcy and Living With It.

A completely impartial site on the subject of debt problems, helping you understand insolvency, and what being insolvent actually means, and the solutions available to you if you are insolvent, such as a Debt Management Plan, an Individual Voluntary Agreement, better known as an IVA, Debt relief Orders or finally, Bankruptcy. You can also find advice to help explain methods used by creditors and debt collection agencies to pressure you into paying more than you can afford!

A site that truly is impartial.

Credit Got Out of Control? Start Dealing With Your Debt Problems. This site is run by private individuals that have personally been through debt problems and ultimately Bankruptcy, and survived!

We have spent the last few years studying all aspects of debt, debt collection and debt solutions with one simple goal, to offer true, impartial advice on how to find the best solution for you, based on both the facts we have learned, and how they are applied to real peoples situation, and to dispel a lot of myths and untruths that surround the issue of being in debt and the methods used by those companies trying to collect that debt.

There is no sales pitch, no financial gain, no product to sell, just pure free advice from others that know what your going through.

Our only reward is hopefully to make dealing with debt at least a bit less overwhelming for you.

We strongly argue that you should not have to pay for any company to help you sort out your debt problems

But that choice is ultimately yours, we are sure some do offer a good service for the fee, but we also know some don't, so all we wish is if you choose to pay any company to help, you do so with your eyes open, hopefully after reading this site you will agree you don't need to pay for help, if not then, at least you will know if your getting what you are paying for!

We do however find it quite ironic, that the fact you are here reading this, most likely means you are struggling financially, yet so many people facing debt problems pay for help, spending money they simply cannot afford, when in most cases there is no need, as you can do anything a company can do for you yourself, For Free, or with the help of the Free Debt Charities.

We know one of the reasons people pay for help is fear of the unknown, so rush into the first apparent solution they see, which is usually in the form of a glossy advert on television or some other media, which may be the worst thing you can do, as it has been proved over the past years, a small percentage of these adverts have been very misleading, but even if the solution is presented accurately, it does not mean it is the correct one for your current position, so while the service they offer may be an option, how can you be sure it is the best one?

It is understandable, when creditors or debt collection agencies send letters threatening legal action in 7-14 days why you, the debtor, panics and takes the first solution you can, thinking you must do so quickly before you end up in court. Which is just what some fee charging companies rely on, your fear and the misbelief the creditor or debt collection agencies actually will carry out that threat of legal action.

Don't allow empty threats to scare you into acting in haste!

The truth however is the creditors or debt collection agencies rarely have any intention of carrying out a threat of legal action, it certainly will not be that quick if it is the first legal threat you have received in nearly all cases, because it simply is not in their interest to do so. So don't panic, don't rush, take your time to get the best advice you can, from sources that will not financially gain from your situation.

Even if a creditor or debt collection agency does start legal action, it is a civil matter, not criminal, the court is there to help BOTH parties reach a suitable conclusion to the situation, and in doing so gives you, the debtor, a certain degree of legal protection as long as you stick to what the courts decide, which is why most creditors or debt collection agencies try to avoid it, and even after starting legal proceedings, hope you will give in and pay what they demand before the court date, as they will be just as legally bound by the result as you are!

In some cases it really is just used as another scare tactic, but that all depends on the your financial situation, and why understanding insolvency and just how insolvent you are can make all the difference. We shall go into the reasons why in more detail in the Dealing with Debt section of this site.

As the above indicates, this site is more about Insolvency than Bankruptcy

It is just as much about insolvency, understanding insolvency, and what being insolvent actually means, dealing with being insolvent early enough is important, doing so may help avoid the need to face bankruptcy, if possible, and if it is suitable in your situation, by using the other methods available to deal with debt problems such as a Debt Management Plan(DMP) Or Individual voluntary Agreement(IVA).

But where that is not possible, this site hopes to make the bankruptcy process seem a little less frightening, dispel many of the myths surrounding insolvency and bankruptcy, and help guide you through the process.

It is also about how to deal with your creditors and debt collection companies while you get advice and decide which solution is best for you, and also how to deal with the awkward ones that wont accept that decision.

If you are failing to meet your monthly commitments, then you are already insolvent, a term that is greatly misunderstood, and is frequently confused as meaning the same as being Bankrupt, it is not. Being insolvent is the problem; Bankruptcy is just one of the four solutions how you can deal with being insolvent:

Debt Management Plans (DMP)
Individual Voluntary Agreement (IVA)
Debt Relief Orders (DRO)
Bankruptcy

Choosing the correct solution first time can save a lot time and money, but most importantly, worry later.

The most important thing is that recognise you have a problem, and deal with it!

Ignoring Debt Problems only makes things a lot worse! Sticking your head in the sand and ignoring it does not work, it only makes things a lot worse, however the credit industry makes trying to deal with debt harder than it need be, so it is understandable why so many people can not face dealing with there debt problems.

The authors of this site have been helping others through bankruptcy in various different ways, for the past two to three years, having gone through the process of dealing with debt, and dealing with creditors and debt collection companies, and finally Bankruptcy ourselves.

We have spent that time learning the true facts behind the bankruptcy process, and how they are applied in real cases in an attempt to help others get past the myths and stigmas attached to bankruptcy and see it as a viable solution when appropriate.

But in doing so we have also gained a great deal of experience of dealing with Creditors and Debt collection industry, and the tactics they use, so can also expose the tactics used by them, and help you deal with the pressure they place on you, the debtor, when you can not meet your commitment too them.

How to navigate this site

We have tried to structure this site in the same sequence as events normally happen. From the point you realise you are insolvent and decide you need to deal with that fact , onto contacting your creditors and dealing with them in the short term, followed by help deciding which long term solution will be best for your situation. Finally we will try help explain the pro's and cons of each solution, based on facts, not a sales pitch, to try help you choose the right one.

To keep the menu less intimidating as the site grows, we have tried to keep subjects in logical groups of each stage of the journey of dealing with debt. Each group will expand when selected, so you can go through each subject in that group a step at a time. So you can start at the beginning, or start with the point you are at now, and go through each stage from there.

As three of the solutions must be run or completed with the help, hopefully, of one of the charitable organisations, or an Insolvency Practitioner, they are more 'Managed' solutions, we wont go into the finer details with those. With Bankruptcy however, you are mostly left to organise it on your own. While you can get advice via the Debt Charities, there time a resources are limited, so for that reason we will concentrate more on the Bankruptcy Process, how to Petition for Bankruptcy, what to expect during your Bankruptcy and what happens after you are Discharged from Bankruptcy.

So if you are in financial difficulty, first read the Words of Warning, they are very important, and then continue to the first section Dealing with Debt or whichever section apply's most to whichever stage you are now.