Please don't put on Facebook.
I'm not here for judgement. I'm also not here to be told to see a financial advisor as obviously that is something we will be organising.
I would like to hear from people who have declared bankruptcy.
We are very seriously struggling to stay afloat. We have about $150k in debt from both personal and business related decisions. Where we live unemployment is high, so I stay at home and my husband works (he's very lucky to have gotten the job he has), half of our income is from Centrelink (don't like, hate it in fact, but have no choice at the moment). Moving is not a viable option due to the cost. We have no assets - we rent, cars financed, nothing else in our name except debt. The biggest assets we probably have are my wedding/engagement rings and normal family household items like tv, dryer, phones etc.
We have gone onto hardship with certain things, however there are other things that hardship plans are just not an option for (in particular the business related debts). The stress in our lives is through the roof, and only today I've realised we don't have enough money in the bank account to pay for three direct debits this week.
I absolutely don't want to give up, I don't want to give up on our business because it is a great business model, we know people love us but they're just not coming to us (we THINK it's distance/travel related, not something we can change). We have put some much time and effort into it that it's so hard to think about letting it go. But on the other hand our personal lives are severely suffering from the stress and I'm sure our kids are too because they're not getting 100% of mummy and daddy.
Yes I am and have done research on the subject, I'm aware declaring bankruptcy would be hard, but I want to hear personal stories. How hard was it for you, how long did it take to pay off the full debt, do you regret it and anything else you can offer in advice.
Thanks, and please be kind.
4 Replies
I have never declared bankruptcy but I do own a business and if your struggling due to not enough income most suppliers, banks or ATO will understand if you cal them and explain the situation in my experience most of them are very much willing to work with you aslong as you pay something and not just stop payment.
No I haven't but my very close cousin did and although maybe he does not fully regret it he found in the long run it wasn't that helpful. He wiped out about 75k of debt but afterwards still couldn't get back on his feet because he couldn't and didn't change his living situation. So what Im trying to say is you need a plan for after you declare. How are you going to pay other bills? Will you have money to still pay for your rent/car/phone etc? You could get rid of is debt only to have other debt pile on. I know he found it very hard even years after he still found it hard to get small loans he really needed the money for no one would lend him. I was in debt about 50k and considered it but I didn't know what the future held and didn't want to stop myself from travelling or been able to loan other money or ruin my credit so I decided to try and pay it off and I've nearly paid it off after 4 years. It wasn't that hard once I put my mind to it and found creative ways to get some extra cash, obviously not for everyone. Wish you luck either way!
My husband has declared bankruptcy before.! We didn't lose any possessions and after the time frame was up he had no issues getting another loan, he did however pay a higher interest rate on a car loan for 12 months but then it dropped back to normal.!
We learnt a big lesson and now have a mortgage and a car loan with no issues :)
Yes, I have. First, you don't have to pay anything back (apart from child support debt if that effects you) second, you will loose the cars, can't own a vehicle over about $6k, you won't have to give up your household items or rings. You will have a clean slate, no debt and in a situation to save. Can't earn over something like 57k if you're single, but add wife and dependants and the threshold goes up, then you have to pay a small percentage.
I've just been discharged, am a single mum with 2 toddlers, have $15k in the bank and drive a 2001 car worth $4k.
Only advice I can give you is do it sooner rather than later and then save as much as you can during the 3 years.
It's not that bad, no one else knows.
I had a unit that was ruined by tenants and body corp decided to upgrade and charged $20k in fees in 3 months and I was stuck. Sometimes it's the only way out.