So, you're bankrupt and back on the street

This chapter just about brings us up to date with my bankruptcy and covers what I consider to be the toughest part to date; The interview.

As I already covered, at this stage, you have been to court and been judged bankrupt, then taken the short telephone interview with the Official Receiver. You're back on the street.

A week or so later, you will have received a letter giving a date and time that you will be called by the Official Receiver's office. Be prepared for this one as it's a toughie and lasts a lot longer than five minutes.

During this interview, a senior officer will be going through the forms you submitted to the court and asking you a number of questions with regards your written declarations.

Though some of them may appear to be, the questions aren't loaded. The officer's job is to get more backgound to pass on to the Official Receiver as to your circumstances, which will help them make a decision as to your period of bankruptcy and what if any amends you should make to your creditors.

In my case, the interview took over an hour and covered my redundancy some four months previous and what I had done with the money I received as part of my severance package.

I had to cast my mind back and use my cheque book to help thumbnail where the money had gone.

My 15 year old car came under scrutiny as did my four year old PC. A couple of weeks after the interview, I received official notice that my car was not to be seized as part of the administration.

Again, I can only speak from personal experience, but I have found the Official Receivers office to be highly professional, helpful and to a point, friendly.

You will read for example in a previous post, on their own volition, the Halifax froze and closed a brand new account I had opened following my bankruptcy, whilst trying to suggest it was at the Official Receivers instruction.

When I called their office, it took less than two hours for them to instuct the Halifax to release the small amount of money (Jobseekers Allowance) held in the account back to me.

I am still waiting for either an apology or an explanation from their CEO as to why they went through all the procedures of opening an account for me (having been told I was an undischarged bankrupt) and then saying it is not their policy to do so, whilst freezing my account.

As for the period an individual remains "bankrupt", this can be up to 12 months from the date of the court hearing. Because I went to court with n'er a pot to piss in and no income from a job, it was suggested to me during the second interview, that a recommendation would be made for early discharge, which could be as little as six months.

Of course, one should not go hanging hats on suggestions like these. Come the day of discharge, you will receive a letter from the Official Receiver, but I was told that if it runs for the period of twelve months and you've heard nothing, you should telephone the court where you were judged.

Like I've said more than once, everybody's circumstances leading up to bankruptcy are different and so they will be after discharge. For my own situation, whether it is six months or the full twelve, things will alter little after discharge.

I won't be looking for credit or store cards, I won't be hankering after a mortgage and if I was, I reckon the next sharp learning curve would be one of discovering how the banks and financial institutions like to and will screw someone who has few alternatives open to them.

Currently, following the Halifax unpleasantness, I am still trying to open a bank account.

At the time of writing, I appear to have been accepted by a bank and provided all goes smoothly, that will form the topic of the next chapter.