More on banking

Things seemed to have settled with my Co op bank account and the Cashminder (as it's called) is really all an individual could need from an account.

There's online banking, where you can pay all your bills either by Direct Debit, Standing Order or just a one off payment provided you have the recipients account and sort code.

You don't get a cheque book, but I can't say I have personally missed this in the slightest.

You do get a Visa Electron debit card, which works in Link machines. That's fine. The only time I have been inconvenienced, was last week, when my new employers sent me to Holland, where they don't have Link cash machines. This ATM card doesn't carry Cirrus or the other international marks intonating you can use them outside the UK.

If you don't have a Co op bank near you, this could cause a problem. My first cheque deposited to the account, took 10 days to clear, because I had to post it to Manchester. Alternatively, you get envelopes where you can hand a cheque over at a Post Office, but this I imagine would take a similar time. I discovered we had a newly opened branch in my town, so I popped the cheque through their door on a Sunday and it was showing as uncleared funds on Monday.

I'm impressed with the simplicity of the web site interface, you can see at a glance what funds you have available (or not in my case).

As I have no clear way of tracking the visits to this site, if you should find any of the advice or points covered within at all useful, please let me know and say how you found me.

Something I didn't know

Most people are aware that if your circumstances should alter for better or worse during your period of bankruptcy, you are legally as well as duty bound to tell the Insolvency Service.

In November I managed to get a job, taking me off unemployment. It's not that well paid a job, but a few days after informing the Official Receiver, I received a questionnaire where I had to break down all my household outgoings. I posted it back and have been told I must now pay £ 50.00 a month for 36 months.

Of course this takes us past my discharge date, which could be as early as February 2007, but it states clearly in the order that the installments must be paid even after a discharge.

So, bankruptcy doesn't exactly wipe the slate clean as most people believe.