Year End

Here we are, at the end of 2013. It’s been an eventful old year, what with one thing and another.

In no particular order – and probably leaving out a load of lesser stuff – my 2013 has consisted of…

  • Having Mondeo kill itself in the outside lane of the M1 – always an interesting experience
  • Renting a Renault Megane for two weeks – the shittest car it’s ever been my displeasure to drive
  • Buying the Saab as a replacement for Mondeo, and it’s done well so far.  Handing back the Megane was also an absolute joy
  • Countless meetings all over the country
  • Completing my bankruptcy period – it stays on the record for four more years, but it’s discharged now
  • Being made redundant from the job I started the year with
  • Going back to contracting and
    • getting the first job I applied for – indeed, they offered it to me at the interview, and wanted me to start immediately
    • And the second – although it turned out to be shit
    • And indeed the third – on that one they offered after phone interview, without even meeting me
  • Forming my new company, which will start trading from mid-January
  • Sorting out an ISA savings account – which actually has some money in it!
  • Continued writing, and getting some ideas out onto keyboard/paper – time will tell how successful that stays
  • Been able to purchase some stuff I didn’t have in the new house – like a proper bed-frame, etc.
  • Caught up with friends, some of whom I hadn’t seen in far too long
  • Attended two weddings – and another one’s already booked for 2014

All told, it’s been pretty busy, somewhat hectic, highly changeable, and not a bad year at all. Sure, things could have been better/smoother, but when all things are considered, I’d say it’s been a positive year.


Death of a Bankrupt

Since declaring myself bankrupt in August 2013, I’ve noticed it a lot more in the news. That’s not to say it’s in the news more (or even less) often, merely that I notice it, having been through that process.

So I found the story yesterday about the suicide of Paul Bhattacharjee to be very sad.  From the evidence, it looks like he had been declared bankrupt, and killed himself as a result.

Of course, that wasn’t the entire cause – his widow said he was a “proud” man who had a “darkness inside him that was irreparable”.

‘The bankruptcy was the final straw after a life of major highs and lows’

From a personal side, I can absolutely understand the perceived ‘shame’ of bankruptcy – and probably more so when someone else has declared you bankrupt rather than it being a decision made by yourself. It’s had a stigma for a very long time – and again, it’s an understandable stigma. It’s about saying ‘I can’t afford to pay my debts’, and should never be treated lightly.

However, from my own experience, I don’t think it is The End. In many ways it’s a new start, as I’ve said before. There is a shame, a pain to go with the process – and I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone without knowing their entire situation, or as anything except a last resort. It is emphatically not a quick fix, or a “get out of jail free” card.

But shameful? In these days of debt, loans, finance and borrowing? I don’t know that it’s as bad as it was even fifty years ago. It’s more commonplace certainly – although at the moment it appears that personal insolvencies and bankruptcies are falling (and have been since 2009)

personal_insolvencies_since_2003

(That graph comes from the Insolvency service, and is copyrighted to them)

I completely understand why someone would feel the stigma and shame of being declared bankrupt and feel the need to kill themselves as a result – and probably even more so when that person also already has a history and core of depression – but in many cases it is not The End. It is  the end of the stress, the pain of being chased from pillar to post by creditors, the hassles of interest, mounting charges, and juggling finances, knowing that it’ll only take one tiny change or event to push you off the edge of the cliff.

It’s not an easy process – I know I’ve no intention of ever going through it again, and (as I’ve said already) I wouldn’t recommend it to people except as a final option. It is the death of many things, of the life you know, and sometimes of the things you have. It’s a loss, and as such perhaps is a thing to grieve, to regret, to learn from.

But what it also is, though, is a relief. A new start. An ability to rebuild your life from a stable foundation, to build everything back in a better, more stable – and a debt-free – manner. It’s a struggle, but it’s also a new life, if you allow it to be.


Furnishing

Over the weekend, I finally got round to buying myself a new bedframe. It’s been a long time without one – basically, the one I had from previous house was too big to get up the staircase in the new place. (And by new I mean ‘the one I moved into in May 2012’)

It’s been an absolute ball-ache to find a decent bed that’s short/low enough to get up the staircase, which is one of the most awkward I’ve ever lived with – narrow, enclosed, jutty-out bits in the ceiling, steep, and with a 180° bend that needs to be negotiated with larger items. In short, it’s a bastard.  And shifting a mattress up there is an exercise in swearing and sheer physical labour.

Coupled to that, crappy finances meant that investing in a new bedframe was – well – not a priority.  But with new job, and all that, I thought I’d get round to doing something about it at last.

Anyway, having done some research, Ikea now do a low bed, so on Friday I went to the nearest one, and ordered it for delivery. (A downside of now having Saab instead of Mondeo – a bedframe and/or mattress won’t easily fit into a saloon car!)

Come Sunday, it finally got delivered at about 5pm. No timescales or delivery warning, just blew a Sunday waiting for it to arrive. Bastards.  But it’s all assembled (one bit being a pig, due to the necessary methods not being listed in the actual instructions – cheers for that, Ikea) so onwards and upwards in this great game of life.


Decisions, Decisions

So, as well as everything else, I’ve got a number of projects ongoing for which I’d now (I think) like to form a limited company again.

I know the company name is available, I already own the relevant domains etc.  It’s just a question of whether I actually do go down the route of limited company – which has its own issues with paperwork, accounts etc. – or whether I just do it as a sole trader.

In general, I prefer the limited route, and I’m safe again to be a director now the Bankruptcy has discharged. But I need to decide which will work best, and how it will all combine to work.  I know that with a Ltd. I can also use it for my contracting etc., although that tends to make the company very profitable very quickly. Might be a good thing, might not.

And of course some of it will also come down to whether any of the main banks will let me have a business bank account, what with only being a month out of Bankruptcy.

It makes more sense (kind of) to start on this kind of venture in January, start of a new year and all that. I need to think about all of these things for a while before making the decisions on where I’ll be heading. And that’s some of what this weekend will be about, I think.


Scoring

As part of both the Five Year Plan and rebuilding post-bankruptcy, one thing that’s really useful to know is one’s credit score, as well as what records are being held, and what they say.

So I’ve signed up (briefly) to Credit Expert, the happy smiley public face of the credit-reporting/scoring agency Experian.

It’s been an interesting process so far. When I registered to look at the record, I got told I’d got an existing account. Surprising – I did use them about eight years ago while with Herself, but nothing since. So I’ve had to go through a bundle of hoops in order to resurrect the old account, on a defunct email address/domain, because ‘we can’t have two records/accounts for the same person’ (according to their customer services clowns) despite that second account having a new email, address, phone number, and details. (Indeed, it’s kind of spooky that they can make the connection at all, based on the sheer level of change that’s gone on)

Annoyingly, this ‘use your old account’ process means I can’t take advantage of their ’30-day free trial’ offer, but I can live with that, to be honest.

Still, it’s letting me check all the relevant information, and I’m quite surprised to see that things are more positive than I’d expected. I was fully braced for seeing a score down near zero, and rebuilding from there. Instead, because of the ongoing accounts I’ve held over the last year (and more) it’s sat in the “fair” bracket. Which is quite amusing, when you think about it.

There are some bits I want to check out, particularly a couple of accounts that still say there’s large amounts outstanding – despite them being part of the bankruptcy process. I’ll find out what needs doing with those, as (I think) they should be sat along with the other accounts that read “closed”, rather than “In Default”.  But I’ll find all that out, and figure out what needs doing.

There’s a long way to go yet, and I have no intentions of ending up back in the same situation I was in last year. But I do want to rebuild, to know I can make use of these things should I ever have to, want to, or need to. It’s not a quick process, but these first steps have shown me that perhaps – perhaps – the process won’t be quite as slow and drawn-out as I was expecting initially.


Catching Up

With the new contract starting on Tuesday, and knowing I’m going to be doing about 50% more driving than I have up ’til now on the Saab, I’ve spent some time this week getting things organised, catching up on stuff I should’ve done a while back.

I’ve already written about getting the replacement windscreen, and today I’m getting it serviced, making sure everything’s OK for the increased commute and so on.  I’m vaguely optimistic that I won’t need much doing on it – I know it needs a complete oil change and so on, but that’s part of the service cost.   I’ll update later when I know the full story…

[Updated : Complete oil change, as expected. Replacement front and rear brakes (pads and discs), as not expected, but all fine]

As well as that, this week has involved

  • That interview
  • Talking to bank about changing bank account (Doing that this afternoon)
  • Sorting out finances, bills, umbrella companies and payment structures
  • Taking on another couple of bits of work
  • Starting up a Cash ISA, with the aim of starting to build up finances again. Who knows, maybe one day I’ll even become a fiscal grown-up. (Don’t hold your breath on that one though)

Really it’s all been about getting myself organised, I know I’m going to be busy for the next six months, and I just want to have everything in place for starting on Tuesday. And yes, I know I’m a real saddo for doing so. I don’t care.


Year One

As of today, I’m no longer technically in bankruptcy. (Which is a weird word to type, but that’s something else entirely)

I declared myself bankrupt a year ago today, and that discharges automatically after one year, other than in exceptional circumstances. Basically, if the court decides you’ve been obstructive, or untruthful – or you’ve continued to build debt while in bankruptcy, or done anything else seriously stupid – they can extend the period of bankruptcy, but I’ve not done any of that, so it expires today.

There’s still a long way to go before it’s completely expunged from the record – another five years, in fact – but regardless, this is a milestone. (Rather than the millstone that the debts themselves were)

I’m still paying what I can afford for the next two years too. Once that’s done, it’s about rebuilding properly – for one thing, the amount I’m currently paying through the court system can go into a savings account. I haven’t missed the money, so I might as well keep paying it, but for my benefit rather than anyone else’s.

Bankruptcy isn’t an easy process, it’s not one I’d wish on anyone else. But it’s also not the great stigma on one’s character that it used to be, and while it’s not The Answer, it most certainly is An Answer.

For my own life, I’m glad I made the decision to go down this route – not that there were many other options, to be honest – because it’s allowing me to start again, to build up from those solid foundations that the last year has let me build.