If you go bankrupt you will have to keep paying your utility bills and other normal living expenses. However, if you have arrears on any of your accounts, these are written off.
Included in this article:
- How do you pay your utility bills if you go bankrupt?
- Are utility bill arrears written off?
- Can you keep your mobile phone?
- Car insurance and bankruptcy
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How do you pay your utility bills if you go Bankrupt?
If you go bankrupt you don’t lose control of your day to day finances. The income that you receive from wages or benefits will still be paid to you as normal.
You will also remain responsible for paying your ongoing utility bill payments. These include things like your gas, electricity, water, home broadband and mobile phone.
Reasonable amounts to cover these bills are included in your living expenses budget. As such once you are Bankrupt you should have sufficient funds to maintain these without a problem.
You can have a bank account for your money to be paid into and for utility bills and other expenses to be paid out of.
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Are utility bills arrears written off if you go Bankrupt?
If you are in arrears with any of your utilities at the time you go bankrupt, these will normally be included and written off. This includes electricity, gas, water and council tax arrears.
If you have payment plans in place for any arrears, you will be able to stop paying these. The Bankruptcy will allow you to start fresh with your household expenses, ensuring you do not get into further debt.
From the date you go bankrupt you will be responsible for making your ongoing utility bills payments as normal. There should be no reason for you to get into further arrears as you will have enough money in your living expenses budget to pay them on time each month.
Utility bills arrears for both your current property and any previous properties you have lived in can be included in bankruptcy.
Can you keep your mobile phone if you go Bankrupt?
If you have a mobile phone on contract this is technically a credit agreement. However if you go bankrupt you will normally be allowed to continue paying for this so you can keep your phone.
The only time you might face difficulty is if you want to take a new contract with a different mobile provider. Your poor credit rating is likely to prevent you from doing this. As such if you want to change to a different provider you will probably have to choose a pay as you go service.
If you have a mobile phone contract that you no longer want you could simply stop paying this. Any outstanding payments can then be included as a debt in your bankruptcy.
Your monthly mobile phone payments must be reasonable. If they are too high you may be asked to reduce them unless you have an acceptable justification for the expenditure.
Car insurance and bankruptcy
Clearly if you have a car you need to keep paying your insurance premium when you go Bankrupt. If you pay on a monthly basis then like a mobile phone contract this is technically a credit agreement.
However it will be acceptable for you to continue with your monthly payments. This is a sensible way of budgeting for this expenditure.
When your insurance comes up for renewal if you want to continue to pay monthly you may have to stick with the same insurer. Trying to move to a different insurer and asking to pay monthly may result in a check on your credit rating which you are likely to fail.
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I was made bankrupt 2 years ago. I still have a huge electric bill which I had then and am still trying to pay off without success. Should this have been written off? If so what can I do ? Thank you.
Hi Jacqueline
Thank you for your query (below).
I confirm that if you had outstanding electricity arrears at the time of your bankruptcy, these should have been included in your bankruptcy and written off with the rest of your debts. For more information about the debts included in bankruptcy click on this link: Which debts are included in bankruptcy?
The fact that they were not is probably because you did not list the debt on your original application form and the OR was therefore not aware. This does not matter. The debt is still included even though it was not originally listed and dealt with.
Your first port of call should be to contact the electric company and let them know that you went bankrupt 2 years ago and therefore the debt owed to them up to the date of the bankruptcy is included and not payable.
They will not be able to check the Insolvency Register to confirm you went bankrupt because your details will no longer be there. As such, you should show them a copy of your bankruptcy order. Any issues, you will need to refer back to the Official Receiver’s office that dealt with your case.
Thank you so much for your help . Kind regards Jackie