Client Reference

Like many others in Ireland, I experienced a dramatic change in financial circumstances over the past number of years. I found myself quite suddenly with very little money coming into the household to pay large monthly outgoings. I had a family home, and also a rental property with tenants who were not paying the rent fully or on time. My biggest outgoings were two heavy mortgages and a personal loan used to renovate my home. I talked to the bank but ultimately was not able to work out a solution with them. My health had suffered badly as a result of the immense stress of trying to keep everything together and clearly the situation was not sustainable either short or long term. Over a period twenty-four months, arrears on my loans quickly accumulated. This combined with plummeting property prices and massive negative equity, meant that in a very short period of time I was facing loans I could barely repay in my lifetime.

I had dealt with Anthony Joyce many years previously when he handled the purchase of my first family home at a very reasonable price. I then saw his firm “Aj Debt Solutions” name mentioned in relation to personal debt and insolvency. I contacted Aj Debt Solutions and received solid, confidential, and non-judgemental advice in relation to handling my personal debt, and the options that were open to me. I decided that the best option available to me was to attempt to sell my rental property and family home and try to deal with the bank on the remaining amount owed. There was little prospect of work for me in Ireland so I decided to relocate to the UK to live with family, re-train and hopefully start-over. I found a buyer for one of my properties but was unable to reach agreement with the bank to sell due to negative equity. Having explored all possibilities, Aj Debt Solutions advised and assisted me in establishing myself in the UK and subsequently applying for personal bankruptcy in an English court.

Bankruptcy is not an option to be taken lightly, but given the current status of the Irish insolvency process and my personal situation, it was that felt applying for bankruptcy in the UK was the best route for me. Anthonys team proved extremely helpful in making the move to the UK, advising on everything from the mundane to the complex, and structuring things in a manner to make the transition easy. I was also fully supported in gathering together the information required to support my application (my own court petition, which was actually quite straightforward, stretched to over 75 pages!).

The actual process of “going bankrupt” took approximately 25 minutes, all done at the counter of the local district court. It is anonymous on the day, no-one holds you to task and you are dealt with in a very professional, courteous, and matter of fact manner. I was declared bankrupt within 30 minutes of going in the door of the court. I received a phone call later in the day from the official receivers office to go through some basic details of the application and arrange a day and time to have a phone interview. The phone interview happened a week later and took just over an hour. The person I dealt with was again, very professional and was only interested in the facts of what had happened to bring me to this point and what was left to deal with. I answered the questions honestly giving additional information where I felt it might be helpful. I may be contacted again if the receiver needs further details, but from a practical point of view I will be automatically free from debt within a year, versus the uncertainty facing me in the new Irish system where it seems the odds seem stacked firmly in the banks favour.

I am extremely grateful for the assistance given to me by the Aj Debt Solutions team – they are extremely knowledgeable, and always professional and fair. I have no doubt that I could not have gone through the process as smoothly without their sage advice and strongly recommend their services.