Well 6 days after BR and we recieved our first letter. The OR stated that he had no intention of interviewing us as this present time, however he may wish to in the future. He asked that we signed 3 forms each and returned them to him within 7 days. The forms were one on Data Protection, one to say that we had understood the letter and read the leaflets regarding the fact that our assests are now his and one to confirm that we understood our new tax codes. The last two (I think) had to be witnessed by a friend or relative and signed.

The next day we each recieved a call from the ORs assistant. He was a lovely man, who didnt really have any business to do with my husband but was having trouble getting hold of me (I was in the classroom studying). I rang him back in my lunch hour (I was so nervous), but I neednt have been. He was very nice, quite charming and witty and made things very easy for me to understand. The first thing that he said was that I could keep my car! I was so happy and offered to drive to his office and kiss him! He just needs a copy of my road tax, Insurance Certificate and MOT certificate. He also asked for a copy of our Life Assurance policy and  a break down of our expenditure (I had not individually totalled things when I submitted online), I had also missed out a couple of credit card balances, but he was happy to take a close estimate on the phone. He also said that he had no interest in our furniture or appliances. We then chatted about my job and was I flying anywhere nice in the coming months. Then I bid him farewell and went and got some lunch!

The next day we recieved our welcome packs from the C0-Op, we had been accepted for individual bank accounts! This was proving to be a positive week. All the advice we had been given on the forums was proving to be essential, for example opening our Co-Op accounts on the day of BR, without the forums I would not have even known about the Co-Op.

Then the next day (phew!) we recieved 3 letters each from the OR. Pretty much saying the same thing, that they now had the rights to our home, but that we could purchase the BI. We plan to do this as the house is in negative equity, so it should cost £1 plus £211 fees. We are going to have my dad buy it. We already have the estate agents valuations from July (two months ago) and hope that they will be classed as ‘recent’. I think for the first time we are actually pleased that we took out a 110% mortgage as it has actually helped us keep our home. Fingers crossed. So we have to also send of the valuations and a mortgage statement which we also have, so hopefully should be dealt with swiftly.

Downside is that we are still rather poor. My salary kicks in this month and we start our own bank accounts, so things will be better then I’m sure.

Still recieving plenty of calls and scary letters, in fairness I havent really spoken to any of them so its to be expected. The two that I did speak to continue to call, so I’ll sort it out once my course has finished. The letters do still frighten me as I dont think that my debt free existence has sunk in yet! I still dont quite believe it. I do feel gratitude though, that someone has given me a second chance.

Didnt see the local rag as stayed in London for the week, so I have no idea if we were in it or not. Strangely enough I dont really care! My step mum has been a rock and really taken care of me and girls. I’m going to give her my M&S Blog vouchers, as she really deserves them, she’ll probably say no, but I really want her to have them. Anyway its saturday now, so I’ll post everything off on monday and then hopefully we should find out if an IPA is needed.

Just my luck part 2:

Well if it wasnt bad enough that I saw my new friend in court on D day, how about this? Its actually quite funny.

I live on a small street of about 18 houses, in the next street we have had to endure the neighbours from hell for the past 18 months. Honestly no words can describe these people. Whole house graffittied outside and INSIDE, staircase ripped out, garden set fire to, every single window smashed and front door kicked in, gangs of kids using abusive langu age 24/7, you name it. Anyway for the past week or so the house has been boarded up and its all gone quiet. I was having a nose yesterday when 4 other neighbours decided to join me. It transpires that the house was left in a will to the mum from hell and they have now been evicted. Thats the rumour anyway. Neighbour number 1 then piped up…..

“It will be in the back of the paper this week if they’ve been evicted”

“No it wont” I answered

“Yes it will” said neighbour 2, “It will be at the back with the legal notices”

“No it wont” I repeated

“I work for the council” said neighbour 3, “they have to print it if someone gets evicted and owns the property…”

“No they dont” I butted in.

“It will be at the back with the bankruptcies and other public notices…..”

“No it wont!” I barked begining to sound desperate

“yeah it will, we’ll all have to look out for it” said neighbour 3.

“gulp!” (that was the noise that I think came from me)

How unlucky? I cant believe it. The one bloody week my neighbours decide to read the back pages and its the week I went BR! I could flamin’ well throttle that family from hell!

As for hubby and I, we have now decided 100% to part.

He isnt going to adapt to this new life and I dont want the responsibility of making things balance anymore, I’ve done that for too long. He will have to stand on his own two feet from now on. Obviously there are other issues too, but this is one of the main ones that has been cropping up for years and never gets resolved. I sat  my step-daughter down (she is 22) and explained everything, I even told her about the BR. Her reaction did not surprise me in the least, mature, understanding and caring. She is going to rent a two bed flat/house in her name and share it with her daddy. That way when the girls go and stay with their daddy, at least their sister will be there too. I’ve also had my homeless brother sleeping on my couch (dont ask)!!!!, and I’ve told him to grow up, get responsible and get out. Harsh I know, but if you knew him and the full story you would know its the only language that he understands.

I’m very sad to be going it alone with an 8 month old and 3 year old, but I’m practically doing it on my own now anyway, plus I am so miserable in my marriage (so is he), something has to change. They will be leaving once the OR has conducted his review and decided on an IPA etc. Once that is sorted, we will each do a new I&E (taking into account all the changes) and submit to the OR. Yup, the OR is gonna love us. If we had sorted this sooner then we still would have done it this way as I’ve heard that ORs dont take kindly to going BR whilst splitting!!!!! So it looks like Nov/Dec time. I feel awful for my children and feel so guilty, but they have a good daddy who I know will see them everyday if he can.

So thats it for now. Back to work in 2 days, bit stressed about the exams and whether I have studied enough (still got loads to do), but know that I will be fine. Looking forward to it! Its gonna be 12 months of big changes!