From: Adrian Kelf 
Subject: Re: Is bankruptcy ever a 'spent conviction'?
Newsgroups: uk.finance uk.legal
Date: Wed, 22 Feb 2006 10:29:15 GMT

On Wed, 22 Feb 2006 09:59:26 GMT, Oscar the Cat wrote:

>> I was just wondering how long financial institutions are allowed
>> to expect an answer to questions such as "have you ever been
>> declared bankrupt?"
>>
>> It seems that most criminal convictions are classed as 'spent'
>> after a period of time. And, they do not have be declared on many
>> official forms after that date.
>>
>> Does the same apply to bacnkruptcy after, say, X number of years
>> following discharge?

> If it's no longer on your credit file, and you're not applying for credit 
> form one of the organisations that were a creditor when you were declared 
> bankrupt, then it's unlikely anyone will know, unless that company keeps a 
> record of all bankruptcies since the year dot and/or you tell them.
> 
> Some might say there is a moral duty to disclose, however, morallity with 
> financial institutions seems to be a one way passage, so what they consider 
> is wrong for you, they might consider alright for them.
> 
> Personally, I would have no compulsion to disclose a past which I have well 
> and truly "spent".  Some people on here might argue that you would be giving 
> a false statement by not declaring you were a bankrupt, but unless a company 
> goes into lots of digging (unlikely because they no longer have the 
> resource) then its unlikely they will ever discover your true past.

OTOH obtaining money or a pecuniary advantage by deception can have serious
consequences and it only costs a pound for them (or anybody) to check by
searching the Land Charges Registry whose records do indeed for all
practical purposes go back to "the year dot".
-- 
Adrian Kelf