Bankrupt in Singapore
From Financial Literacy Wiki
You can be made bankrupt in Singapore as long as your aggregate debt is more than SGD$10,000.
Responsibilities of Bankrupt
A bankrupt is duty bound to account for any money or property he receives after bankruptcy. He is allowed to keep a reasonable part of his income for himself and family, and then handover the excess to Official Assignee (OA) for distribution to creditors. To know how much excess, he is required to list his expenses in a Statement of Affairs and modify his lifestyle. Property acquired during one's bankruptcy might be liquidated to pay back to creditors.
Depending on your occupation, you might be required to terminate your services or redeployed to another job. So note that you might lose your dream job, jeopardizing your career. This is usually the case for those providing advice or executing transactions in the financial services industry. You might be required to inform your employer of your bankruptcy status, and also do note that your bankruptcy status would be announced in the newspaper.
Consequences of Bankruptcy
Your HDB flat is safe from creditors unless there is a specific clause in your home loan contract for foreclosure in the even of bankruptcy.
You still can take a holiday overseas but you must seek for approval from OA. The OA might require you to declare who is paying your traveling expenses. Leaving Singapore without permission, can result in jailed for up to 2 years or fined up to $10,000 or both.
Having been a bankrupt, your credit record is held in the Credit Bureau, keeping your bankruptcy report for up to six years. Such records might be passed to banks when you apply for loans after your discharge. Making it likely that the bank would reject your applications.
How to be Discharged from Bankruptcy
When you can be discharged from bankruptcy depends on various factors for instance if you have a proposed scheme to settle debt with creditors. You can be discharged by the OA, being issued a certificate provided that
- Been bankrupt for more than 3 yrs.
- Aggregate amount of of debt does not exceed $500,00
