Bankruptcy costs

If you’re applying to make yourself bankrupt, the cost varies slightly depending on where you live in the UK.

In England and Wales, it costs:

• £130 for the application fee
• £550 for the bankruptcy deposit

In Northern Ireland, it costs:

• £151 for the court fee
• £525 for the bankruptcy deposit 
• About £7 for the solicitor’s fee

You might not have to pay the court fee in Northern Ireland if you’re on a low income or you get certain benefits.

If a creditor is applying to make you bankrupt, they’ll pay:

• a £1,500 petition deposit (the cost of managing the bankruptcy)
• £332 in court costs

You won’t pay a fee in this situation.

No matter where you live, the bankruptcy fee must be paid before you submit your application.

When you’re filling in your application form, you’ll be given the option to pay your bankruptcy fee online by credit, debit or prepaid card, or in cash at certain banks. 

Paying online

If you opt for this payment method, you can pay in instalments of as little as £5. But you won’t be able to submit your application until the fee is paid in full.

Although paying by credit card is an option online, the application warns ‘you shouldn’t use your own credit card to pay for bankruptcy’. This is because you could get in trouble for committing fraud, as the credit card company could argue you spent the money knowing you wouldn’t end up paying it back.

Paying in cash

You can pay in cash at certain banks. For this option, you’ll have to pay the full amount in one go. You can’t pay in instalments.

To pay by cash, when you’re filling in the application form:

• click ‘I can’t pay by card’ to get the Insolvency Service’s bank account details
• you’ll be told which bank to make the payment at
• when you make the payment, ask for a receipt
• it will take two or three working days for your bankruptcy application to update and show the fee has been paid
• you will then be able to submit your application 

Another person or organisation paying the fee

Sometimes a relative or a charity might pay the bankruptcy fee for you. If some or all of your bankruptcy fee is being paid by another person or organisation, they can also opt to do so by card or in cash. If they want to pay by card:

• click ‘have someone else make a payment on my behalf’ to get your payment reference (this never changes, so the person paying can use the same one every time if they’re paying in instalments) and a link to the third-party payment page
• Send both of these to the person paying 

If they want to pay in cash: 

• click ‘I can’t pay by card’ to get the Insolvency Service’s bank account details and pass these onto the person making the payment (be sure to include your payment reference number) 
• tell them which bank they can make the payment at
• ask them to make the payment and get a receipt

Until you submit your bankruptcy application, you can change your mind and get a full refund.

To do this:

• click ‘discard application’
• be prepared to wait up to three weeks to get your money back
• be aware the money will go back to the same card that made the payment(s) or back to you if the payment was in cash

Once you’ve submitted your application, you can’t withdraw it and ask for a refund. If your application is rejected, you’ll receive a refund of £550 for the bankruptcy deposit. You’ll lose the application fee. It’s rare for this to happen – less than one in a hundred applications are rejected.

You may be able to get a grant from a charity to help you pay your fees. 

Find out if you might be able to get help.

If you have more than £20 a month left over after you’ve covered your essential living costs, the official receiver may ask you to pay this money towards your debts. This is known as an income payment agreement (IPA). 

An IPA lasts up to three years and can start at any time in the first 12 months of your bankruptcy.