Little blue book,
Many of us are in the same position. I can only say it is brave of you to say what is really happening, a prime example being yourself.
My advice to new wannabies - think twice before starting of a career for this industry, the amount of cash you need to do it would feed a small African nation! At the moment they need experienced pilots, but the industry will not get them, if they do not assist in the training costs to some extent for the newly qualified pilots to start to become experienced pilots.
The thread link on bankruptcy is:
http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthr...t&pagenumber=1
You will find many have went belly up before you, but there is good detail and advice on the topic here.
Regards the gap in your career, as Super Pilot mentioned, you don't have to disclose it. Did you fly abroad? Why not just say you wanted to become more cultured and took a year out to travel abroad?
Best of luck.