Debt Relief Orders (DRO) - Information & help thread
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Pickles112 wrote: »I think ive got £1.03 in there I've had it opened to try and save but unfortunately haven't got very far. Yeah it's a nationwide cashbuilder. So shall I take a statement in to show I have nothing?
Will I be able to keep this account as I could got my wages paid in to that one when they close my current account?
Many thanks
They'll only close your current account if it's overdrawn (and therefore listed as a debt) or if you have other debts with them.
You really need a new current account, unconnected to your debts, before you do the DRO, if this one is going to be closed.
Frankly, an account with £1.03 in it isn't worth mentioning as an asset.0 -
Okay I thought I'd ask as I forgot to mention it as I don't use it and thought it might be on my credit file so just incase I was going to take a statement in. I have just opened a lloyds current account and my current account I've got has an overdraft so it will be included in the DRO.
Many thanks.0 -
Hi again
I'm so close to completing the DRO but my housing officer is being awful telling me she will take us to court If I go through with it and I'll lose my house whether I carry on paying full rent with arrears on top or not! We've had a payment plan set up for a while for arrears and finally getting all sorted she was the one that referred me to CAB and they recommended the DRO but now she's against what CAB are saying. Has anyone had this and gone through with it? What's happened with court etc...
Thanks0 -
Pickles112 wrote: »Hi again
I'm so close to completing the DRO but my housing officer is being awful telling me she will take us to court If I go through with it and I'll lose my house whether I carry on paying full rent with arrears on top or not! We've had a payment plan set up for a while for arrears and finally getting all sorted she was the one that referred me to CAB and they recommended the DRO but now she's against what CAB are saying. Has anyone had this and gone through with it? What's happened with court etc...
Thanks
Hi Pickles
Rent arrears is treated differently from other debts if it is on the house you live in at the moment - you ARE allowed to make payment from your 'up to £50' surplus. So if your arrangement is for £5 or £10 a week then that is acceptable.
However, if they were to evict you they would have no action available to them to recover the money as it is covered by the DRO.
So most Housing Associations like them, particularly as the tenant does not have to be paying maybe more aggressive collectors like council tax bailiffs and benefit overpayments. Some even voluntarily write off the arrears after a period though they have no legal need to do so.
Ask them to explain what they are intending as it may be that the Housing Officer has misunderstood how they work.0 -
Hi guys so I've recently just had my dro accepted and it has closed my current account. I have since opened another account (basic) with barclays but now they are telling me I cannot access online banking (can still purchase items online and use my new account as I wish but cannot log into an account to check my balance which is obviously a pain) just wondering if anyone else had this issue or if I can open an account with another bank and get online banking?0
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PaigeKrista wrote: »Hi guys so I've recently just had my dro accepted and it has closed my current account. I have since opened another account (basic) with barclays but now they are telling me I cannot access online banking (can still purchase items online and use my new account as I wish but cannot log into an account to check my balance which is obviously a pain) just wondering if anyone else had this issue or if I can open an account with another bank and get online banking?
I've only heard of accounts being closed if they are actually overdrawn and in the DRO, or you have other debts to that bank.
We know Nat West do check the register but only downgrade accounts.
As for Barclays denying online access, that's a new one on me. If you can't get anywhere with them, and internet access is important to you, try someone else but a bank that is not connected to any of your debts.0 -
Hi. Ive posted this eslewhere on the forum but found this after and thought it was relevant.
my wife has been lumbered with a debt of around £17000 in total from a previous partner. She has been paying these debt companies via payplan with a token payment of what we can afford over the last 6 years. Now on this year's review last month payplan said because she can't afford to pay enough per month to make it worth while so they have shut her account down and basically said to either go bankrupt or handle the repayments herself and gave her a diy pack. We have a 3 year old and my wife is diabetic so were living on my wage alone and some credits. We have been talking to CAB and national debtline about her going bankrupt or a Dro, were not financially tied.
We sold her house last year, because she had a very poor credit file with defaults from the debts and couldn't remortgage so were stuck on interest only and we couldn't afford me to take the mortgage on my wage and didn't want to join our finances as my credit file is clean, she had around £3500 left from the sale once all payments were taken out and we used that to get our new house on my name alone, the only house we could get was on a shared ownership 5% mortgage.
So with the fact she had £3500 left from her house last year in June we have been told by debtline that a dro would be thrown out because of the £3500 asset from the house so she has to wait until that is over 2 years before she can do a dro. She was looking into going bankrupt but again we can't get a straight answer from anyone on weather to or not. She has no assets, only a car which I bought myself that's worth more than 1000.
Does she really need to declare that she's had that 3500 asset from her old house and she can do a dro? We don't have any way our of this at the moment.
Thanks.0 -
So with the fact she had £3500 left from her house last year in June we have been told by debtline that a dro would be thrown out because of the £3500 asset from the house so she has to wait until that is over 2 years before she can do a dro. She was looking into going bankrupt but again we can't get a straight answer from anyone on weather to or not. She has no assets, only a car which I bought myself that's worth more than 1000.
If she meets the criteria for a DRO, she can make the application.
The DRO Unit will want to know what happened to the proceeds of a house sale if in the 2 years before the application.
On the positive side she didn't treat any creditors with preference. If it doesn't work, she's lost £90. If it does work, that's 17k of debt dealt with.
I understand where National Debtline are coming from but I'd give it a go as a DRO is more straightforward than bankruptcy as long as you can itemise your debts accurately. Or, to be safer, continue token offers and do it next year0 -
Hi fatbelly, thankyou for your reply.
She meets all criteria apart from the proceeds from the house so if we can get past that then we're all go. So they will be asking about the 3500 before she makes the application and £90 fee? If they won't accept it then she doesn't go forward with the application and we don't loose out?
Another fear is that if the application gets thrown out then she has to wait 6 years to re apply.
Such a scary situation were in.0 -
OK - I've got a bit more time now...
She has not made a preferential payment or sold anything for less than it was worth. So she can answer 'no' to those two questions on the application. Would the DRO Unit find out about this? Well, they might because the mortgage might show on the credit check as having been redeemed last year. And if the intermediary knows about it they are required to flag this up.
On the positive side the £3500 would not have cleared her debts. The problem (if there is one) is in where the £3500 went, and whether by investing in your property she has acquired a beneficial interest in it and thus exceeds the asset limit. It's a bloody difficult subject at the best of times.
Any intermediary will be understandably cautious - better to say 'it might be a problem' even if there is a small chance of the application being declined or revoked.
I think technically if the application is declined, you can re-apply as soon as the 'issue' is sorted but if revoked you do have to wait 6 years before another one.
But I thought the choice was between DRO and bankruptcy. My tentative suggestion was to try the DRO knowing that if that doesn't work you still have bankruptcy as the next option, but have lost £90.
Here is what the DRO Unit say about your situation:
Previously Owned Properties
Where a client informs their intermediary that they have previously owned a property that has been sold within the last two years, it would be good practice to ask the client to provide a copy of the completion statement. This would assist the Official Receiver in the event that there are any problems in the application process.0
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