Debt Relief Orders (DRO) - Information & help thread

mumof1and1ontheway

Does anyone have advice please on preventing harrassment? I have written a letter to brighthouse asking them to stop all verbal and physical contact and to contact me by post only, and have included a code of conduct thing in there reminding them it is illegal. but wanted to check its right to do before I post it?
I have had to block all incoming calls to my mobile because I am getting so stressed out. I know its only phone calls and voice mails, but I am stressed already from pregnancy, divorce and other things... so its just adding to the mix.

I will not be giving them the laptop back until they gain a court order to get it back, which could mean weeks or months of phone calls and people turning up at my door!! I am 28 weeks pregnant and have been in hospital already for monitoring which I think was caused by stress.

Am I ok to send the letter or is that adding fuel to the hire? Also once the DRO goes through gas and electric will then install pre payment meters. How long once my DRO has gone through will it take for them to come out and change it to meters? And how much would I need to put on to start with? £50 on each?

My other worry is atm when the DRO goes through I will only have £39 a month left over after bills. which will be tight for my sons bday and for xmas when we get there or emergancies if anything breaks. But once baby is born I have worked out my entitlement and it seems I will have more than £50 a month left over? Am I working it out all wrong?

I am so worried about everything atm so I am really sorry to keep posting on here and asking such stupid questions, They just seem like a huge deal to me, and help to take alot of stress off when I understand each bit iygwim x

Smart_Mart

RobertoMoir wrote: »

OK... This might change the tone of how you deal with the bailiffs in the future. It sounds like he's told you he's going to levy, but either has not (in which case, you should check their charges are correct, with a breakdown of what's been done, because there's a charge for a levy and certain other charges that can only be applied once a levy has been done) or he has levied and not left you with a copy of this, which is "well naughty".

There is a third option which I am happy to admit might have happened. He may have levied AND left me a copy, I may have just mislaid it. Until I get a decent chance to go through all my paperwork, I won't know for sure.

When I rang their office last week to discuss the repayments, the girl there said there was a levy on my account but she didn't have the file immediately to hand to check what exactly the levy was on. If it's on anything, it'll be on those golf clubs but as you've said earlier, it doesn't sound like thye've followed the process properly anyway.

RobertoMoir

Smart_Mart wrote: »

There is a third option which I am happy to admit might have happened. He may have levied AND left me a copy, I may have just mislaid it. Until I get a decent chance to go through all my paperwork, I won't know for sure.

When I rang their office last week to discuss the repayments, the girl there said there was a levy on my account but she didn't have the file immediately to hand to check what exactly the levy was on. If it's on anything, it'll be on those golf clubs but as you've said earlier, it doesn't sound like thye've followed the process properly anyway.

I'd be delighted if they've levied on the clubs. They've carried out an illegal levy at that point and any attempts to "enforce" the debt would be a trespass, and any fees added based on the levy would also be improper. More than that, even if the levy was valid, by levying on the golf clubs, you could simply hand them to the bailiff at the door and tell them to go away. They can't really re-levy under these circumstances.

You might want to try running this past the phone line on the http://www.bailiffadviceonline.co.uk/ website if you want. The person running that site is very smart on this kind of thing and (while I'm 100% sure everything I've said so far is correct) they are not relying on information gained nearly 20 years ago, which I am.

elfieb

mumof1and1ontheway wrote: »

Does anyone have advice please on preventing harrassment? I have written a letter to brighthouse asking them to stop all verbal and physical contact and to contact me by post only, and have included a code of conduct thing in there reminding them it is illegal. but wanted to check its right to do before I post it?
I have had to block all incoming calls to my mobile because I am getting so stressed out. I know its only phone calls and voice mails, but I am stressed already from pregnancy, divorce and other things... so its just adding to the mix.

I will not be giving them the laptop back until they gain a court order to get it back, which could mean weeks or months of phone calls and people turning up at my door!! I am 28 weeks pregnant and have been in hospital already for monitoring which I think was caused by stress.

Am I ok to send the letter or is that adding fuel to the hire? Also once the DRO goes through gas and electric will then install pre payment meters. How long once my DRO has gone through will it take for them to come out and change it to meters? And how much would I need to put on to start with? £50 on each?

My other worry is atm when the DRO goes through I will only have £39 a month left over after bills. which will be tight for my sons bday and for xmas when we get there or emergancies if anything breaks. But once baby is born I have worked out my entitlement and it seems I will have more than £50 a month left over? Am I working it out all wrong?

I am so worried about everything atm so I am really sorry to keep posting on here and asking such stupid questions, They just seem like a huge deal to me, and help to take alot of stress off when I understand each bit iygwim x

Regarding the laptop, why are you refusing to hand it back? Sounds as if it would stop all the hassle if you did. Will this laptop tip you over the £300 assets limit?

UnderPressure

elfieb wrote: »

Regarding the laptop, why are you refusing to hand it back? Sounds as if it would stop all the hassle if you did. Will this laptop tip you over the £300 assets limit?

This whole asset area seems a bit flaky to me, so far as if you were to pack literally all of your wordly belongings into your car then attend any old car boot sale surely "most" people would make £300+ ?

Is it a cumulative figure? My understanding from earlier in this thread was anything that you could sell right now for more than £300? In which case a lappie from Brighthouse (no offence to anyone) was probably not actually worth £300 when it was bought lol, that is the thing with electricals lappies, lcd tv etc etc as soon as you take them out of the box you can kiss goodbye to 50% of whatever it cost, then within 2-3 months when the next range is out they are worth even less.

What is the actual set criteria for assets? I understand everyday things such as cookers, frdges etc are not included, again my understanding was it was there too make sure your not siting on 2c diamond rings etc And the odd Lowry here and there:)

elfieb

UnderPressure wrote: »

This whole asset area seems a bit flaky to me, so far as if you were to pack literally all of your wordly belongings into your car then attend any old car boot sale surely "most" people would make £300+ ?

Is it a cumulative figure? My understanding from earlier in this thread was anything that you could sell right now for more than £300? In which case a lappie from Brighthouse (no offence to anyone) was probably not actually worth £300 when it was bought lol, that is the thing with electricals lappies, lcd tv etc etc as soon as you take them out of the box you can kiss goodbye to 50% of whatever it cost, then within 2-3 months when the next range is out they are worth even less.

What is the actual set criteria for assets? I understand everyday things such as cookers, frdges etc are not included, again my understanding was it was there too make sure your not siting on 2c diamond rings etc And the odd Lowry here and there:)

Im just thinking ahead regarding possible appeals from creditors.... Brighthouse could appeal on the basis that they supplied a laptop xx amount of months ago, that is worth xx amount.

mumof1and1ontheway

CAB said they will take it away because of the assets thing.. whether thats because I have to pay over 1k in total for it, or for what I could sell it for... BUT when I got it I got it 2nd hand from brighthouse so if they take it back it will then be classed as 3rd hand.
CAB have told me I can keep the lappy and wait til it goes to court or I can hand it back, and have actually said they may never come to collect it.
Tbh the full value is £400 as stated on the contract, but if I were to sell it now I doubt I would get more than £250 it.

mumof1and1ontheway

And one of my reasons for not wanting to give it back asap is because I pay for the internet and things like forums are my life line atm. I have no friends and not much family. And obv n savings or any way to save to buy another laptop hence why I ended up going to brighthouse. So I suppose I am hoping if I can drag it out I can save bits of my £39 a month and then may end up with less than 6 months without a lappy and internet access?

immoral_angeluk

I doubt you would be able to sell the laptop for over the £300 limit. The £300 has to be realisable assets, ie assets that will definitely make over £300.
Without seeing your contract from brighthouse it's very difficult to say whether the laptop is yours or not. If it's a lease agreement or hire purchase for example then it wouldn't be an assets as it's not actually yours. However this then may then make that debt a secured debts which are not included in DROs (as far as I'm aware) so it's a bit of a grey area.

mumof1and1ontheway

angel its hire purchase which means it does belong to brighthouse. i have paid less that a third of the full price as only got it in feb. the full value of it is stated at £400 but i have used it so obv be worth less now. cab said the dro will cancel the contract i have with brighthouse. so i wont have to pay anymore. but to get the goods back they have to go through a court order, which they may not bother doing. does that make sense? but if they do im guessing ill have enough notice to back up and remove my files?