Debt Relief Orders (DRO) - Information & help thread

mumof1and1ontheway

I paid for my DRO on Tuesday and posted it to CAB, have been told he will fill out the forms and post them for me to sign and post back. So am I looking at maybe a week til its all gone through? Does anyone know how quickly my gas and electric supplier will turn up to fit payment meters?

Brighthouse have been added to my DRO as a debt... does that mean I can just keep the laptop? Its hire purchase so I'm guessing that buy them having it as a debt they wont be able to contact me or chase to take repossession? thanks.

stephy110288

Hi, does anyone know anything new about them scrapping the pension rule? i heard they were talking about increasing the limit but that was back in march... not heard much since. would be grateful for anyone with news on this as its currently stopping me from getting a debt releif order
thanks

philnicandamy

still in discussion I heard...

CCCS_Sarah

Hi Everyone,

In response to the discussion about waiting times for Debt Relief Orders.

We do appreciate there is a long wait at present, which is frustrating for all concerned. We have taken a number of steps to reduce the backlog of work, which in turn will reduce the wait time, and are hoping that these will start to make a difference very soon. Rest assured that the DRO team at CCCS are working very hard to process as many applications as possible. The demand for this form of debt relief is very high, the number of organisations who have volunteered to undertake the processing of DRO's is, of course, out of our control.

Unfortunately the process of confirming we have all the required DRO evidence, and checking all the evidence for the application is very time consuming. If any debts are omitted from the DRO application, or if any balances entered are lower than the true debt value, then the applicant is still liable for the difference and their application may be rejected, which would also mean the loss of the £90 fee!

The Insolvency Service has very strict guidelines on checking eligibility for a Debt Relief Orders, and at CCCS we are confident we meet their exacting standards, which has resulted in a very high success rate. Once again, please bear with us; we are doing all we can at present.

Sarah

cd36uk

CCCS_Sarah wrote: »

Hi Everyone,



Unfortunately the process of confirming we have all the required DRO evidence, and checking all the evidence for the application is very time consuming. If any debts are omitted from the DRO application, or if any balances entered are lower than the true debt value, then the applicant is still liable for the difference and their application may be rejected, which would also mean the loss of the £90 fee!



Sarah

Hi

Just a quick query with regards to the above quote. From the point of submitting a DRO application to the point of processing (currently taking many weeks) the debt will increase as fee's/interest/missed payments occur on the debts, this is hardly the debtor's fault and should not result in rejection of the application.
I am now worried that my application is going to go this way. I correctly entered my debt amounts as they stood on the day of the dated form, I cannot possibly foresee how much charges/ interest that my creditors will choose to add to it between now and when my application is processed.

It appears that the 'rules' for a DRO are much more difficult than that of bankruptcy, and had I been able to afford the fees required for bankruptcy, I would of gone for that quicker option. Are the peope on low incomes with only DRO as their option being penalised for doing what is effectively a bankruptcy on the cheap? It certainly feels that way to me.

I have also not been advised as to how much if anything I should be paying my creditors in the long period until my application is processed. With bankruptcy you are told to stop all payments immediately. I have asked the question a few times and each time the answer has been very sketchy 'pay what you can afford' I was told once. Then the conditions of the DRO say not to favour one creditor over another, so that leaves the question, how much to pay each creditor? A token amount each? The same amount, different amounts?
The whole DRO process is in my opinion unnecessarily confusing and hard work.

sarah1773

After 16 weeks waiting, my DRO application is due to be submitted on Weds, just trying to obtain latest balance figures from my creditors. However, some are being very unhelpful and say they are taking legal action and my latest balance depends on whether I make a payment today?! Just wondering if I am able to "over-estimate" each balance in case any creditor turns around and says "actually she owes this much due to solicitor fees etc". Would that be ok as long as the total doesn't exceed £15000?
Thanks in advance

Godiva500

For all of those who are considering a DRO - I applied when it came out last year, and last Friday my year was up. No problems or hiccups. Its well worth the initial aggro and wait - just keep going all of you and don't give up.

Smart_Mart

Bad news here. The CCCS rung up earlier and said that my figures didn't add up (even though they went through them all with me on the phone two months ago) and that they're not going to put me forward for a DRO based on those figures. I have to re-do all the figures as my income is short and I have a deficit budget...:mad:

They are sending all my paperwork back as they cannot be confident my DRO will get agreed. She advised me to go bankrupt again (I was made bankrupt in 2005 by the HMRC) but I cannot afford the fees.

I'm not sure whether this might be the time to sort out my figures and go back to them again (which they would be happy to accept me on) or take it on the chin and go elsewhere. I'm busy most of this week but I'll grab an hour with a coffee and sort out where I go from here. The CCCS waiting times are reducing (they've outsourced some of their DRO's to other CCCS offices) but can I hold out for another few weeks?:(

CCCS_Sarah

cd36uk wrote: »

Hi

Just a quick query with regards to the above quote. From the point of submitting a DRO application to the point of processing (currently taking many weeks) the debt will increase as fee's/interest/missed payments occur on the debts, this is hardly the debtor's fault and should not result in rejection of the application.
I am now worried that my application is going to go this way. I correctly entered my debt amounts as they stood on the day of the dated form, I cannot possibly foresee how much charges/ interest that my creditors will choose to add to it between now and when my application is processed.

It appears that the 'rules' for a DRO are much more difficult than that of bankruptcy, and had I been able to afford the fees required for bankruptcy, I would of gone for that quicker option. Are the peope on low incomes with only DRO as their option being penalised for doing what is effectively a bankruptcy on the cheap? It certainly feels that way to me.

I have also not been advised as to how much if anything I should be paying my creditors in the long period until my application is processed. With bankruptcy you are told to stop all payments immediately. I have asked the question a few times and each time the answer has been very sketchy 'pay what you can afford' I was told once. Then the conditions of the DRO say not to favour one creditor over another, so that leaves the question, how much to pay each creditor? A token amount each? The same amount, different amounts?
The whole DRO process is in my opinion unnecessarily confusing and hard work.

Just a quick query with regards to the above quote. From the point of submitting a DRO application to the point of processing (currently taking many weeks) the debt will increase as fee's/interest/missed payments occur on the debts, this is hardly the debtor's fault and should not result in rejection of the application.
I am now worried that my application is going to go this way. I correctly entered my debt amounts as they stood on the day of the dated form, I cannot possibly foresee how much charges/ interest that my creditors will choose to add to it between now and when my application is processed. Of course balances can change from one day to the next, so we do address this issue before submitting any application.

It appears that the 'rules' for a DRO are much more difficult than that of bankruptcy, and had I been able to afford the fees required for bankruptcy, I would of gone for that quicker option. Are the peope on low incomes with only DRO as their option being penalised for doing what is effectively a bankruptcy on the cheap? It certainly feels that way to me. The legislation does differ, we can only follow the guidelines as set out for Debt Relief Orders. The Charity has been campaigning for improvement. This is something you could also bring up with your local MP.

I have also not been advised as to how much if anything I should be paying my creditors in the long period until my application is processed. With bankruptcy you are told to stop all payments immediately. I have asked the question a few times and each time the answer has been very sketchy 'pay what you can afford' I was told once. Then the conditions of the DRO say not to favour one creditor over another, so that leaves the question, how much to pay each creditor? A token amount each? The same amount, different amounts? -

You would need to pay your creditors a token payment, this is as much as you can afford to pay based on your budget. So if you have very little surplus then you would pay £1 per creditor until your DRO has been accepted. If you have a higher amount then you could offer pro rata payments.

The calculation to work out pro rata amounts is as follows…

Individual debt x Surplus / total owed = Individual offers

The best way of making the payments would be through a standing order, payment book or postal order, rather than direct debit.

maroon_jelly

Hello,

I filled in my DRO forms and sent them back to National Debtline 5 weeks ago and haven't heard anything back yet. Is this normal? I was expecting a letter explaining how I can pay the £90 fee by now.

Will I have to wait 6-8 weeks between submiting the form and it being completed or 6-8 weeks from the £90 being paid to completion?

Thanks