Debt Relief Orders (DRO) - Information & help thread

immoral_angeluk

elfieb wrote: »

Could be wrong, but technically you arent bankrupt........

If the question asks "have you ever been involved in any insolvency proceedings" etc etc, then I would put yes.

Hmm bit of a tricky one that. The specific wording says bankruptcy, but I'd imagine the implied meaning is any formal insolvency...

jasondm

i have seen the allowances that the national debtline
print in the info packs
i would like to know where the insolvency guidelines are published. actual min and max amounts for all in the list.
what is acceptable per month? emergencies. gift birthdays christmas
other ???
is there a official website where the insolvency are guided to look in more detail.. any common outgoings that people can put on there form but dont usually.. i know you have to put down what your own personal circumstances are but need extra help.

elfieb

jasondm wrote: »

i have seen the allowances that the national debtline
print in the info packs
i would like to know where the insolvency guidelines are published. actual min and max amounts for all in the list.
what is acceptable per month? emergencies. gift birthdays christmas
other ???
is there a official website where the insolvency are guided to look in more detail.. any common outgoings that people can put on there form but dont usually.. i know you have to put down what your own personal circumstances are but need extra help.

I dont think there is anywhere "official" you can look at the guidelines, unless you actually work for the IS.

The allowances shown in the National Debtline info pack, will be pretty spot on.

However a member did post the allowances on here if I remember correctly....try doing a search in the bankruptcy board, pretty certain you will find them unless the post was removed for some reason??

cd36uk

A question for those who have been granted a DRO or for those in the know (work as intermediary etc)... Having read through the IPAs assesment of real disposable income and related documents, I am somewhat concerned that satellite tv, internet access is under the heading of expenditure items which are not allowed in the personal budget involved in making of a DRO. Also that the allowance quoted for hairdressing is just £10 for an adult and £3 per child per month. Wherever this wonderfully cheap hairdressers is; I would love to know!!!

So my question is, how much of a problem has this been to those who have been through the process?

Does the OR live in the real world, where these things are part of everyday life and cost more than is 'allowed'?!

Meow7

Hi there,

I've been looking up debt solutions this morning and I've come to the conclusion that a DRO might be right for me, but I don't know a great deal about these things and I'd like some advice from those who do!

I'm starting university in September and am 20 years olfd. I completed 1 year of university in 2008, and that's where my problems started.

To cut a long story short, I owe the following:
Orange: approx. £200
Lancaster Uni: approx £2500
RBS Current: (paying off through Trident at £200 per month, cannot afford this so my OH has been paying it for me) approx. £350 left
RBS Credit: approx. £600
Vodafone: £70
Family: approx. £1,400


Also, I cannot afford my Vodafone bills anymore, so I'd be looking at their early cancellation fee of around £700

Total Owed: approx. £5800

I have very little coming in, I started to receive JSA this week (£50 per week) and that is what I'm living on. I won't even have this once I start university, and people hassling me for money every single day is driving me crazy.

Can anyone offer any advice? Thank you so much x

PandaPaws_3

Jonnyjackov and lee_m - thank you very much for your replies. I have made the decision to go for a DRO and have been doing my SOA. I'd now be very grateful if someone could look at it and see if there are any obvious problems..? I have looked at many others and the guidelines, and I think this is ok?

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 1
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 265.17
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 596.33
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 861.5
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 500
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 0
Electricity............................. 22.7
Gas..................................... 18.74
Oil..................................... 23.44
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 10
TV Licence.............................. 10.37
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 16
Groceries etc. ......................... 90
Clothing................................ 15
Petrol/diesel........................... 30
Road tax................................ 11.5
Car Insurance........................... 23.55
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 14.17
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 14
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 10
Haircuts................................ 10
Entertainment........................... 20
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 839.47

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 845
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 845

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 861.5
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 839.47
Available for debt repayments........... 22.03
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 399
Amount short for making debt repayments. -376.97

Thanks as always

cd36uk

I have been on the phone with my intermediary today. And our figures just are not coming out the same and it is driving me barmy. I get my left over amount at £32.16, and he gets it at £187 ???? despite us going through each individual figure together. I am using a spreadsheet to calculate mine so it cannot be wrong, where as I think he is using a calculator.

can someone please look at my SOA and tell me where the problem is (a fresh pair of eyes usually helps find mistakes) All monthly figures are worked out with the formula amount x 52 wks divided by 12 months:

1 Adult & 2 children
INCOME SUPPORT....£283.62 (£65.45 X 52 DIVIDED BY 12)
TAX CREDITS....£429.65 (£99.15 x 52 divided by 12)
CHILD BENEFIT....£143.86 (£33.20 x 52 divided by 12)
MAINTENANCE....£191.00 (£39PW PLUS £20.00 PM)
TOTAL INCOME £1,048.13

OUTGOINGS:
CONTINGENCIES/EMERGENCIES...£10.00
GAS...£47.66 (£11 pw)
ELECTRICITY...£47.66 £(11 pw)
WATER...£41.55 (£9.59 pw)
TV LICENCE...£12.12
MAINTENANCE...£25.00
PHONE COSTS...£31.00
TRAVEL COSTS...£40.00
HOUSEKEEPING...£390.00
SKY/BROADBAND...£20.00
PETS...£25.00
HAIRDRESSING...£24.00
CLOTHING/FOOTWEAR...£180.00 (£60 per person)
SCHOOL MEALS...£32.50 (£3 x 5 days x 26 wks)
LAUNDRY...£7.00
POCKET MONEY....£30.00
HEALTH...£20.00
SCHOOL TRIPS/ TREATS...£15.00
CONTENTS INSURANCE...£7.48
XMAS / BIRTHDAYS....£10.00
TOTAL OUTGOINGS £1,015.97

Thank you in advance

PandaPaws_3

You have listed TV licence twice, but other than that, I make your totals the same as you've given, which makes your surplus £20.04 (are you getting £32.16 because you've got two TV licences? I definitely can't see £187 spare!

That probably doesn't help you much.. sorry !

cd36uk

PandaPaws wrote: »

You have listed TV licence twice, but other than that, I make your totals the same as you've given, which makes your surplus £20.04 (are you getting £32.16 because you've got two TV licences? I definitely can't see £187 spare!

That probably doesn't help you much.. sorry !

Thank you for looking at my figures.

Yeah that was a typo! the £32.16 is correct without the second (non existant) licence.

Have just spent an hour on the phone with intermediary:eek: re-doing figures. It seems the discrepancy is down to the allowance for clothing/footwear. Because many items on my list come under one umbrella of housekeeping and there is a maximum allowance for this catagory, he had to reduce my clothing allowance.

I quoted the trigger figures given in a link on a previous post, and the figures the intermediary are given to work from are different, so that was not helpful. For example the hairdressing allowance quoted there is £10 per adult and £3 per child, but the intermediary told me that is not correct and I was able to put a realistic figure instead.
source: http://www.insolvency.gov.uk/freedomofinformation/technical/technicalmanual/Ch25-36/Chapter31/part7/part2/part_2.htm

I said from things I had read I was concerned about not putting figures that were too high and would not be accepted.
He asked me where I was getting my information from, and he told me to let him worry about the figures.

PandaPaws_3

I have an appointment next week with my local CAB to go thru the DRO forms. I'm glad to get an appointment so quickly after reading about long waiting times for others, but am also a bit worried as the person I arranged to meet wasn't very friendly and didn't seem to know as much as I do about the eligibility criteria etc.. (I'm not criticising CAB, I've seen from the waiting room alone how busy they are).. I'd still rather sit down with someone face to face, rather than call one of the other intermediaries, but am so stressed about it.. and about getting all the paperwork together, and about being judged for getting in to such a bad state to start with... etc, etc.... *deep breath*...