Debt Relief Orders (DRO) - Information & help thread

wba31

grayrobin7 wrote: »

Hi I have been reading up on DRO as last year I was advised to try for one. I was put off because myself and my partner have registered to a part buy part rent housing scheme and we pay so much privatly (600.10 a month for a 2 bedroom house in horrible area Ive been here 3 years) and cant get a council house as we both work but are on a low income we get 2 pound housing benifit a fortnight! However we are only on Band D with the coucnil so allthough we bid every fornight for a property we dont get anywhere. I thought getting a DRO would runin the chance of getting a part mortage which it probably will. I have had a credit report done and owe 5,000 but also have a 2,500 overdraft that has been slipped into over the years mainly because of car and general living which we needed to both get back into work. Even though Ive never missed payments or dont have anyone chasing me I still only manage the minimum payments and my credit is bad.
Last week I called up someone at totally money thinking for some reason they was something to do with this website. They once again advised me to try a DRO as I had been thinking of going down the dept consolidation route. They seemed very helpful on the phone and I took the advise to sopen a new bank account to get away from the over draft. I had a meeting set up with someone comig round my house to take all the figures of what I owe. I had everything ready and when the nice man Rob, came round to take the info there was a letter to sign that had the 90 pound fee but also £600 of fees of which the 90 pound was included to apply for the dro? I questioned this as on the forum about dro I had only noticed a £90 fee. after some phone calls between Rob and the company his agency were working for it became clear this was fee to them to do all the hard working and making appoitments for me? I asked which appointments and to make this clear but he couldnt I asked if then this is something that other agencies such as citezens advice could assist me or if I could do it myself and the awnser is yes. The £600 they argued which would be doing all my leg work, is 6 months of paying £100, which they argue is less then I pay my credtitors each month, which it is but still I could be doing this without paying that amount. So I told them very nicely they had awnsered my questions and I would be continuing on my own.
Can other people tell me is it hard to do the application yourself and what my steps are or who the best place is to go through?
Any help would be gratefully recived. We are a hardworking family with young children and life is a real struggle right now. I just need a life line. Thanks so much.
Mary

The cost of the DRO, as you know, is £90. If you go through CCCS, CAB or National Debtline, they will not charge you a penny for doing the DRO, and the £90 (and £90 only) will be paid directly to the Insolvency Service.
With regards to what you mentioned about a part buy/part rent property, the part buy part could cause a problem with a DRO application. If someone has a mortgage against a property, they value of the property is classed as the asset, not the equity, so if you wish to do the DRO, avoid going for one of these properties until your DRO has finished it's 12 month course. Obviously the DRO will be on your credit report for 6 years, so this may make it difficult to get a mortgage together, but not impossible.
But i would definately say that you should ring one of NDL, CCCS or CAB and get free impartial advice and help!

grayrobin7

Thankyou very much ! Ill take your advise. Its very helpful to me. 8o)
Mary

PandaPaws_3

Thanks for the response wba31, I have rang the lady I spoke to at the CAB and she's going to email to IS to let them know, she doesn't seem to know whether it will cause a problem with my application. What a nightmare, as if it wasn't stressful enough, I'm so annoyed with myself, I was so thorough with everything else. Does anyone have any experience of the problems this might cause for me? Will I be rejected???

Orville

PandaPaws wrote: »

Hello. I have had my CAB appointment this morning to fill in the online DRO form. There were two problems, though - one was that the online form would not go through until I said I 'had not conducted business in the UK in the last 3 years' but I then completed my self employment details (which clearly means I HAVE conducted business in the last 3 years, but this was the only way the form would continue), and the other being that I did not put my Student Loan on the form. I know that the SL is an excluded debt, and although it was mentioned in previous appointments, the CAB worker did not ask me about it today and so I completely forgot about it and it didn't go on the form. Will either of these things cause a problem?
Thank u

I would not have thought the student loan would cause a problem as i don't think you have to put every debt on the forms. I think you just have to be aware that if you don't and it is approved you can't add it to the DRO, so therefore you are still liable. As for the self employment, i honestly can't say if it would affect it.

Orville

PandaPaws wrote: »

Thanks for the response wba31, I have rang the lady I spoke to at the CAB and she's going to email to IS to let them know, she doesn't seem to know whether it will cause a problem with my application. What a nightmare, as if it wasn't stressful enough, I'm so annoyed with myself, I was so thorough with everything else. Does anyone have any experience of the problems this might cause for me? Will I be rejected???

Personally i'd advise againt sending an e-mail, if they don't spot it...........................:D

PandaPaws_3

She's already sent the email while I was on the phone, I think I'd rather be open about all my debts and not have to worry for 12 months that they were going to find out ... I can't believe this has happened

Orville

PandaPaws wrote: »

She's already sent the email while I was on the phone, I think I'd rather be open about all my debts and not have to worry for 12 months that they were going to find out ... I can't believe this has happened

Keep your fingers crossed.... I'm sure all will be fine.:D

PandaPaws_3

Thanks Orville, I think I'll be in knots crossing everything I can for the next few days.

Orville

PandaPaws wrote: »

Thanks Orville, I think I'll be in knots crossing everything I can for the next few days.

I was much the same, although as for few days i'd be suprised if you didn't hear tomorrow. I did mine Thursday morning and came home Friday afternoon to an e-mail from the CAB saying it had been approved.

PandaPaws_3

Really? I'm expecting the fact that I'm self-employed to slow things down a bit, so if I expect to wait a week, it'll be a total bonus if I hear any earlier. Here's hopin'... Thanks for your help, always good to have someone to reassure when the nerves set in!