Debt Relief Orders (DRO) - Information & help thread

fatbelly

fuzzyduck2 wrote: »

Is there any way to speed things up at all? Do I have to go to the CAB to initiate things? How long does it usually take to sort out from when you first apply?

Hi Fuzzy

Well you need to go through an Approved Intermediary - doesn't have to be CAB - all the major debt charities have them. But I don't know you'd get your DRO any faster elsewhere and the CAB do do face-to-face.

The major factors that delay submission of the DRO application are:

1. Getting the Experian Report (2-3 weeks for me)
2. Getting further info on 'unknown' debts/ccjs that appear on the report
3. The client finding and paying £90 at the Post Office
4. IT upgrades at the Insolvency Service :mad:

If you came to me with a recent Experian print-out, recent statements for all debts, £90 ready to be paid and the DRO site was working - I could probably set it up and submit it in less than an hour, with a 90%chance of acceptance the next day.

Now don't get excited. I've never had a client who could do that and the DRO web process is a shambles at the moment (still waiting to hear what happened to one submitted on 7 Oct).

Hope that helps

fuzzyduck2

Thanks fatbelly - you have been most helpful

Is it wrong that I managed to get a report from Experian online in a matter of minutes? Do I have to ask them if they will send out a paper version or could I just print it out?

There are no unknown debts or CCJ's appearing on there (thank god, lol) and I can provide recent statements for all debts, but maybe you are right and I should just sit tight until 18th November?!

Just a couple more questions as well (if you don't mind)...

What do I do in the interim? Shall I make a small contribution to each credit card or should I just stop paying completely? I am 3 payments behind on 2 cards (one of which has been sent to a collection agency and the other which looks like it will be sent to one this week) and 1 payment behind on the other. My two loans are with Northern Rock and they are both bang upto date but the DD payments are due to come out in the beginning of November. I can't really afford to pay them to be honest - I'm wondering if it would be ok to cancel the DDs?

The other thing is do I have to take my recent bank statements in when I go to see the CAB, and do they go through them with a fine toothed comb? :S

Many thanks in anticipation...

FD x

fuzzyduck2

Oh, and does anyone have any further advice with regards to changing my bank account please? :S

fatbelly

Hi Fuzzy

Cancel the D/Ds. Don't pay the credit cards. Take your bank statements - there's usually useful info on them.

As for the new bank - any that is unconnected to your debts.

And I just had that DRO approved (at 8.53!) that I submitted on 7 Oct. Looks like they're moving again at the DRO Unit.

Frankie231

Hi,

It's probably best to give you a little bit of background on the entire situation so I'll do my best, it's not the full story as that would take me days to write and I don't want to put people to sleep as they're reading.

Me and my partner are in around £12,000 to £13,000 worth of debt. I don't know the exact figures but I am working on getting them and should hopefully have them soon, this is with approximatley 14 different creditors (not all of them a CC and loans etc, some are bill contracts that we thought were paid up and weren't).

This time last year I had my daughter, and it forced us to face up to the fact that we were up a certain creek without a paddle and we decided to face our debts. We signed up with DFH Financial Solutions (not the worst mistake we've made, but certainly in the top 10) and they managed to stop all interest/charges on all of our accounts (which I was suprised with) and we slowly started whittling our way through our money problems while liing their pockets in the process.

We were managing quite well until September of this year when my partner lost his job (without a payout). He is looking for work but so far has found nothing, and we have taken a massive hit in our income as we are now on benefits.

I sat down a few days ago and went through our income/expanditure and we are in negative numbers on a monthly basis. We have pretty much spent the past month since OH loosing his job, taking off Peter to pay Paul. Peter's now as broke as we are.

I cancelled DFH immediatly upon realising this (they were quite good about it when I explained the situation, suprisingly) however, even without this cost we are still in negative numbers. Meaning we're going to have to cut back even more (not sure how, but we will manage it). This leaves up with the problem though, that we cannot afford to pay our debts at all. Not even a token payment. I spent last night researching possible solutions and the one that kept cropping up was a DRO.

This is something that we are now seriously considering, but it's not something that we're taking lightly. Last year we made a concious decision to pay our debt, we understood that we had got ourselves into this situation, and we wanted to get ourselves out of it, the simple fact is though; right now there is no way that we can and the worry that this is putting on us both is causing massive problems. I was diagnosed with PND last year and while we could afford to pay something; it was still affecting me but certainly not as much as it has been for the last 2 months.

So, I was wondering what the actual process of obtaining a DRO was? How long (on average) it takes to come into effect? What would happen to the items we have on HP (we have a bed and a washing machine, we took them out when we had more money and if they were trivial items I would send them back, but they're nearly paid off and I couldnt live without them, especially not with a 15 month old getting changed half a dozen times a day)? And what would happen if/when OH finds a job, would the DRO be cancelled and would we then be able to set up a DMP?

Thanks in advance

Orville

Frankie231 wrote: »

Hi,

It's probably best to give you a little bit of background on the entire situation so I'll do my best, it's not the full story as that would take me days to write and I don't want to put people to sleep as they're reading.

Me and my partner are in around £12,000 to £13,000 worth of debt. I don't know the exact figures but I am working on getting them and should hopefully have them soon, this is with approximatley 14 different creditors (not all of them a CC and loans etc, some are bill contracts that we thought were paid up and weren't).

This time last year I had my daughter, and it forced us to face up to the fact that we were up a certain creek without a paddle and we decided to face our debts. We signed up with DFH Financial Solutions (not the worst mistake we've made, but certainly in the top 10) and they managed to stop all interest/charges on all of our accounts (which I was suprised with) and we slowly started whittling our way through our money problems while liing their pockets in the process.

We were managing quite well until September of this year when my partner lost his job (without a payout). He is looking for work but so far has found nothing, and we have taken a massive hit in our income as we are now on benefits.

I sat down a few days ago and went through our income/expanditure and we are in negative numbers on a monthly basis. We have pretty much spent the past month since OH loosing his job, taking off Peter to pay Paul. Peter's now as broke as we are.

I cancelled DFH immediatly upon realising this (they were quite good about it when I explained the situation, suprisingly) however, even without this cost we are still in negative numbers. Meaning we're going to have to cut back even more (not sure how, but we will manage it). This leaves up with the problem though, that we cannot afford to pay our debts at all. Not even a token payment. I spent last night researching possible solutions and the one that kept cropping up was a DRO.

This is something that we are now seriously considering, but it's not something that we're taking lightly. Last year we made a concious decision to pay our debt, we understood that we had got ourselves into this situation, and we wanted to get ourselves out of it, the simple fact is though; right now there is no way that we can and the worry that this is putting on us both is causing massive problems. I was diagnosed with PND last year and while we could afford to pay something; it was still affecting me but certainly not as much as it has been for the last 2 months.

So, I was wondering what the actual process of obtaining a DRO was? How long (on average) it takes to come into effect? What would happen to the items we have on HP (we have a bed and a washing machine, we took them out when we had more money and if they were trivial items I would send them back, but they're nearly paid off and I couldnt live without them, especially not with a 15 month old getting changed half a dozen times a day)? And what would happen if/when OH finds a job, would the DRO be cancelled and would we then be able to set up a DMP?

Thanks in advance

Hi.

I can't give you specialist advice, i can only tell you my experience of going through a DRO. Fatbelly and Immoral Angel are the specialist members of this forum, and will soon be along.

There are a number of agencies you can use to get a DRO, the two most popular are the CCCS and the CAB. I used the CAB. The whole process took around one month. At first i had an initial chat with them followed by some gathering of information they needed to process the DRO and a second meeting where i brought the required paperwork in and answered questions as they input the data onto the system for submission.

The key elements to be eligable for a DRO are :-

You must be unable to pay your debts.
You must owe less than £15,000.
You can own a car to the value of £1000 but the total value of other assets must not exceed £300.
After taking away tax, national insurance contributions and normal household expenses, your disposable income must be no more than £50 a month. (When you do your calculations, you DO NOT include the debts). So you must have under £50 with just your normal living expenses.
You must be domiciled (living) in England or Wales, or at some time in the last 3 years have been living or carrying on business in England or Wales.
You must not have been subject to another DRO within the last 6 years.
You must not be involved in another formal insolvency procedure at the time you apply.


Any stuff you have on HP etc you keep. I had stuff with VERY.co.uk that was buy now pay in 2011 and that was included, so don't worry about losing anything.

if your OH finds a job within the year, that does not automatically mean the dro gets cancelled. It could be that he might earn a low wage and coupled with travelling etc you might still fall within the £50 limit. The key to remember is the £50 limit that is all they look for. If he stays within that your safe.

As for setting up a DMP if he gets a job, i don't know but i don't see why not. Just remember that some credators may know you are subject to a DRO, but may and quite often do still put interest on the accounts.

kazordoon

i would like to apply for a DRO.
I'm not working, but my husband does. So when calculating how much money I have available every month, does that include my husbands money ?

fatbelly

kazordoon wrote: »

So when calculating how much money I have available every month, does that include my husbands money ?

Not necessarily.

If I can present a 'household budget' I do so. But it's equally valid to just take a 'contribution' from his income. It's accepted that it's your DRO, not his, and he may have his own credit commitments.

The Official guidance to Intermediaries is vague in this area (which suits me fine )

I suggest you have a chat to CAB/CCCS/National Debtline.

fatbelly

Frankie231 wrote: »

What would happen to the items we have on HP (we have a bed and a washing machine, we took them out when we had more money and if they were trivial items I would send them back, but they're nearly paid off and I couldn't live without them, especially not with a 15 month old getting changed half a dozen times a day)?

Orville's covered most of this. Please check your agreements as it's unlikely that these items were acquired on Hire Purchase. I suspect they're straight credit agreements and so I don't think will cause any problems.

Frankie231

Thank you both for your prompt reply's, I have just checked my agreements for Brighthouse and you're right, it states Credit Agreement rather than Hire Purchase Agreement although I will have to check my BayV statment to check about the washing machine.

Does the outstanding total of these agreements count towards the £15,000 total?

Also, there are debts in joint names of mine and my partners, and single debts, would we be able to group these together under one DRO or would we need two seperate ones?

ETA; I have just checked my BayV Agreements and they are HP agreements, how does this change things?