Debt Relief Orders (DRO) - Information & help thread

Orville

Frankie231 wrote: »

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?

Hmmm well looking on the USwitch website http://www.uswitch.com/debt-help/debt-relief-orders-dro/


it does say that you can include hire purchase, by now pay later etc. It does however also say that they might ask for the items back. I fail to see they will though for a used bed and washing machine.

*EDIT*

Ohhhh one thing the CAB did make a point of when they first interviewed me was to NOT tell the creditors that i was going to do a dro. She said if they found out it might prompt them to take action through the courts quicker then they would have which could cause problems. (Sorry forgot to post that in my previous post).

Frankie231

I need to pick your brain some more. I am really sorry about all the questions but I feel like when I understand one aspect, another 10 things become unclear.

Do you include your HP repayments in your SoA? If yes, is this only if you decide to keep them seperate from the DRO? And even if you don't include HP in your DRO application, does it still contribute towards the £15,000 total?

Orville

Frankie231 wrote: »

I need to pick your brain some more. I am really sorry about all the questions but I feel like when I understand one aspect, another 10 things become unclear.

Do you include your HP repayments in your SoA? If yes, is this only if you decide to keep them seperate from the DRO? And even if you don't include HP in your DRO application, does it still contribute towards the £15,000 total?

This is my SOA...

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=35084561&postcount=1328


That was one without the debts included. As you can see i only had £30 or so left.

I am pretty sure that when doing a DRO you include ALL your debts. If you don't i think it might be seen to showing favouritism to a creditor. Don't quote me on that though, but the lady at the CAB said i must include all which is why they wanted copies of my credit reports.

fatbelly

Frankie231 wrote: »

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?

DROs are done individually. So if you each need one, that's £90 each for the fees.

You are each liable for the full amount of a joint debt. That's the principle of 'joint and several liability'.

Frankie231 wrote: »

Do you include your HP repayments in your SoA? If yes, is this only if you decide to keep them seperate from the DRO? And even if you don't include HP in your DRO application, does it still contribute towards the £15,000 total?

Here's what the guidance says (it assumes the only things bought on HP are vehicles so I've added the brackets):

Hire – Purchase Agreements

Outstanding balances on hire purchase agreements will not be an excluded debt and will contribute to the £15,000 total liability parameter. It should be noted that the subject (vehicle) should not be declared by the debtor as an asset, as it will not belong to the debtor until all of the payments under the hire purchase agreement have been paid to the finance company. A debtor will only own a subject (vehicle) once all of the terms of the agreement have been met.

As any hire purchase liability must be scheduled within a DRO, once a DRO has been approved, the debtor would no longer be allowed to make payments under any such agreement and therefore hire purchase agreement instalments should not be shown in the expenditure section of the application form.

You don't have the freedom to decide to include or not include things with a DRO. There are sanctions for deliberately misrepresenting the truth.

Frankie231

Okay, thank you both again. And if we were both to get a DRO which one of us would be liable for the joint debts?

Orville

Frankie231 wrote: »

Okay, thank you both again. And if we were both to get a DRO which one of us would be liable for the joint debts?

Hi.

You will have to ask fatbelly or immoral but i think you would do a joint SOA, And then do a joint application.

Frankie231

I've been on the phone to CCCS today, and the gentleman I spoke to has informed me that based on mine and my partners current circumstances, A DRO each would be the best way forward and as we have agreed, he has sent our case on. However I am now confused even further over the Hire Purchase issue.

The gentleman on the phone stated that we could not apply for a DRO whilst we have HP. I was under the impression that we could add the total still owed onto the DRO although it would be at the discretion of the company who holds the agreement whether or not to repossess the items, as tehnically the good do still belong to them. He has advised me to return all of the items we have on HP to the companies and just add the total remaining debt (if any remaining) to the application.

Could someone please clarify which is correct? Should I just wait until the paperwork has come through and contact the person dealing with the application to see what he/she suggests or would you advise sending back the items now?

Orville

Frankie231 wrote: »

I've been on the phone to CCCS today, and the gentleman I spoke to has informed me that based on mine and my partners current circumstances, A DRO each would be the best way forward and as we have agreed, he has sent our case on. However I am now confused even further over the Hire Purchase issue.

The gentleman on the phone stated that we could not apply for a DRO whilst we have HP. I was under the impression that we could add the total still owed onto the DRO although it would be at the discretion of the company who holds the agreement whether or not to repossess the items, as tehnically the good do still belong to them. He has advised me to return all of the items we have on HP to the companies and just add the total remaining debt (if any remaining) to the application.

Could someone please clarify which is correct? Should I just wait until the paperwork has come through and contact the person dealing with the application to see what he/she suggests or would you advise sending back the items now?

Well i certainly would not advise sending anything back. I haven't and i have £1400 worth of goods. Just include every debt you have including the HP debts. Wait untill the HP company contacts you for items to be returned (which i very much doubt they will). He is totally wrong to say you can't apply for a DRO whith HP. One look at the link i sent you yesterday tells you that.

Frankie231

Orville wrote: »

Well i certainly would not advise sending anything back. I haven't and i have £1400 worth of goods. Just include every debt you have including the HP debts. Wait untill the HP company contacts you for items to be returned (which i very much doubt they will). He is totally wrong to say you can't apply for a DRO whith HP. One look at the link i sent you yesterday tells you that.

That's what I thought, as he was saying it I was thinking about your DRO and how you had HP aswell, and about the link you sent me. Maybe it was because he was a debt councillor rather than a DRO specalist that he was under that impression. Although I am prepared to loose the HP if the companies decide to reposess them I would like to try putting them on the Orders first. Up until now the HP is the only thing we haven't missed any payments on, do you think we should stop paying it now. I can't see any reason for the DRO not to be granted, while we're paying the HP we're in negative numbers, and if we stop paying it we're still well under the £50.00 allowance mark. I'm just really worried now that if I do stop paying it and for some reason the order doesn't go through, we'll be left with even bigger debts once all of the charges have been added.

Orville

Frankie231 wrote: »

That's what I thought, as he was saying it I was thinking about your DRO and how you had HP aswell, and about the link you sent me. Maybe it was because he was a debt councillor rather than a DRO specalist that he was under that impression. Although I am prepared to loose the HP if the companies decide to reposess them I would like to try putting them on the Orders first. Up until now the HP is the only thing we haven't missed any payments on, do you think we should stop paying it now. I can't see any reason for the DRO not to be granted, while we're paying the HP we're in negative numbers, and if we stop paying it we're still well under the £50.00 allowance mark. I'm just really worried now that if I do stop paying it and for some reason the order doesn't go through, we'll be left with even bigger debts once all of the charges have been added.

Well i was advised just to send the usual offer letter to all credators offering £1 a month to each of my debts while the DRO was being sorted out. That way no favouriteism was being showed. That is what i did. Some sent letters back saying they didn't accept the offer, others did, but by the time the first payment date came round my DRO was granted and i never actually paid them a thing.

All i can advise is that you do the same. Send the template letter from this site to ALL credators and in the meantime get the dro sorted asap.

You have to remember that once you have been granted the DRO they can do nothing to you.

I don't understand how though if you are being honest, you still want to pay for your HP items if it leaves you with a negative balance each month..?. My advice do with them the same as the others. I would be really suprised if they asked for the items back, especially 15 months down the line.

I would get your DRO granted and do everything by the book. What's more important getting the debts written off or a washing machine and bed..?