Debt Relief Orders (DRO) - Information & help thread

j0annepsi

zenseeker wrote: »

My wife recently cleared her debts by way of a DRO. She would like to take an Open University course but we are unclear whether this would count as a loan and if she can apply.

We're a little confused anyway because last year there was a way to get completely free funding, but now they just seem to defer repayments until after you earn £21k or more.

Don't worry - there's no credit check for a student fees loan. But unfortunately that also means it won't help to improve her credit record.

zenseeker

Does that mean she can go ahead and apply? Or could it cause problems for her if her application is discovered? The terms of her DRO state she can't apply for loans/credit of over £500. She only has 9 months left of her DRO period, but of she misses the application now she will have to wait a year before they open courses again

j0annepsi

Sorry, I misread - thought you said her DRO was cleared.

I don't think it'll be an issue as it's technically not a loan but you should call the insolvency agency to double check.

smegs1978

We are currently setting up a DMP with CCCS, however our budget is showing a decifit of £35, so until that is showing a surplus the DMP cant be done. They have said if we can get it to balance, which i should be able to by cutting back on a few things we should possibly be able to do a DRO.

Firstly is this a joint thing? or do we do it as individuals?

Secondly i was cleared from Bankruptcy last October, however due to my dh not working, xmas and other things i took out a few payday loans, a provident loan and fell behind with my mobile phone account so would like to include these in a DRO, but not sure how my bankruptcy would affect this? (please dont judge, i know i should have learnt from my past experience, but at the time thought i could pay them)

Most of the debts are in my husbands name, so if we can only do the DRO in his name then i think i could afford to pay off my debts.

Just after some advice really.

fatbelly

smegs1978 wrote: »

We are currently setting up a DMP with CCCS, however our budget is showing a decifit of £35, so until that is showing a surplus the DMP cant be done. They have said if we can get it to balance, which i should be able to by cutting back on a few things we should possibly be able to do a DRO.

Firstly is this a joint thing? or do we do it as individuals?

Secondly i was cleared from Bankruptcy last October, however due to my dh not working, xmas and other things i took out a few payday loans, a provident loan and fell behind with my mobile phone account so would like to include these in a DRO, but not sure how my bankruptcy would affect this? (please dont judge, i know i should have learnt from my past experience, but at the time thought i could pay them)

Most of the debts are in my husbands name, so if we can only do the DRO in his name then i think i could afford to pay off my debts.

Just after some advice really.

As long as you meet the criteria as individuals (<15k debts, car <1k if you have one, <50 per month surplus income) then you should be accepted for a DRO now. You can't do it jointly. You're not currently in a bankruptcy process, so that doesn't stop you from applying, but there is a question on 'have you ever been bankrupt?'

You might get asked about the background to the new debts because you can get a restriction for:

• incurring debts that a person knew they had no reasonable chance of repaying

But if you can show that it was affordable at the time, shouldn't be a problem. There are not many questions asked of applicants so it's unlikely anyway

Obviously in practise you need a balanced budget because you won't be getting credit in the next year but this shouldn't stop a DRO application if you need one. For example if your husband's debt are near the 15k mark, he shouldn't hang around.

dpiddy

Is it normal for debts to be sold to recovery companies during a DRO? Does it affect it in any way?

Orville

dpiddy wrote: »

Is it normal for debts to be sold to recovery companies during a DRO? Does it affect it in any way?

They can do what they want as far as i know, but as long as the sold debt was in the DRO they can't do a thing, so don't worry

Alloneword

OK been advised by CCCS to take out DRO, but i did want to keep a couple of catalouge's off the DRO application but have been told that that's not allowed as while on DRO no credit is allowed, so i have paid off the catalouges (as i didn't want them included in the DRO) and was wondering, in the 12 months the DRO is ongoing am i allowed to use the catalouge? I suspect the answe ris no but wonder what would happen to DRO status if i did, also what is the situation regarding a credit card mrs (just g/f to be honest) has lots of barclaycards that will be in DRO and i have one but it's zero balance and would like to keep it in case of an emergency an i allowed to or do i have to cut it up.

All1

caz2003uk

Hi welcome to the dro board!

A few things from your post that caught my eye....

1. You say you paid off these catalogues, did you make even payments across all your creditors? This may be seen as preferential payment to creditors which won't be looked at in a good light?!

2. A dro is not a joint thing it is individual! Your debts can be included but not your gf! If your gf also meets the criteria for a dro she would have to do her own!

3. It worries me that you are still wanting to use catalogues when you say your in a situation of applying for a dro? Maybe it's me but I'm nearin the end of my dro and I don't ever want credit again! I never want to get in the same situation EVER!!

Alloneword

It's not a case of wanting to use them more a case of having them there if i needed them, if cooker died or something like that, yea both the g/f and i are going DRO route I only have about 2k outstanding but it makes sense to do it given current situation.

All1