Debt Relief Orders (DRO) - Information & help thread

DarkFairey

kayester wrote: »

DarkFairey i dont think you understand fully what a DRO is?
Where have you actually got depts?
You dont get a barcode to make payments, they needs proof of all your debts, in your name and after a year of you being sensible they contact your creditors to satisfy your accounts.

how long is the contracts with your phone and sky? can you lower the bills? im getting the maximum tv channels from sky and am paying half what you pay.
can you set yourself aside a few hours a day to not have tv on to save electric?
Unless you have outstanding debts and a DRo would make big changes for you then I really dont see this is the way forward for you.
You must be aware this stays on credit report for the next 6 years. I have 3 years left and I wish I could have done something at the time to not have a DRO

Thanks for your reply, im not sure what gives you the impression i dont understand what a Dro is?

I understand that i will need to pay a DRO fee which i should be given a barcode to take to the post office?

I have 14 months left on this contract. With sky im not sure what the breakdown is because ive never seen the bill. But i do have a home phone and one of the better broadband packages... The internet speed was shocking before it was changed.

I also understand what you mean about having the telly on, though its not on all day. I suspect that my electricity usage is more to do with the washing machine, tumble dryer and heaters, which are needed on to stop me getting mould on the walls.

You also asked who i owe money to,
council tax,
the council,
veolia water,
eon,
Social fund,
EE,
hibu advertising
mediadz advertising,
virgin,
Sky,
I cant think of any others off the top of my head.. Buy my debts are around the 12.5k mark, and having about £10 Left after paying for our essentials i cant pay any of my creditors..

kayester

have highlighted best i can

DarkFairey wrote: »

Thanks for your reply, im not sure what gives you the impression i dont understand what a Dro is? sorry didnt mean to sound so blunt

I understand that i will need to pay a DRO fee which i should be given a barcode to take to the post office?
when i had a DRO i did it through the citizens advice, i had to pay them £90 and they contacted creditors from there, i didnt have to do anything with a barcode

I have 14 months left on this contract. With sky im not sure what the breakdown is because ive never seen the bill. But i do have a home phone and one of the better broadband packages... The internet speed was shocking before it was changed.
have you phoned both your phone supplier and sky to see if you can lower your bills. even if you arent the account holder you can do this, might be worth asking when the end of the contract is, they may be able to do you a better deal.

I also understand what you mean about having the telly on, though its not on all day. I suspect that my electricity usage is more to do with the washing machine, tumble dryer and heaters, which are needed on to stop me getting mould on the walls.

fair enough, i do understand electricity is a must
You also asked who i owe money to,
council tax,
the council,
veolia water,
eon,
Social fund,
EE,
hibu advertising
mediadz advertising,
virgin,
Sky,
I cant think of any others off the top of my head.. Buy my debts are around the 12.5k mark, and having about £10 Left after paying for our essentials i cant pay any of my creditors..
i think your best option is go to to citizens advice, they will need to see evidence of all your debts though so maybe easier to get this together before you get an appointment, and they will need to see your income/outgoings

if you need any advice on anything then im online a lot....i know how hard things can be, good luck

DarkFairey

kayester wrote: »

have highlighted best i can
if you need any advice on anything then im online a lot....i know how hard things can be, good luck

I never knew that I was able to speak to the companies if the account wasnt in my name..
I will need to get my account number and see if I could drive the number down a bit...
I can see where ive gone wrong over the years though, which I think means im well on my way to being more sensible with money

In reality the money that I spend on Sky should be knocked down a bit, then I can spend some money on what most others would call essentials, that Ive held off of.

Thanks again.

fatbelly

DarkFairey wrote: »

I understand that i will need to pay a DRO fee which i should be given a barcode to take to the post office?

I have 14 months left on this contract. With sky im not sure what the breakdown is because ive never seen the bill. But i do have a home phone and one of the better broadband packages... The internet speed was shocking before it was changed.

I also understand what you mean about having the telly on, though its not on all day. I suspect that my electricity usage is more to do with the washing machine, tumble dryer and heaters, which are needed on to stop me getting mould on the walls.

You also asked who i owe money to,
council tax,
the council,
veolia water,
eon,
Social fund,
EE,
hibu advertising
mediadz advertising,
virgin,
Sky,
I cant think of any others off the top of my head.. Buy my debts are around the 12.5k mark, and having about £10 Left after paying for our essentials i cant pay any of my creditors..

You are right about the barcode. Payments can be made in full or in instalments at a Post Office or Payzone outlet (most use Post Office). I am a bit concerned at the suggestion that Intermediaries are handling applicant's cash. They are not supposed to do this.

In all cases the intermediary should give the debtor their unique bar-coded letter to enable them to pay their fee. The debtor must then pay their fee via Payzone terminals or Post Office, to the Insolvency Service using this bar-coded letter. The intermediary may submit the application form once complete and the debtor has been issued with their unique barcode letter. The intermediary is not required to confirm that a payment has been made

In your list of debts you should be aware that social fund loans are excluded debts. They must be listed but do not contribute to the total. They are still repayable despite the DRO.

Council Tax arrears can go in provided you've lost the right to pay in instalments, i.e. you can't put the remainder of this year's bill in if you are still paying by instalments

As a side issue, have you thought about a dehumidifier instead of a heater for the damp problem. I've picked them up second hand at around £30. They don't use a lot of electricity but do dry (and slightly warm) the air.

DarkFairey

fatbelly wrote: »

You are right about the barcode. Payments can be made in full or in instalments at a Post Office or Payzone outlet (most use Post Office). I am a bit concerned at the suggestion that Intermediaries are handling applicant's cash. They are not supposed to do this.



In your list of debts you should be aware that social fund loans are excluded debts. They must be listed but do not contribute to the total. They are still repayable despite the DRO.

Council Tax arrears can go in provided you've lost the right to pay in instalments, i.e. you can't put the remainder of this year's bill in if you are still paying by instalments

As a side issue, have you thought about a dehumidifier instead of a heater for the damp problem. I've picked them up second hand at around £30. They don't use a lot of electricity but do dry (and slightly warm) the air.

So am I able to put the social fund payment that I usually make into my expenses list? I only ask because this is something that I will still need to pay over the next year.

Regarding the council tax, I have lost the right to pay by installments, and am being taken to Court on the 4th/5th November, I have an appointment on each day, one is my CAB appointment, the other is my court date. I wonder, am I ok to put the court coats in my DRO?

To be honest, Ive thought about it, but always put off by the fact ive thought they were quite expensive as I would need four of them in the house, however im going to need to replace some of these heaters this year, so I may just see how I get on with Dehumidifiers instead, as I get the impression they are cheaper to run, and much less hassle than redecorating so often.

I also wondered, if I dont have my.... I think its called a Unique Tax Reference number, how can this affect my DRO?

Thanks Fatbelly.

fatbelly

Hi

In reverse order:

Don't worry about not having a tax reference. I do a lot of DROs and not many people know this. It doesn't seem to affect the application.

Dehumidifiers - I actually have four. I also have economy7 so they are all on timers to come on during the night, with the dishwasher & washing machine if they're loaded. They do make a bit of noise but they are where I can't hear them, and they make a huge difference.

Council tax - yes the whole bill - court costs and liability order costs.

Social fund- Yes, but give your Intermediary the full details on this.

TML1617

Experian_company_representative wrote: »

The DRO on your report should be updated as DISCHARGED but check and let us know if not. Also check the other entries to make sure the individual lenders have updated them as no longer outstanding. Again, if any haven't been updated let us know. Then your job is building some new positive credit history to help rehabilitate your credit report. The adverse entries will hang around for six years but the impact is likely to lesson as time passes and if you can collect some more recent positive information this should help you.

James

Hi James

I have received my Experian credit file today but I can't see any of the things you've mentioned above.

It's the £2 report so I'm not sure if that's the wrong one and I should have ordered a more detailed one if that's possible?

I'm happy to pass over my details if you wanted to check the report yourself?

Any advise gratefully received, thanks TML

DarkFairey

fatbelly wrote: »

Hi

In reverse order:

Don't worry about not having a tax reference. I do a lot of DROs and not many people know this. It doesn't seem to affect the application.

Dehumidifiers - I actually have four. I also have economy7 so they are all on timers to come on during the night, with the dishwasher & washing machine if they're loaded. They do make a bit of noise but they are where I can't hear them, and they make a huge difference.

Council tax - yes the whole bill - court costs and liability order costs.

Social fund- Yes, but give your Intermediary the full details on this.

Thank you so much.. I feel like I can breathe now.

I will go and buy a few of them,as and when I can afford thank you for your suggestion.

Can I just ask, with my phone bill, and sky bill, if I cant get these down will I be able to get a DRO? Im just concerned that they may say, no, go away.

I will be calling up tomorrow and seeing if I can make either of these bills smaller, but I doubt this will happen with my phone contract provider (I asked my dad to call and ask before), Im quite positive that sky will knock a few quid off, I could see what they will let me take off of the account so the price is a bit more palatable.
.... Do you have any idea what the maximum is for Mobiles and Sky packages? I know that it all sounds rather luxurious that I have both of these, but I only got the sky in the first place as I couldnt get a TV signal in my house, and I was told the easiest and cheapest way to sort it was cable TV. I will definately think in future before signing any year long + contracts.

Thanks so much for your help so far Fat belly, I promise I will stop asking questions..

f.t.r.

hi all, found you all when researching dro's - bit confused atm.
I have two mobile phone contracts in my name and showing on my report - they are my teenage kids - will they accept me as I have been paying these but not my other creditors? I meet all the other criteria just this is really worrying me.
Thanks

fatbelly

Your intermediary might want to put a note if your 'telephony' expenses are higher than the trigger figure but I wouldn't think this would cause a major problem.

The mobile contracts are an ongoing expense, not creditors