Debt Relief Orders (DRO) - Information & help thread

Aloofdragon

Hi all x I am waiting my experian pin so I can gather all my details of debts right left and centre I know my husbands debts totals £10,000 ish with main part a barclay loan to clear off over payments made by housing benefit we are in overdraft within a week of wages going in now so can see no way out without seeking help, I have contacted payplan and will have an initial chat on phone Friday I really am on ground I am totally unsure of and they have a good repetation is there anything I should be wary of I gather an IVA is a monthly payment made to them and they issue payments to debtors, where as DRO debts are actually wrote off as husband and wife will payplan try and sway us to do an IVA so they get payment out of it too? and is there any rules apart from the under £15,000 cap to have a DRO.. any info would be fab.

longtermplanner

There are quite a few criteria for DROs.

Less than 15k: you think you pass

No property: you said you are in a housing association.

Less than £300 in assets: this is second hand value and excludes normal houshold furniture, clothes etc.

Car worth less than £1000: ? is this a problem

Spare income less than £50 a month: this would be for each of you if you both need DROs.

I have contacted payplan and will have an initial chat on phone Friday I really am on ground I am totally unsure of and they have a good repetation is there anything I should be wary of I gather an IVA is a monthly payment made to them and they issue payments to debtors, where as DRO debts are actually wrote off as husband and wife will payplan try and sway us to do an IVA so they get payment out of it too?

Payplan can do DROs but looking at their statistics, they do remarkably few. And they do a lot of IVAs. I hope they won't pressure you to do an IVA if you qualify for a DRO. The important thing is that you are aware of this potential pitfall. You need to ask them specifically "would I qualify for a DRO? would my husband?"

If they say NO, then perhaps come back here with your income & expenditure and we could look at it? DRO rules can be more generous than IVA ones.

Aloofdragon

Neither of us drive so no car, we have little assets a 7 year old pc phones arent swish and are in contract a second hand laptop and nothing posh so to speak furnishings wise most debts have been occured with household bills council tax etc I will def ask tho as most off the big debts are on hubbys name my debts are older smaller debts which I wouldnt mind an Iva on many thanks no doubt il be back x

Orville

Aloofdragon wrote: »

Neither of us drive so no car, we have little assets a 7 year old pc phones arent swish and are in contract a second hand laptop and nothing posh so to speak furnishings wise most debts have been occured with household bills council tax etc I will def ask tho as most off the big debts are on hubbys name my debts are older smaller debts which I wouldnt mind an Iva on many thanks no doubt il be back x

I don't think you can do a joint DRO. I am pretty sure you would have to apply separately, Unless it is a joint debt i suppose.


Remember when working out all outgoings for the dro you DO NOT include the debts. You have to have £50 or less surplus cash after all household bills and everyday outgoings are calculated.

longtermplanner

Aloofdragon wrote: »

the big debts are on hubbys name my debts are older smaller debts which I wouldnt mind an Iva on

An IVA is not a suitable option for "older smaller debts". There your choices are to pay them in full, to offer a full&final settlements if you could get together any money for this, or a Debt Management Plan, possibly offering only token payments.

TheLegendOfMart

I contacted stepchange charity who said I should either apply for a Debt Relief Order or do a token payment scheme.

I already pay £1 a month to my creditors but they wont stop ringing me and sending me letters, I have been depressed for 10+ years now and it's getting to the point where I can't sleep at night worrying about money and dread the noise of the letterbox going.

There are a few concerns.

I am a joint tenant with my father and I let him use my bank account because he couldn't get one in his name, I recently added him on my bank account to make it into a joint account.

A lot of the stuff in this house that would be considered as assets were bought in my name but not using my money.

My actual assets I only have 3 kind of valuable things:

A 4 year old 32" TV which is worth about £75-100 2nd hand
A pay as you go mobile phone worth £90 new
A full desktop computer worth £750 new

If I applied for a DRO would I have to sell my computer? I use it for job searching every day and need it to apply for jobs.

As for the other things bought in my name but not with my money, would they be considered "my" assets?

National_Debtline

Orville wrote: »

I don't think you can do a joint DRO. I am pretty sure you would have to apply separately, Unless it is a joint debt i suppose.

Hi

Just wanted to clear this one up definitively.

There are no joint DROs and a couple would indeed need to make two separate applications. Any joint debt would need be listed in both applications, showing the full amount owed rather than 50%.

Dennis

National_Debtline

TheLegendOfMart wrote: »

I contacted stepchange charity who said I should either apply for a Debt Relief Order or do a token payment scheme.

I already pay £1 a month to my creditors but they wont stop ringing me and sending me letters, I have been depressed for 10+ years now and it's getting to the point where I can't sleep at night worrying about money and dread the noise of the letterbox going.

There are a few concerns.

I am a joint tenant with my father and I let him use my bank account because he couldn't get one in his name, I recently added him on my bank account to make it into a joint account.

A lot of the stuff in this house that would be considered as assets were bought in my name but not using my money.

My actual assets I only have 3 kind of valuable things:

A 4 year old 32" TV which is worth about £75-100 2nd hand
A pay as you go mobile phone worth £90 new
A full desktop computer worth £750 new

If I applied for a DRO would I have to sell my computer? I use it for job searching every day and need it to apply for jobs.

As for the other things bought in my name but not with my money, would they be considered "my" assets?

Hi there

Are you saying that the computer is brand new? Or are you stating what its value would be if that were the case?

In the context of a DRO, your items are valued based on their current condition, not what they would cost to replace.

Thanks

Dennis

TheLegendOfMart

It's worth over £300 second hand, I guess I'd have to get rid of it then?

What about the items that were purchased in my name using my bank account but my fathers money where he puts his wages?

fatbelly

TheLegendOfMart wrote: »

I contacted stepchange charity who said I should either apply for a Debt Relief Order or do a token payment scheme. I already pay £1 a month to my creditors but they wont stop ringing me and sending me letters,

Precisely. It's a rubbish strategy. It doesn't pay the debts (in a reasonable timescale), it doesn't stop harassment and/or court action, and it continually acknowledges the debts. There are only a few circumstances where I would advise it.

There's nothing in your post that would indicate a problem with a DRO application and if Stepchange have suggested it and will support you in it, well that's £90 well spent. Ask them about the computer issue.