Debt Relief Orders (DRO) - Information & help thread

Suzie1981

Hi folks! Thought I would let you know what's happening with my dro. Paid the barcode 14/11/16 and it was submitted. Thought I might have seen my name on the insolvency register this morning,but it's not there. Am now convinced that it's not been accepted! I phoned stepchange and the lady said there maybe doing further checks as I had used credit in the past couple of months. To say I am stressed would be an understatement. Everywhere I read everyone's else's is done and dusted within a couple of days.

fatbelly

Most DROs get accepted the day after submission - but not all. It mostly depends on workload at the DRO Team. My last one was last week and took 2 days.

Where there is a delay the intermediary generally does not know the reason, and there can be many reasons - so the stepchange lady was making a guess - and maybe not a helpful one.

If the application was submitted on 14 Nov and your barcode was paid on or before that date then it would be unusual not to hear anything after three working days, but I wait a week before phoning, and that has happened a couple of times - both issues with the payment not being received. They check for payment for 10 days and then reject the application.

Suzie1981

Thanks fatbelly! I paid my fee on the 14/11/16. The stepchange lady tried her hardest to get me to wait 3 months from i last used credit. But ive been getting so stressed with phone calls and letters i just wanted to get it out the way as quick as possible. I will just have to sit it out and see what happens.

fatbelly

Suzie1981 wrote: »

Thanks fatbelly! I paid my fee on the 14/11/16. The stepchange lady tried her hardest to get me to wait 3 months from i last used credit. But ive been getting so stressed with phone calls and letters i just wanted to get it out the way as quick as possible. I will just have to sit it out and see what happens.

Well what's done is done.

You probably know that we intermediaries are not allowed to refuse to submit an application. But we do have a box we can tick to say that we don't approve the application. I've never ticked the box because I've always been able to convince the client. I would guess if the box was ticked the DRO Team would take a good look at the application. So maybe the stepchange lady wasn't speculating as much as much as I thought.

I was actually asked by a colleague this afternoon about making an application for someone who had been using credit until recently. I asked if the credit had been taken out after she came to us for advice. It hadn't. So I said to just treat it normally as it takes some time anyway for us to get the credit report and the client to find £90.

It's still probable that your application will be accepted. The DRO team have just written a piece on declined applications:

As we’re now half-way through the working year, we’ve recently reviewed declined applications, and thought it might be helpful to share some further details of why applications occasionally (at the moment the rate is around one decline for every four hundred submissions) get declined.

As the pie chart on the right shows, half of all declines are due to previous insolvencies — an undischarged bankruptcy, a current IVA or a DRO in the previous six years. Please remember either of the first two will be shown on a search of the Individual Insolvency Register on the Insolvency Service’s website, and we’re always happy to check our records for previous DROs on a phone call.

Of the remaining 50%, 10 of the cases were where a preference or undervalue transaction was sufficiently serious that the application couldn’t proceed, 9 were where either the assets or liabilities exceeded thresholds, and 1 where the debtor still had an interest in a property.

None of those things seem to apply in your case.

Suzie1981

All that makes sense! No i dont think i apply to any of them to be honest and its my fault if anything comes back about my usage of credit in the past couple months! I will hang fire for the time being and see what happens. Don't know what my next option will be if it's declined.

Suzie1981

Hi everyone,well I'm still no further forward about what's happening with my dro. Never heard a thing and my names still no on the insolvency register! Does the official receiver use experian for the credit checks im only asking as ive never been able to access it for a really long time? As you can see I have all kinds of mad ideas whirling around in my head.

fatbelly

On Monday it will be a week since it was submitted. If I was your intermediary, that would be the date I would be on the phone asking if we have a problem.

On one case where this happened I found out only £80 was showing as paid, so £10 did the business and the application was approved.

Suzie1981

Me again!! Well i called stepchange this morning as I still haven't heard anything. The lady went and checked everything only to find when my application was submitted there was a glitch in the system and it hadn't been sent! This was after phoning last Thursday to double check that it had definitely been sent. Anyways stepchange lady is gonna add about £50 to each of my balances to cover charges e.t.c as it's been a week now since it should have been sent. So fingers crossed I will hear back by the end of the week. Don't want to diss stepchange though as they've been great with me.

sourcrates

Suzie1981 wrote: »

Me again!! Well i called stepchange this morning as I still haven't heard anything. The lady went and checked everything only to find when my application was submitted there was a glitch in the system and it hadn't been sent! This was after phoning last Thursday to double check that it had definitely been sent. Anyways stepchange lady is gonna add about £50 to each of my balances to cover charges e.t.c as it's been a week now since it should have been sent. So fingers crossed I will hear back by the end of the week. Don't want to diss stepchange though as they've been great with me.

Once, correctly submitted, a decision is normally made within 48 hours, and you will get a letter from the insolvency service with the result.

Basically if SC have done there job correctly, then it will be approved.

wba31

Suzie1981 wrote: »

Me again!! Well i called stepchange this morning as I still haven't heard anything. The lady went and checked everything only to find when my application was submitted there was a glitch in the system and it hadn't been sent! This was after phoning last Thursday to double check that it had definitely been sent. Anyways stepchange lady is gonna add about £50 to each of my balances to cover charges e.t.c as it's been a week now since it should have been sent. So fingers crossed I will hear back by the end of the week. Don't want to diss stepchange though as they've been great with me.

I too have sometimes clicked submit, and on my list of cases I have a submission date on the IS system, but when chasing up an approval they say it's not gone through. They have a new system now though so hopefully these systems errors will become a thing of the past...