Debt Relief Orders (DRO) - Information & help thread

fatbelly

Hi

I missed this yesterday. I still think you may have trouble if you go to a third organisation. You are presumably putting the running costs of a car in as your expenditure, and need to to get your surplus under £50. This prompts the question - who owns the car? And 'can you prove it'?

So I'm thinking what my conclusion is and i think you need to get yourself into a position where you're running a car valued at less than £1000 on Parkers guide. Then go for a DRO with Citizens Advice. 

Remember you have a separate asset limit of £1000 in a DRO if you have some cash left

ItsMeBilly1974

Close to submitting DRO for myself and my wife.

Question, she has a direct earnings attachment for housing benefit overpayment in her DRO.

her current surplus is -£10 the direct earnings is typically £70 a month.

with this debt included her surplus would increase to £60. Does the insolvency practitioner allow for such a change or will this invalidate her for a DRO as it pushes her over the £50 allowance?

Step Change worked this all out. But haven’t mentioned this. 

fatbelly

Yes the DEA would stop and on those figures she exceeds the parameters for a DRO.

The devil's in the detail here and she needs to talk it through with her intermediary.

JulieFender

I have just completed my DRO application with Stepchange. I’m unsure on a couple of things that I forgot to ask about and now can’t sleep! My Nan gifts me £3000 every Christmas to be distributed between my 3 children. She is overseas and so it’s an extravagant Christmas present she says to make up for all the bits she would do/pay for if she was nearer, will this affect my DRO? I’m on an access course at college at the moment, planning to go to university September next year. This will entitle me to £7000 per year bursary and student loans. I understand this will lower my UC entitlement but will it affect my DRO? If I don’t go on to complete the degree the cost of the access course (£4000) becomes payable (it’s written off if I go to Uni).

What happens during the year I’m in the DRO? Do I have to report my monthly outgoings/income? Send bank statements etc? Or do they have access to all of that? I’m panicking about staying under the £50 surplus, my finances are a mess, sometimes I seem to have spare, other times I have nothing for weeks. 

sourcrates

You don’t have to do anything, just get on with your life.
only if your disposable income rises above £50 will you have to report it to the IS, slight fluctuations can be ignored, you are not watched, or spied upon.

Get her to pay the money another way, the 7k might become a problem, ideally you need to know the next 12 months are going to be frugal in order for your DRO to complete, otherwise it’s not a good choice.

JulieFender

I don’t know what to do about the bursary. UC will count anything I am entitled to and reduce accordingly, whether i take it or not! 

I could transfer the money from my Nan straight into my children’s accounts? She’s elderly and any conversation changing the way she pays it will confuse and worry her

JulieFender

Looks like I can apply for the bursary up to 9 months after starting. What about student loans though?

fatbelly

Monies received from a student grant or loan is income and should be apportioned across the months it relates to.

It'd be best if that Christmas money was paid direct to the children or buy them Premium Bonds or something

JulieFender

Does the £50 surplus have to be each month, or is it averaged out? My income until September will mean that most months I can’t afford to pay my normal bills, I have to juggle and reduce others accordingly, so when I am granted my student loan and bursary it might mean I have more than £50 surplus in the last 2 months of my DRO but will likely even out over the year if that makes sense?

I will speak to my Mum about the Christmas gift. 

fatbelly

Technically it's 'each month' but you are not closely monitored.

Stepchange were right to say that you'd have to look at it at the time (your other thread).

The extra income  (averaged over the months that the lump sums cover) would coincide with a reduction in your UC and maybe extra expenditure - my gut feeling is that you'd still be OK