Debt Relief Orders (DRO) - Information & help thread

ahygyio123456

Thanks fatbelly. My car is worth £4000 so more than the £2000 limit. The finance was taken out 2 years ago (2 years left). There is no public transport available to my place of work (15 miles away and not able to live closer as there are no houses closer) as we live in a very rural area. Do you have any experience of people being granted this as an allowable expense due to these circumstances? The payments are also very low in comparison to my income (around 6%). I’m confident that I would have a strong argument due to the things outlined above and my employer would support my argument if needed and it would help (it’s been a long standing issue of them not being able to recruit due to lack of public transport so they are aware of the issue) 

Thank you

ahygyio123456

Just an update. I’ve spoken to Payplan went through income expenditure debts etc. £5 left over every month. However they said I wouldn’t qualify for a DRO as my car was on HP and worth more than £2000 and I have a small pot of savings even though this is less than the £2000 assets limit. I quoted the guidance you posted fatbelly and said I genuinely feel there is a genuine domestic need and even if I were to sell the car, pay off the finance buy a cheaper car etc I wouldn’t be paying the £130 a month payment but car upkeep will probably be more (say £30 a month) due to an older car along with additional fuel costs (say £30) which would still mean I was below the £75 a month limit so it would have no impact if I were to keep or sell the car in terms of me being able to make payments towards my debt. Is that a reasonable argument? Payplan basically said there’s nothing you can do as soon as you have a car on HP you’re excluded?? Do you have any advice? 

sourcrates

@ahygyio123456 Have you considered debt management as an alternative here ?

Stop paying the non essential debts, let them default, then make token payments for a while, whilst saving up a settlement/emergency fund, and, once they are sold on, settle each one for as little as possible as and when funds become available.

No hassle with the car, or your savings pot, no rules to stick too, no one to tell you you can`t do it, makes your life a lot more bearable without having to fund minimum payments, best alternative I`d say.

fatbelly

So we can add Payplan to the list of companies who don't understand DROs. To be fair, they don't have many intermediaries. If you want to try for a DRO these days you really need to go through CAB or Money Wellness.

As I said before though, you are going to struggle with that car on hp. Eventually the car will be yours and eventually it will be worth <2k. Maybe keep things ticking over with token offers and review at that point.

Brie

brilliant!!

no fee, £50k limit and £4k for cars!!!

DROs - major improvements introduced in 2024 Spring Budget · Debt Camel

Bigspud24

Hello, does anyone know roughly how long DRO’s are taking to process at the moment please?
I first contacted CAB on the 15th April and got the ball rolling. My case was then passed onto the DRO Hub Stoke on the 7th May. 

I then received an email from the DRO Hub on the 27th May telling me I was at Step 3 of 6 and they needed some more information from me which I sent them straight away. 

I have sent them an email again on the 6th June and again yesterday just asking for an update on my case but I’ve no reply from them. I tried calling their number yesterday and left a voicemail as nobody answered. I’m literally loosing sleep over it, and the stress and anxiety is making me ill. 

When I first made contact with CAB back in April I was informed to get in touch with any creditors that I have received letters or emails from asking them to put a 60 day hold on my accounts, well as you can probably guess, those 60 days are up as of the 17th June and I’ve already received a letter from one of the companies reminding me of this! I can’t see it being processed by the 17th. What do I say to these companies when I have no update myself let alone for them.
 I’m feeling so lonely, so down and so ignored by the people who promise that they can help. 

Grumpelstiltskin

Don't get upset and panic nothing terrible is going to happen. My guess is because of the recent increase in the DRO amount they are snowed under and you just have to let them clear things as fast as they can. If you keep contacting them it will just slow things down.

fatbelly

Don't worry about the 60-day hold expiring. Nothing will happen. CAB are making the process increasingly difficult but should get there eventually.

For anyone now starting from scratch I recommend going with Money Wellness

sourcrates

You don`t say anything to them, let them do their thing, and you do yours, nothing is going to happen short term, by short term I mean 6 months, a year.

With the impending changes to DRO rules, there is likely to be a large spike in applications shortly, they will be trying to clear the decks of current applications before the rule change hits.

Don`t panic, all will be fine.

OutOfTheBue

Hi. I hope you can give me some advice. 

I am about to start the DRO process after having  DMP in place for the last 18 months. This is due to a drop in my income. I have been reading lots of valuable advice on this forum and need to know about my bank account. 

I have been put into breathing space while my DRO gets sorted and I have read all the advice from this forum about opening another bank account (which I have done). I would just like to know when you would recommend transferring any funds I have over to that new account as I am a bit worried that my current bank might close/take money as I owe them. I'm not sure if they are allowed to do that during breathing space but would be so grateful for any advice as to when I should change everything over.

Thank you so much and keep up the good work because this forum has been so helpful to me while starting this process.