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