Debt Relief Orders (DRO) - Information & help thread

fatbelly

OutOfTheBue said:

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.

I'm not sure whether exercising the right of setoff would breach the DRS rules but why risk it? Move as much capital ans you can to a safe place and also protect your income

You know it makes sense

OutOfTheBue

fatbelly said:

OutOfTheBue said:

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.

I'm not sure whether exercising the right of setoff would breach the DRS rules but why risk it? Move as much capital ans you can to a safe place and also protect your income

You know it makes sense

Thank you so much for your reply fatbelly. And yes you're right why risk it especially if I'm not sure if they are allowed to take anything during breathing space. I will move what I have over today and change all my bank details for my wages and DD's. Thanks again for your help 🙂. 

stu12345_2

bring your bank  account you have debts with down  to £0 , move everything into a new basic accoun with a diff bank you have no debts with  or owned by the same family of banks before dro gets approved.

your bank you have debts with does not know your dro plan until the date it gets approved 

show bank statements to your dro advisor

OutOfTheBue

stu12345_2 said:

bring your bank  account you have debts with down  to £0 , move everything into a new basic accoun with a diff bank you have no debts with  or owned by the same family of banks before dro gets approved.

your bank you have debts with does not know your dro plan until the date it gets approved 

show bank statements to your dro advisor

Thank you so much for that reply Stu. I have opened a cashminder account after reading the advice on this forum so I will get everything moved over. 

Also a question about my bank statements. My income has changed only recently hence changing over to a DRO therefore if my DRO advisor asks me for past bank statements then those payments will still be on it and my income and spending will show different to what I will have going forward after them payments stopped  (if that makes sense). Will I be able to explain this in the DRO process and send in future bank statements after the payments stopped (they only stopped this week as my son finished his A levels and it was CTC and WTC). I am only in the early stages of being handed over by Stepchange for the DRO process but I'm a bit worried if them tax credit payments will affect my application?. Will the breathing space allow to send in bank statements after the CTC payments stopped so they will be able to get the full true picture of my income/outgoings which I have going into the DRO.

Hope that makes sense?..thanks again Stu that last bit of the question os for everyone so hope you dont think I'm just picking your brains haha

RAS

I believe they want 3 months' bank statements, so you might want to wait until those you offer reflect your future situation? 

Who is your DRO advisor?

OutOfTheBue

RAS said:

I believe they want 3 months' bank statements, so you might want to wait until those you offer reflect your future situation? 

Who is your DRO advisor?

Thank you for your reply RAS. I am starting it with Money Wellness. They have only asked for all my information I have from Stepchange so far as I have had a DMP with them for the last 18 months. The statements are my worry right now because if they ask for past 3 months then it is not going to show my true income/spending. They will still have my tax credits payments on that I will no longer be getting going into the DRO.  I could send them statements after the payments stopped every week if they needed me to or at least build up a months worth of statements while I have the breathing space in place. I'm just so worried now how this will affect the whole process of applying for my DRO 😔. 

stu12345_2

if you don't have 3 months showing the same job, explain that it shows the changeover in income mid months and to use that figure only.
i had to do that.
told dro advisor ignore all previous income, cos it's the new income that is creating the dro eligibility 

have min of one clear month, and they will use it, you explain that will be the norm going forward.

as for Benefits, explain in a screenshot from DWP that it has stopped by a certain date and not to include it in dro application , cos it's all about your income going forward not what was in the past

cos you don't have to wait 3 more months to apply for a dro. just show one month as the current norm.

explain it all in a phone call to advisor to only use the norm going forward.

in fact my dro application was done using only one months wages in a new job in only one month bank statement  I had started and the universal credit hadn't even been awarded yet, so the advisor used a benefit calculator to work out what I'm due and used that figure too.

I also sent screenshot on my contract of employment if new job and resignation letters to HR at my old job with the end date and P45 I got

OutOfTheBue

stu12345_2 said:

if you don't have 3 months showing the same job, explain that it shows the changeover in income mid months and to use that figure only.
i had to do that.
told dro advisor ignore all previous income, cos it's the new income that is creating the dro eligibility 

have min of one clear month, and they will use it, you explain that will be the norm going forward.

as for Benefits, explain in a screenshot from DWP that it has stopped by a certain date and not to include it in dro application , cos it's all about your income going forward not what was in the past

cos you don't have to wait 3 more months to apply for a dro. just show one month as the current norm.

explain it all in a phone call to advisor to only use the norm going forward.

in fact my dro application was done using only one months wages in a new job in only one month bank statement  I had started and the universal credit hadn't even been awarded yet, so the advisor used a benefit calculator to work out what I'm due and used that figure too.

I also sent screenshot on my contract of employment if new job and resignation letters to HR at my old job with the end date and P45 I got

Thats very reassuring Stu thank you so much for that. Yes that was my point its my income going forward that is creating my DRO situation so when I was reading some posts about the application wanting to see past bank statements it was making me worried as that is not my income now etc. I was worried  thinking so do I have to wait 3 months now before applying so I could  provide them bank statements but you've eased my mind on that so thank you 🙂

As you advised I will explain it all once I get my first call with the advisor. By the time its ready for the application to be sent off I will probably have nearly a months worth of my true income on my bank statements anyway so they could use that going forward and if they did need anymore I could always send them on. If your application was done on one months bank statement then thats promising as they might just need one clear one from me to go ahead 🙂. 

Thank you again for your advice and help its really appreciated. 

sourcrates

Never bank where you have debts, get your money safe so it doesn't become an issue.

OutOfTheBue

sourcrates said:

Never bank where you have debts, get your money safe so it doesn't become an issue.

Thank you for your reply sourcrates. I have taken the advice given to me on here today and have changed everything over to a new account 🙂