Debt Relief Orders (DRO) - Information & help thread

newdawn_2

Any update on the DRO and pension changes? (Living in hope for myBF)

cupcake83

sarah1773 wrote: »

Hi, hope someone can help as I cannot find anyone in the same situation! I am waiting for my DRO paperwork to be processed - could be another 4 weeks as it is so busy, it has already been 6 weeks.

However, I want to move out away from my husband and stay with my mother as my husband is very abusive physically, mentally and emotionally to me and I have a 3 year old son. All the debts are in my name (even though he built them up - stupid me).

I am worried that I will have to start the process all over again as my address will have changed and I will be on different benefits, although my surplus will still not go over £50 a month. I am mostly worried because I don't want my mother to have to deal with creditors harassing me at her address while I am waiting for the DRO to be processed.

Does anybody know whether I will have to start the process all over again or will I be allowed to change my details without having to?

And what would happen if I get the call saying my DRO application is ready but I am in-between changing my benefits (as they can take a couple of weeks to sort out) and I haven't got any proof of my new benefit yet?

Thank so much

Hi Sarah,

Have you spoken to the organisation who is helping you apply? If you haven't may be a good idea to speak to them and ask if they would be able to keep your application on hold whilst you moved into your mothers and applied for benefits. Depending on what stage your application is at you might need to wait until your benefits have been awarded in order to show amounts of income you will then have. You would need to do another SOA to show these and outgoings (that may have changed also) as you have said you would still not be over £50 surplus then shouldn't be a problem for DRO. You may also want to check whether you'd need to tell your creditors your new address or could you wait until after the DRO.

Sorry that you've had to deal with an abusive husband as well as debt issue, have you spoken to anyone about your husband, There are organisations that can offer support such as Womens Aid.

Hope this helps alittle.

cupcake83

in_debt24 wrote: »

Hi all,

I have £13,000 unsecured debt and would like to apply for a DRO. Here's my SOA- Please tell me what you think (i.e are any of the numbers too high and likley to be rejected?)

According to this i have only £17/month surplus which meets the criteria for DRO (along with havign no assetts and owing less than £15k)

Thankyou!

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household.........
Number of cars owned....................
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1248
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1248
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 660 (1 bed flat in london!!!)
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 85
Electricity............................. 16
Gas..................................... 20
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0 (Included in rent)
Telephone (land line)................... 12
Mobile phone............................ 25
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 25
Groceries etc. ......................... 150
Clothing................................ 10
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 169 (zone 1-5 travelcard)
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 7
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 5
Haircuts................................ 10
Entertainment........................... 15
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 10
Total monthly expenses.................. 1231

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 0
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 0

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly.. .APR

Total unsecured debts: £13,000


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,248
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,231
Available for debt repayments........... 17
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 0
Amount left after debt repayments....... 17
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 0
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -0
Net Assets.............................. 0
Created using the SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using IE browser.

From above it does look like you would qualify for a DRO, do you have a pension though? The best thing to do now is get some advice from an organisation such as CAB, CCCS, National Debtline they can go through the SAO with you and advise if anything is too high etc. In order to apply for a DRO you would need help from an approved intermediary see link; http://www.insolvency.gov.uk/bankruptcy/DRO/auth.htm

Good luck and any questions just ask.

cupcake83

Just a pre-warning for any one in this position;

If you are applying for a DRO and have benefit overpayments for a benefit that you are currently claiming, this was housing benefit in my case, even though you would need to put this debt on your DRO application and it is a qualifying debt the overpayment can still be claimed and as a result can still be deducted from your benefit.

Reason I making aware of this is it may have an affect on your SOA, may also cause problems with the surplus, luckily I did my SOA with full housing benefit without deductions (as I believed I wouldn't be paying) so even when my deductions stop I won't be over the £50 surplus. Even more luckily my partner is doing some overtime in order to pay the deduction until they stop in July.

PandaPaws_3

Hello, I would like some advice please?

I have had credit card debts of just under £15k for the last 6 years, (despite all of my attempts to pay them off at a better rate, the interest is crippling me) and have been considering a DRO - I wanted to deal with this by trying to pay them off, but I am getting nowhere and am no longer able to cope with them. Before christmas, I had a bit of a disaster, both my car and my pc (which I need for my business) broke down and I had to spend £800 on one of the cards to pay for them. I am now £15800 in debt (before interest is added). Now, I have received an inheritance cheque of £1000, and obviously want to use all of this to pay credit cards.
2 questions:
1 - I am worried that this will look like I am more than able to pay off my debts and a DRO will be rejected?
2 - I have not yet missed any minimum payments because I have been juggling the cards to pay off each other (nightmare), but I can not make 3 of the 5 minimum payments the month after next, should I apply now or wait until I am actually not being able to pay the minimum payments...? (very scary prospect)

Thank you.

PandaPaws_3

I've just scared myself thoroughly by doing my statement o affairs, don't know how I've survived this long...
Does this look ok in terms of applying for a DRO? (I mentioned in my last post that I have a £1000 inheritance cheque coming which will take me under £15k debt).....provided I am able to use this to pay off some debt before applying for a DRO...?

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 1
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 265.17
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 596.33
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 861.5
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 500
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 0
Electricity............................. 22.7
Gas..................................... 18.74
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 23.44
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 10
TV Licence.............................. 11.9
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 16
Groceries etc. ......................... 90
Clothing................................ 15
Petrol/diesel........................... 30
Road tax................................ 11.5
Car Insurance........................... 23.55
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 14.17
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 14
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 10
Haircuts................................ 10
Entertainment........................... 20
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 841

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 845
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 845

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
MBNA...........................6350.95...153.......34.95
First Direct...................991.71....29.75.....20.63
EGG............................3792.43...95.95.....22.42
Abbey..........................3705.73...83.38.....18.86
Barclaycard....................982.14....13........16.95
Total unsecured debts..........15822.96..375.08....-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 861.5
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 841
Available for debt repayments........... 20.5
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 375.08
Amount short for making debt repayments. -354.58
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 845
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -15,822.96
Net Assets.............................. -14,977.96
Created using the SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using IE browser.

cupcake83

PandaPaws wrote: »

Hello, I would like some advice please?

I have had credit card debts of just under £15k for the last 6 years, (despite all of my attempts to pay them off at a better rate, the interest is crippling me) and have been considering a DRO - I wanted to deal with this by trying to pay them off, but I am getting nowhere and am no longer able to cope with them. Before christmas, I had a bit of a disaster, both my car and my pc (which I need for my business) broke down and I had to spend £800 on one of the cards to pay for them. I am now £15800 in debt (before interest is added). Now, I have received an inheritance cheque of £1000, and obviously want to use all of this to pay credit cards.
2 questions:
1 - I am worried that this will look like I am more than able to pay off my debts and a DRO will be rejected?
2 - I have not yet missed any minimum payments because I have been juggling the cards to pay off each other (nightmare), but I can not make 3 of the 5 minimum payments the month after next, should I apply now or wait until I am actually not being able to pay the minimum payments...? (very scary prospect)

Thank you.

If I were you I'd get advice from one of the advice organisations such as CCCS, CAB or National Debtline, as I'm not sure how paying the £800 would look and whether this would cause problems. You could copy and post the above onto the 'ask CCCS a question' thread at the top, hopefully you can recieve advice there.

mazzatee

Hi PandaPaws

Re making payments to your creditors from the £1000 you should make a fair share payment to them all, using the following formula:

money available/total of all debts x individual creditor debt.

As you are paying a fair share to everyone this will not be classed as preferential treatment and will be acceptable.

budget looks OK but contact one of the agencies & be prepared for some delay as everyone is so busy!

PandaPaws_3

Thank you mazzatee, I am going to call CCCS and see what they say, I probably won't get the inheritance cheque for another couple of months, so I have some time to think about it, but your answer re. splitting it is helpful, thanks.

I realise that its probably frowned upon to try and 'get' your debt under £15k so that you can apply for a DRO, as if you can reduce your debt you should keep doing so and pay it off anyway, and I didn't want it to look like this is what I was doing.. I wonder if they will ask for proof of the money being an inheritance.. but I will call and get some advice anyway!

RUDEBOX

Hi i am new to dro after taking my head out the sand and going to c.a.b who suggested this route.
My questions are:
Would i be able to continue repaying my mum the money i owe her out of my h.keeping allowance that i slightly exageratted rather than by standing order like i do now?
Will i still be able to enter competitions for small/ medium prizes. Today for instance i won a £5 farmfood voucher.
Also would small cheques-few+ far between-cashed at cashvonverters be traceable back to me?
I dont wish to have my cake+ eat it but this is how ive learnt to survive-comping! Thankyou x