Worries about DRO

drostudent

Hi All,

I have been granted a debt relief order.

However, I will be commencing a degree course this september and have informed the student loans company who said it does not affect my ability to be given loans and grants while on the order.

What I am worried about, is that the student loans and grants will mean the dro will be withdrawn and I am back to square one as obviously student loans won't pay all my living and other expenses in relation to taking a degree as well as covering the debts which are included in the debt relief order.

I owed £14,750 apprx and have an income less than £450 per month which is composed of long term incapacity benefit.

I was wondering if student loans are taken as income and the likelihood of these causing my D.R.O. to be cancelled?

Any help would be appreciated.

drostudent

alternatively, are there guidelines as to how much is allowed on your weekly budget expenditure for things like travel and rent etc?

debt_doctor

Hi,

Student loans are counted as income within a DRO, and if your surplus income rises above £50 pm then the order MAY be revoked. The yearly allowance is divided by 12 and assessed along with your other income.

All of your essential expenditure will be allowed along with reasonable allowances for telephone, travel, housekeeping and other expenditure.

DD

drostudent

Hi Debt Doctor,

Many thanks for your reply and answer to this question it is an enormous help as obviously the student loan is to provide funds for the financing of my degree: books, stationary, living costs and travel, all of which will increase once the course starts.

Obviously, I am extremely worried incase the order does get revoked, which seems a bit daft considering I will be in the same position re unable to afford the repayments on the credit cards which is what the debt was composed of.

If the DRO does get revoked, do you have any idea as to what would happen then with regards my creditors and the likelihood of bailiffs coming round?

I live with my elderly mother who is a pensioner and was helping to subsidise my debts by contributing to the monthly repayments before I got the DRO approved.

Obviously, she is very worried about people coming to the door as she never got into debt and has never been in this position which I have brought onto myself.

Basically, I thought the DRO was going to be my solution, but I am finding myself just as worried sick now, as I was before.

If it gets revoked, how do I cope, what do I do, the DRO is meant to be the solution, but it seems it might not be, so where I go from here if it does get revoked I have no idea.

debt_doctor

Hi,

I don't know who advised you or how much info they had re your DRO. DRO's are very new ( I asked the question re student loans about a month ago, there is nothing in the guidance, I got my answer from the DRO unit).

If your DRO fails then BR may be the answer, re bailiffs, unless you have been taken to court then bailiffs cannot be instructed, even then keep your doors and windows locked and dont let them in. They can only take YOUR goods, but cant do that if no one lets them in.

DD

drostudent

Many thanks again for your patience and your help with this query.

By BR I presume you mean bankruptcy? If so, won't it affect my ability to declare bankruptcy if I have had my D.R.O. revoked?

It seems bankruptcy may be the way forward if my D.R.O. gets revoked, but my expenses will rise as a result of having to go to university and also my contribution for living costs will increase as a result of my increased income so I suppose it is first seeing what the insolvency service decide regarding my D.R.O. and then take it from there.

The answer regarding the bailiffs has been extremely helpful also. Obviously, with having the D.R.O. I have not been taken to court so that is good to hear about the procedure for bailiffs action being taken only after that. Hopefully it will never get to that, and with the possible option of bankruptcy if the D.R.O. is revoked then fingers crossed.

Thanks again Debt Doctor, you must get these questions every day from people like me who have gotten themselves into trouble like this.

I appreciate your help and your time.

Thanks