debt relief order- good idea?

kate252

ive been offered one from my CAB, but ive been putting it off- the credit unions told me if had one done i wouldnt be able to borrow off them- that meams for the rest of my life ill never be able to access cash more than weekly amounts to help me with unforseen expenditures, then when needing to move away frm harrassment in my social housing i am looking for private and now thinking i wouldnt be able to rent, what else will i happen if i do it? i wil read the notes written about here- so im not going to be ignorant- ill read whats posted- but im just wondering if its a good idea- i do have debts i cant afford to pay- most of them are on weekly small amounts and they are ok, the other just keep writing over and over and over- every month- but do little else. what shall i do? get my solictor to see to the rest in minimum weekly payments instead of doing the debt relief? are there occaisions where some companies still wont like the one pound offered to them
anyone withing to preach about me about not incurring he debt in the first place- please dont - its too late now- and they genuinely were born out of single parent financial difficulty none of them catalogue or loans- just bills and council tax-the concil tax- in my defense didnt handle it well as soon as i got into arrears- they piled on extra pressure by expecting me to pay double to pay the current and the arrears- i should ahve paid the curent amount plus a small managable sum extra- it takes longer to pay off but some people need to realise that some are living without enough to live on as it is- and dont bother with the get a job- im trying!

elfieb

I dont have much experience with credit unions, so unsure how they work, but when most people come to the point of having to decide about a DRO, their credit score is shot anyway, so finding credit would be difficult enough without a DRO.

DRO's are not a scary thing.....much less formal that bankruptcy.
Have you read the sticky at the top of the page.....that will give you lots of info regarding them.

Mullington

I'm gutted by the DRO criteria . I qualify on every aspect EXCEPT the £300 pension clause. Recently I had to give up work to become a full timer carer. Because I have a dormant pension (not alot in it either) which I can't touch until 60 years old, I'm ruled out of a DRO. I'm only 36yrs old and now I'm struggling on the cash front. The HSBC won't budge of my loan repayments, so I've no idea where to turn now?

So_Sad_Angel

Mullington wrote: »

I'm gutted by the DRO criteria . I qualify on every aspect EXCEPT the £300 pension clause. Recently I had to give up work to become a full timer carer. Because I have a dormant pension (not alot in it either) which I can't touch until 60 years old, I'm ruled out of a DRO. I'm only 36yrs old and now I'm struggling on the cash front. The HSBC won't budge of my loan repayments, so I've no idea where to turn now?

Speak to CAB/CCCS/Nat Debtline....if there is a way to avoid BR then look at every option. HSBC are far more likely to accept a payment proposal from one of the debt charities as they will know that you have taken advice.

I tried to negotiate with several creditors & to no avail....as soon as CAB got involved I ended up paying lower figure straight away.

Hope that helps,

Mullington

So Sad Angel-thanks for that very helpful advice. It appears the banks aren't interested in one-to-one negotiations, but through a third party they are. I shall sort out a plan with the CCCS.

Bethankim

Hi Kate,

I realise the DRO is scary, but you are stuck in a spiral of weekly borrowing and either you live with that or take action and if CAB have advised you.

I got myself caught up in debt on debt on debt and when i relaised it was actually eating up half my income i had to do something.

is it worth posting up your statement of affairs (SOA) and also keeping a spending diary - i realise you said its the unexpected things, but if your always spending up to your max then its easy to fall into the trap. par tof it is really gettign to grips with that side of it too.

good luck

mattdarkness

Hi I read this on one site and the main DRO site doesn't mention Pensions either. So is it up to the cccs or the intermediaries discretion? I just don't understand it. :mad:

A minor point of difference between the details surrounding a Debt Relief Order and full bankruptcy is how pension funds are treated, and this could make the world of difference to your application.
The Debt Relief Order rules of acceptance state that you cannot have assets values at more than £300 (apart from specifci exclusions that are covered by the legislation). Initially, it was thought that pensions would be treated as per full bankruptcy, i.e. they wouldn’t be included in the assets.
However, it appears that for a DRO, pension pots are included in the calculation of your asset pot. And lets face it, if you have a pension at all, it’s likely to be worth more than £300. This also applies if you opted out of serps years ago. Since then, all of your contributions have been building up in a kind of private pension and is almost definately going to be more than £300.
Just make sure that you don’t forget to mention any pensions you may have (you don’t need to be drawing on them yet for them to be a problem) to your approved intermediary!

Also how does it work for people who earn a basic wage but also earn commission on top? Their salary will vary inevitably out of the £50.:eek:

Thanks