Do I Qualify for a Debt Relief Order?

brokepaolo

I am trying to find a way of clearing a multitude of debts I have and after doing some research I am wondering if under my current circumstances, I would qualify for a Debt Relief Order.
My debts amount to approximately £9000 and break down as follows:
I have a £1200 overdraft with Lloyds TSB from a current account I do not use anymore.
I have a £500 overdraft with Abbey on the current account that I use on a daily basis and where my wages are paid into.
I have an outstanding loan of £3800 which due to my defaulting on it has been passed on to a company called 1st credit.
I owe £680 on an American Express credit card which I have not been able to pay.
I owe £3300 to 11 payday companies deriving from a series of loans I took out which charge very high levels of interest(1900% APR) which can either be paid in full on my next payday or 'rolled over' whereby I pay just the interest for that month and the balance of the payday loan is due on the next day that my wages are paid into my account.
I am in full time employment and earn £1250 per month after tax, out of which my rent is £270 per month, my council tax is £40 per month and other bills(TV Licence, Electricity, Internet, Gas) amount to a further £30 per month on average, thus making rent anf bills come to £340 per month on average.
I do not have a car nor do I own any items of value, certainly none that would amount to £300, in fact I doubt very much that all my posessions put together would fetch higher than £100.
Currently, due mainly to the 11 payday loans, for me to defer each loan until the next month costs me a total of 880 per month. These deferrals are paid by direct debit on the day my wage go into my account.
I have an arrangement in place with 1st credit for the repayment of the HSBC £3800 loan which requires me to pay £60 per month.
I also have an arrangement with Lloyds TSB to repay the overdraft of £1200 at a rate of £50 per month.
I do not have an arrangement for the American Express credit card debt of £680, I originally dealt with a company called Brachers by paying them £200 per month but was ujnable to maintain the repayments and when I contacted them last month about arranging a lower repayment, they told me they no longer dealt with the debt and I would need to contact American Express directly. I have not done so yet.
My overdraft with Abbey is fixed at £500 and I am always at its limit.

Based on the information above, do you think I would qualify for a DRO? After the direct debits to the 11 payday loan companies are paid in order to defer them until the next month, I am left with £370 out of which my rent and bills amounting to £340 must be paid thereby leaving me with £30 left to live on for a month, but does the fact that the £880 is a repayment to my creditors disqulify me from the DRO criteria of having less than £50 a month of disposable income after the basic living expenses have been paid?

mazza25

Have you tried contacting the National Debt Helpline?

from how it sounds, you have £30 a month left to live on after you pay all your bills etc. I don't know about debt relief orders really, but for a DMP you need to have £100 as month left after everything to qualify.

You should try doing an SOA, post it here, but you need to be realistic about your living expenses. You can't live on £30 a month for food and travel surely.

http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html

Numpty_Monkey

Hi DRO, are difficult to asses for us,
If you use this link to CCCS Debt Remedy, that might give you a better idea
don't worry they are a Debt Charity and will help and advice you

Some info on DRO's
http://www.cccs.co.uk/InfoCentre/EnglandandWales/Debtsolutions/Debtrelieforder.aspx

3Dogs

Hi - try looking at the DRO thread - if you go to the Bankruptcy Forum, there is a 'sticky' 2nd from the top giving all the info about DROs - and there is a specialist thread about DROs on the Bankruptcy Forum

Hope you find what you are looking for - good luck Pet

3Dogs

You will see from that info that you can't have more than £50 left after rent/mortgage, council tax & normal living expenses taken off - this does not include you debt repayments - so it would not appear to apply to you

brokepaolo

Thanks for the tips, I tried the CCCS Debt Remedy and the result suggested I should take out a debt management plan which I would happily do rather than declare myself bankrupt. however, they suggested I pay £572 per month towards this plan thus leaving me about £650 per month of my own from which I would need to pay the rent and bills which amount to £340, so I'd be left with £70 a week to live on which is less than being on jobseeker's allowance. Is there any way that I could negotiate to lower the monthly payments to £400 per month for the Debt Management Plan?

DarkConvict

Sure you can, it is only a tool any DMP would be done in much more detail with an advisor.

mazza25

Is £70 a week not enough? It sounds better than what you put in your OP

brokepaolo

£70 a week is feasible, of course. In my original post I included debts that I have yet to start paying off, namely the £3800 HSBC loan, the credit card £685 and my two overdrafts.

I desperately want to avoid having to declare myself bankrupt and am happy to commit to paying up to £400 per month so hopefully if I call the CCCS, they can advise me on whom i should turn to for a debt management plan that would agree to such a figure.

thanks again.

p.s. how do you get those little calculations underneath your signatures, they seem pretty useful. As you can probably guess, I'm new to this site but I expect I'll be here for some time..

Numpty_Monkey

CCCS are impartial and will give the best advise for you and they are on your side, and If right for you they will run your DMP with no charges :A
or checkout anyone of these Non-profit Debt Counsellors' List


To get the things under your name
Click on "Uer CP" up near top of the page
goto edit Signature on the left hand side
and put in what you want (within the rules:D)

We were all new once:eek::cool:, so don't worry

BigCraigJohn

The 1 where my brother got caught out was a pension he had paid into.
I think any pension over £300 would mean you would not qualify.