Debt Relief Order

Debtedup

Hi Everyone, I'm new to this site and i am looking for some advice.

I took the step of speaking to CCCS today about debts from when i was younger, with my income and outgoings they have advised me the best option is a Debt Relief Order.

I was just wondering has anyone done one of these and if so can you advise me on the stages and so on, i want to know do i have to go to court, do people come to my home, what kind of information will be needed and so on.

I have the information in the post i am just after some impartial advice on whether it helps and peoples experiences.

thanks for your time.

wba31

You do not have to go to court, no-one will come to your home, and CCCS will ask for all the info they need and you will deal with only them.
The DRO is an automated process, so a judge will never look at it or anything like that. The DRO people at CCCS are to check everything works out for you and they will put the order in for you.
It is a form of insolvency, so it will go onto your credit report for 6 years, before coming off.
Im sure the CCCS paperwork that is being sent to you will fully explain what you need to know, and exactly what you will need to send to them

National_Debtline

A little bit of further info for you:

What is a debt relief order (DRO)?

A DRO may be able to help you if you do not own your home, have few assets and little available income to pay your creditors. It is a cheaper option than bankruptcy. If your DRO application is successful, most creditors cannot take action to recover your debts for 12 months. The debts are then written off after the 12 months are up.

Do I qualify for a DRO?

There are strict rules that you have to meet to qualify for a DRO. You must:

• be unable to pay your debts;
• have total debts under £15,000 at the date the application is approved by the official receiver;
• have assets below £300;
• not have a car or motor bike worth more than £1,000;
• have less than £50 a month spare income after normal household expenses are taken into account;
• live in England or Wales (or have lived or run a business in England or Wales in the last three years); and
• not have had a DRO in the last six years.

What debts can be included in my DRO?

You can include most types of debt in your application as long as your total debts are less then the £15,000 limit.
Priority debts

You should include priority debts. Examples include:

• rent arrears;
• gas and electricity debts with your current supplier;
• arrears on your phone bill if you need to keep it as an essential service;
• council tax, business rates and community charge arrears; and
• income tax, VAT and National Insurance arrears.

Credit debts

You must make sure you include all your credit debts in the application.

• water arreas;
• credit cards and store cards;
• bank overdrafts and bank loans;
• loans to finance companies;
• catalogues;
• home-collected credit;
• benefit overpayments;
• family or personal debts;
• hire purchase and conditional sale agreements if you are in arrears (if you are not in arrears you may be able to exclude this type of debt in certain circumstances);
• hire agreements;
• parking penalty charges; and
• mortgage shortfalls (money you owe if your house was sold for less than the outstanding mortgage).

You may also owe debts from your small business such as:

• money you owe to employees;
• debts to customers who have paid for goods or services that you were unable to supply; and
• debts to suppliers.

Which debts are excluded?

Some debts do not count towards the £15,000 limit, although you still have to list them in the DRO application. This means you are still liable to pay these debts in full. You cannot include:

• magistrates' court fines;
• maintenance and Child Support Agency (CSA) payments and arrears;
• student loans;
• budgeting loans and crisis loans if your DRO application is made on or after 19 March 2012;
• money owed under a ‘criminal confiscation order’; and
• debts resulting from certain personal injury claims against you.

You will need to make sure you pay ongoing payments on these debts and include them in your outgoings.

Hope you find this useful!

National Debtline.

ruky_uk

@ Debtedup
the National debtline rep has listed all the criteria for the DRO. If you want to know a bit more about the process tho here it is:
The CCCS adviser will be an 'approved intermediary' so the role is to collect all the information from you.

Normally 3 credit reports are requested form Equifax, Experian and Callcredit to ensure no debt has been missed out (although some debts are not listed such as Council Tax, water or fuel sometimes or library fines etct).

Once the reports come back and the adviser has had a look at all your paper work and done an income and expenditure they will work out and let you know if you meet the criteria. If you do, the DRO form is completed, a new case is opened for you online and you will get a barcode (on a letter) which you take to a payzone and make your £90 fee payment.

Once the payment has been made the adviser usually goes thru the form to ensure all info is correct and submits the form which goes to the DRO unit in Plymouth. U sign the submission form to say everything is correct and post this.

No one comes to your house etc and all paper work is usually done via post or email.

Re your car - is the value over £1k? if so you will need to check if you can keep this so your adviser will have to discuss this with you. If it is on a motability scheme then the value of the car is irrelevant and not taken into account.

An alternate option is to sell the car if the value is well over £1k and your adviser thinks this may not make you eligible for the DRO. If possible you can always buy another car for £1k or under however the money you get form the sale of the car will also need to be looked at. If your car has been adapted due to your daughter's disability then the DRO unit have discretion to allow you to keep it if the value if over £1k.

Hope this helps - im sure your adviser will go thru all this with you so good luck.:D

witchygrrl

Hi,

My DRO finishes in just under 15 days (yey!!) and I did it through CCCS. They were brilliant and sorted it all out for me. No-one came to visit, it's all done over the phone and by post. Just include EVERYTHING YOU OWE. That's really important. I was surprised that I had to include my water bill, even though I wasn't in debt to them, but it was really simple to restart the payments again. Good luck with it.

fatbelly

witchygrrl wrote: »

Hi,

My DRO finishes in just under 15 days (yey!!) and I did it through CCCS. They were brilliant and sorted it all out for me. No-one came to visit, it's all done over the phone and by post. Just include EVERYTHING YOU OWE. That's really important. I was surprised that I had to include my water bill, even though I wasn't in debt to them, but it was really simple to restart the payments again. Good luck with it.

Remember to go on the Insolvency Service website and print off your entry after you finish. It only stays there for 3 months and you don't get any other confirmation.

National_Debtline

fatbelly wrote: »

Remember to go on the Insolvency Service website and print off your entry after you finish. It only stays there for 3 months and you don't get any other confirmation.

That's really great advice for sure!

aimzee84

I did my DRO with CCCS and they were amazing..All of the advisers are so friendly and helpful, and make everything less scary and daunting, and you're allowed to ask really daft questions and they don't laugh at you! My DRO went 'live' on 22 February this year, and it was the biggest weight off my shoulders, it's a big step just contacting someone in the first place, so well done to you, and good luck in the future! :-)

witchygrrl

fatbelly wrote: »

Remember to go on the Insolvency Service website and print off your entry after you finish. It only stays there for 3 months and you don't get any other confirmation.

Thanks. I have done so today :j