How long for DRO to be granted?

misschatterbox

I have been through the whole application process with Step Change. They have worked out my income, outgoings, debts etc and they said I fit the bill for a DRO. Yesterday I paid the £90 via the barcode. Does anyone know how long it will be before I know if successful with my DRO application or not? Do I need to send anything else in? They have all my up to date debts amounts, have checked my credit file, gone through my bills.

longtermplanner

You shouldn't need to do anything else.

I haven't got the figures to hand, but last year I beleive there were over 25,000 DRO applications and less than 100 were refused. Stepchange will have done all the necessary checks, you should be fine.

wba31

misschatterbox wrote: »

I have been through the whole application process with Step Change. They have worked out my income, outgoings, debts etc and they said I fit the bill for a DRO. Yesterday I paid the £90 via the barcode. Does anyone know how long it will be before I know if successful with my DRO application or not? Do I need to send anything else in? They have all my up to date debts amounts, have checked my credit file, gone through my bills.

From my understanding from the people i have referred to Step Change for DROs, once you have paid the fee you need to call them to submit the application. Your fee has gone to the Insolvency Service so the intermediary has no way of knowing the fee has been paid

holz183_2

I had a dro granted via stepchange a couple of weeks ago. You have to ring stepchange once the £90 has been paid so that stepchange know to send the application to the official receiver. They will send the application as soon as you tell them the fee has been paid , it then takes the official receiver 24-48 hours to process the application. I got a letter through the post about three days after that letting me know my dro had been granted. I was told it can take up to ten days for the letter to arrive but stepchange get sent an email with the result so you can always phone them after a few days and they can tell you over the phone whether it has been granted if you've not had a letter yet. Good luck

misschatterbox

Thank you for your replies

I called Step change yesterday and told the lady I'd paid the £90. She logged onto the Insolvency website while I was online and submitted my application for me there and then. She said I should get my letter in the post with the next 10 days and that will be the start date of my DRO.

Won't relax a bit till I know it's been granted

wba31

misschatterbox wrote: »

Thank you for your replies

I called Step change yesterday and told the lady I'd paid the £90. She logged onto the Insolvency website while I was online and submitted my application for me there and then. She said I should get my letter in the post with the next 10 days and that will be the start date of my DRO.

Won't relax a bit till I know it's been granted

Once 24 hours has passed check in on the Individual Insolvency Register. Your details are on there once the order is approved. I say that as it's instant, a few times i have tried calling Step Change I have sat waiting in phone queues if you ring at the wrong time...

https://www.insolvencydirect.bis.gov.uk/eiir/

Click on "by name details"

Choose DRO from "Choose office" and click Go

Enter your names and if your DRO has been granted you can see your listing. Will have your DRO approval number, start and end date on there.

misschatterbox

wba31 wrote: »

Once 24 hours has passed check in on the Individual Insolvency Register. Your details are on there once the order is approved. I say that as it's instant, a few times i have tried calling Step Change I have sat waiting in phone queues if you ring at the wrong time...

https://www.insolvencydirect.bis.gov.uk/eiir/

Click on "by name details"

Choose DRO from "Choose office" and click Go

Enter your names and if your DRO has been granted you can see your listing. Will have your DRO approval number, start and end date on there.

Oh thank you, didn't know about that.

Just checked and it's been granted

The-Joker

Are your debts all frozen as soon as you do your dro?

fatbelly

The-Joker wrote: »

Are your debts all frozen as soon as you do your dro?

Broadly speaking, yes. As soon as the DRO is accepted, which is usually the working day after it is submitted.

There are some debts that are 'excluded debts' and should be marked as such by your intermediary: court fines, student loans, child support arrears, social fund loans.

misschatterbox

The-Joker wrote: »

Are your debts all frozen as soon as you do your dro?

Yes anything you tell the Insolvency Service about are frozen. Items such as credit cards, loans, catalogues etc.

Things like rent, water etc aren't included.

I would recommend going through Step Change as well. All free and they do all the checks for you before sending you the barcode to pay for your DRO. I called step change up to tell them it had been paid, they sent my details through to the Insolvency Service while I was on the phone and DRO granted within 48 hours

fatbelly

misschatterbox wrote: »

Things like rent, water etc aren't included.

You should include rent arrears and any amount that your water board say is owing.

However...

Rent arrears is a bit different in that, if they relate to the property you are living in, you are allowed to continue to make payments to them from your surplus income as this is counted as a payment to preserve your security in the property, not a remedy against the debt. If you moved out for any reason you would not be allowed to make payment and the landlord would not be able to enforce the debt.

Water bills (if rateable value basis) are generated at the start of the year and the whole amount can be put in. But many companies have a 'bankruptcy clause' meaning that only the proportion owing at the date of bankruptcy/DRO is written off. A new account is generated with the remaining balance on it.