DRO-does nhs student bursary count as income?

chesca05

I don't know if anyone can help but i'm thinking of applying for a DRO as I've recently had my house repossessed leaving £10000 underpayment which they are trying to recover and have various other small debts totalling about £2000. This is not something I take lightly and I understand the implications it will have on my finances but I will be starting university in sept to become a midwife and will no longer be working and have no way to pay back these debts.

I understand that I have to show I will have less than £50 left at the end of the month but what is classed as income when it comes to the NHS bursary?

I have done a rough calculation and think this is what I would be entitled to:
basic award £2643
Extra weeks allowance £1848
Dependants allowance £2997
Parental Learning allowance £1204
NHS Grant £1000
Total £9692 for the year

Will all this count as income or will some of it be disregarded as it will be used towards childcare & study materials etc?

DorisTrousers

It does count as income, but legitimate expenditure against will be allowed also.

With a total income of that size, I doubt you would have any real issues with qualifying for a DRO, so as long as your income estimate doesn't go up by a significant amount in the 12 month moratorium period you should be fine. Best to get some professional advice though.

National_Debtline

Hi Chesca


Yes I'd agree with DT that you stand a good chance of qualifying for the DRO, based on the information above. I take it that the house has not only been repossessed but also actually sold, and that you now know the precise amount you owe as a "shortfall"?


Dennis
@natdebtline

chesca05

Yes the property has been sold, well I'm assuming so anyway, I just received a letter from a debt recovery agency asking for the money which I'm assuming is the shortfall. I also qualify for CTC as I'm a single parent with 2 children so that obviously increases my income. What things do they class as normal household expenses? I know when I've used budget forms before i'v been able to include things like school trips + monthly allowance to put away for Xmas + birthdays but those weren't official documents but more to see what I was able to pay back on my mortgage arrears. Are things like this included or is it just the absolute necessities that are taken into account?

DorisTrousers

Your chosen Intermediary will use the CFS as a basis for your outgoings, so just prepare your own budget first, expenses as you describe are perfectly reasonable. As long as they do not exceed trigger figures, which are pretty generous, especially when compared to some organisations that use their own guidelines for debt solutions, more especially DMP's and IVA's, then you should be fine.

debt_doctor

Hi,


You MUST make sure that you no longer feature on the land registry and your intermediary may need to inform the DRO unit if the entry on Experian identifies the debt as a 'mortgage'
All easily solved but important.
DD