DRO questions from a newbie

Oneworriedsoule

Hello all

I am 35 years old with nearly £15k debt and after going through the initial process with a debt charity, It has been advised that my best option is to enter a DRO.
I've held my head above water until now. Earlier in the year I had ppi refunds in bits and pieces totalling £11k and carried on as normal until it had all but gone.
Now, I understand many will wonder what the hell I done with all that money, but please let me explain.
Within the past 3 years I have suffered a long term relationship breakdown or 11 years and have a 4 year old son, who I get to see fortnightly. The stress of this has led me to turn to alcohol as I see it as a way to escape my problems (I am slowly getting out of that hole), being diagnosed with anxiety (something I believe I still have, yet scared to go to the docs as I don't want to get signed off work), Job uncertainty is looming as I work for HMRC and our office is closing by 2017-18 and am too far away from the closest other office. Redundancy is looking the most likely outcome. My mother has recently been diagnosed with cancer and all this together has not enabled me to think straight.

I now understand that I need to get my debts sorted and was wondering if individual circumstances are considered before a DRO is agreed or rejected?

Apologies for the rambling, but I'm really quite worried about this now my head is out of the sand and realise I've yet another problem to face up to.

fatbelly

If you meet the criteria, and it sounds that you do, then the DRO is usually accepted. The fee is only £90 and that doesn't buy a lot of checking at the Insolvency Service.

If a creditor then objects, the objection is considered but the numbers losing the DRO at that stage are really small.

You will have to live within your budget though as you won't be getting credit for some time. Is the debt charity also going to be your DRO intermediary?

Oneworriedsoule

Thanks for your swift response. I believe so as its Stepchange. Please do correct me if I'm wrong. Also, do I need to provide solid evidence of assets or lack of?

bell123321

I did mine with Stepchange they were really good and answered any questions I had.

Do you own a car? If so you will need to give evidence of the value of the car to ensure it is under the amount allowed. Otherwise if not (which was my circumstances) I think I just gave them my bank statements as assets as I did not have any.

Oneworriedsoule

No, I don't own a car. I think my assets in my possession would amount to £700 or £800. I'm back at home just with my father for the foreseeable ��

fatbelly

Oneworriedsoule wrote: »

No, I don't own a car. I think my assets in my possession would amount to £700 or £800.

Unlikely, unless you paid 7000 or 8000 for them, or we are talking about antiques or something.

Still, there's a £1000 limit now.

You should be fine with stepchange.

National_Debtline

Hi OP and welcome to the forum.


Just one observation I wanted to add to the above posts as you mention uncertainty over your job. I hope it doesn't come across as scaremongering as it's intended merely as a note of caution.


If you were to receive a redundancy payment before the end of your 12-month DRO "moratorium" period, this could be classed as an asset and thereby put the DRO at risk of being revoked. Something to bear in mind if you see redundancies at your workplace as likely within the next year.


I should add that this would still leave bankruptcy as a viable alternative - more expensive but less vulnerable to changes in your circumstances.


It would be a good idea to run this by Stepchange so that they can advise you more fully.


Dennis
@natdebtline

fatbelly

Yes, ideally you would get through the 12 month moratorium and THEN get made redundant (if it's inevitable and we're just talking timing)

At least with a DRO (unlike bankruptcy) the Official Receiver has no 'call' on the redundancy payment - the DRO just gets revoked if it's over £1850 (with discretion to revoke if £1000- £1850). Then all the options are back on the table, including full & final settlement.

Oneworriedsoule

Thank you all so much for your help and advice, I'm truly grateful. I've been fortunate with some help from my girlfriend with helping with food, giving me lifts so I'm not relying on the public transport that I've managed to keep up with my repayments of debts. I'm starting to worry that I won't be able to do this as she is struggling a little of late so maybe I should apply for my DRO now? I'm just concerned as up until now I was able to pay and now next month I probably won't be able to.