DRO question for fatbelly

debtorwithaquestion

Sorry I couldn't send directly to you:

Hi fatbelly ,

Reason I'm messaging you directly is because you've always given detailed/accurate answers on my own and others posts on the forum and I value your knowledge and honesty about the DRO process.

It's about the mobile phone contract I posted about in the forum. Basically the DRO unit said if the debt is removed from my DRO I can use the contract as then the debt is not listed.

However BT say they've never ever received any documentation about a DRO and that my contract is very much running as normal (except there's a balance of £30 which is a few bills in one). They have said as I had no actual debt (or termination fee)- that I'm within my rights to continue to use it and pay for it.

The honest truth is- is it not going to cause more hassle by me getting my intermediary to officially remove the debt from the DRO?

As it stands BT don't even think I have a debt with them, and it was only a predicted sum of debt I would have should BT have actually cancelled my account.

If I cleared the £30 bill and continued to use the contract would the DRO really find out? Im not suggesting this in a dishonest or fraudulent way at all- I literally mean that since there is no debt to BT does it really matter?

I could understand if I had a debt at the time but I didn't. My intermediary shouldn't have even put it in really.

So do you think it would ACTUALLY cause a problem for my DRO if I pay the bill and continue to use it as normal? I've seen you say to lots of people on here that the £90.00 fee doesn't buy a lot of time/ admin work/ checking as such from the insolvency service and I feel that by trying to remove a debt that didn't exist in the first place will just cause hassle.

Kind regards, I really appreciate any advice:beer:

Tom

fatbelly

Hi

Actually you sent it twice and jammed my inbox!

Where we left this was, after the DRO Unit's response:

Yes, that seems to cover both angles. The intermediary just needs to request the amendment and you should be OK to continue.

You were sent a letter from the DRO Unit listing the debts in the DRO - this is called the debtors' notice. If the BT debt is in that list then it is in the DRO, even though the notification to BT doesn't appear to have got through properly - maybe the account number was wrong or not included. If not in the list then there's no problem.

The amendment would be that the BT account was not a debt and shouldn't have been included - there has been some guidance to intermediaries on this, in a newsletter I think.

If a debtor schedules a mobile phone contract in a DRO application it is highly likely that the phone company will cancel the contract. Therefore if the debtor is up to date with the periodic payments under the terms of the contract, then the contract provider should not be scheduled as a creditor in relation to any possible future liability, as this is a contingent liability and therefore not a qualifying debt.

It should be a simple matter for the intermediary - it would take a couple of minutes to email the info, once they're back from the Christmas break.

I think you should ask them to do it (by email so there's some record), assume it has been done and then continue to use your account.