DRO 8 months in and being asked for payments

Gordie1975

Hi there, i am 8 months into a DRO, today i got a letter from Tesco asking for payment.
Tesco have been sending statements to me for the last few months but have never asked for payments.

I phoned them to explain i was in a DRO, but the bloke i spoke to either didnt know or care what i was saying, just kept repeating that either i set up a payment plan or he would pass to recoveries, i gave his my DRO reference number and he said he had added it to my notes (not sure i believe him).

I explained that they should have been contacted well before now from either step change (who arranged it) or the insolvency agency, he just kept repeating that whoever was dealing with the DRO stopped making payments, i explained that it wasnt a DMP i was it was a DRO and that was a type of bankrupsy, he said that it isnt a bankrupsy, its different and they should still be getting regular payments, i asked to speak to someone else, but he said he was the person i needed to speak to.

I told him i would Email them a copy of the DRO, but he said they dont give out Email addresses, and i could send him the original document in, i told him i wasnt sending him the original, and he replied " well thats fine we will pass it to our recoveries dept and you will probably get a collection agency coming to your door".

I told him that while in a DRO no company is allowed to pursue this debt and that i had given him all the info he requires and to please not contact me again.

he repeated "thats fine i will pass that on to our collections dept then" and hung up.


what should i do, send a copy to tesco?, contact step change?, contact insolvency service?, ignore them?


Also, when will my DRO review happen?, i know there is a review just before the DRO ends, do they just ask has anything changed, or do i need to resubmit statments and payslips?

thanks for any help.:)

fermi

The person you spoke to is obviously a bit of a clueless moron reading from a script. I would not let anything they have said worry you.

If you want you can adapt the letter here

---> http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=63168413&postcount=1

That's is for bankruptcy, but as you can see it would equally cover a DRO with a few simple adjustments in the wording.

If you really want you could call back and insist that you wish to register a formal complaint about the way you were spoken to and the nonsense you were told, saying that you will be going to the FOS if they do not resolve it and apologise, but simply may not be worth the effort.

AFAIK, unless they are informed that circumstances have changed then there will be no review, and the DRO year will just end and the debts are gone.

Gordie1975

fermi wrote: »

The person you spoke to is obviously a bit of a clueless moron reading from a script. I would not let anything they have said worry you.

If you want you can adapt the letter here

---> http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=63168413&postcount=1

That's is for bankruptcy, but as you can see it would equally cover a DRO with a few simple adjustments in the wording.

If you really want you could call back and insist that you wish to register a formal complaint about the way you were spoken to and the nonsense you were told, saying that you will be going to the FOS if they do not resolve it and apologise, but simply may not be worth the effort.

AFAIK, unless they are informed that circumstances have changed then there will be no review, and the DRO year will just end and the debts are gone.

Thanks, so the DRO should just finish, dunno where i got the review idea from.

Im now in 2 minds wether to post a copy of DRO to tesco, or wether to just ignore.:o

National_Debtline

Hi Gordie


I assume this particular debt to Tesco was listed in your DRO and not overlooked somehow? This sounds like a plain old admin error at their end - unfortunately the chap you spoke with will be oblivious to this and just working down a list of accounts which on this occasion included yours.


Creditors may send you periodic account statements during the DRO in line with their obligations under the Consumer Credit Act, but any sort of demands for payment are of course a no-no.


Follow fermi's advice about sending the letter and that should be that.


Dennis
@natdebtline


EDIT - cross-posted with Gordie's reply.

fatbelly

This is the sample letter that that Citizens Advice have:

Dear Sir/Madam,

Re: [insert client name and address]
Account number:: [insert account number]

We are acting on behalf of the above client and enclose their authorisation to correspond with you.

We are writing in response to your letter dated [insert date] asking for our client’s proposals for repayment of the sum of £[insert amount].

Our client has a debt relief order (DRO). They have scheduled you as a creditor in their DRO for the sum of £[insert amount]. Any further interest and charges are also included in the DRO.

You should have received a letter from the DRO Unit with the following information:-

confirmation that a DRO has been made
you have no remedy in respect of this debt during the DRO moratorium. The moratorium begins from the date the DRO was made, (section 251G of the Insolvency Act 1986)
at the end of the moratorium our client will be discharged from liability to you (section 251I of the Insolvency Act 1986).

Please amend your records accordingly and confirm that you will be taking no further action in respect of this account.

Additional paragraphs for use when a creditor is clearly aware of the debt relief order

If you feel that you should not have been scheduled to the DRO, you could have objected to the DRO within 28 days in accordance with section 251K of the Insolvency Act 1986 and rule 5A.14 of the Insolvency Amendment Rules SI 2010/642.

There are very clear instructions about objecting in the notification to you from the DRO Unit. By attempting to recover the sum scheduled to the DRO you are trying to exercise a remedy which is prohibited by law.

If you continue to attempt to recover this debt, either during or after the moratorium, we will advise our client to defend any court action either as an abuse of process or on the ground that there is no longer a debt, depending on what stage you make the claim.

sourcrates

I would register a complaint, you might get some kind of compensation out of them.

Also "moron" might get a spot of re-training coming out with tosh of that nature.

Save giving someone else a partial coronary !!!!