Dro after failed iva?

Emwol20

Hi there,

I'm in a huge amount of debt - approx £15,000 that is now a fair few years old. I was left with all the debt from a failed marriage. Had to stop working due to the additional needs of two of my children and lack of suitable childcare to be able to carry on working.
I took out an iva but this failed after I struggled to keep up with the repayments. I went through a mental health breakdown and didn't deal with any of it.
Anyway, I'm now in a new relationship and all the creditors from the failed iva are now sending me letters asking for payment via a debt collection agency. I still can't afford to clear the debt - I'm still not working and am not able to either.
My partner works and my worry is that because he's living with me now that by entering any kind of dro will mean he will end up paying it. Not something I want to put on him tbh.
However, I know I've got to deal with this but just don't know where to start. It's scares the hell out of me and my anxiety is going through the roof at the thought of collectors turning up on the door!
Does anyone know if I can apply for a dro when I've had a failed iva? And if so - how do I go about applying? The iva that I was on and had paid into for a few years never actually paid any towards my debts as the companies fees ate up all the payments that I made

fatbelly

A DRO is another form of insolvency, like an IVA. Bankruptcy is the third.

You can only have one form of insolvency at one time, but once your IVA is terminated, there is nothing to stop you doing a DRO provided you meet the criteria.

Basically:

not a homeowner
debts under 20k (used to be 15k)
surplus income under 50 per month
assets under 1k (separate 1k exemption for car value)
not done one in past 6 years
resident (or recently resident) in England or Wales.

Your partner would only become liable for the debts if they were joint debts (i.e your liability is cleared, they can chase him instead). If a debt is solely in your name it is frozen for a year, then written off.

There's a £90 fee and you need to do it through an approved intermediary - CAB and stepchange (open Saturday 8-4) seem to do most.

Emwol20

hi, thanks for replying. I have just gone through the basics online with step-change but they only come up with an iva - or as an alternative BR or DMP. Do you know of any other companies that offer DRO's? And do they take into account my partners income on the income / expenditure?

Aslo - other than the car - what's classed as assets? I don't have anything of value - just household items.

many thanks

TakeAwayKing_2

Sorry if I missed it, but why is an IVA being suggested?
What would be offered to creds and over what term?

Emwol20

im not sure - as I've done it online I haven't spoke to them yet - but as I've had an IVA and it failed id have thought it would be highly unlikely id get another one. Ive just worked out my debts and they are worse than i thought - they're actually 18,100

fatbelly

I would imagine you must have declared more than £50 per monh surplus income on the stepchange (debt remedy?) site.

You might get a different result if you talked to someone like an approved intermediary who understands how the surplus is calculated.

If stepchange doesn't work for you, most of the intermediaries are with Ciitizens Advice, so check your local office.

Independent debt advice centres, if you are lucky enough to have one near you, often have intermediaries who are members of the IMA, or are part of AdviceUK and Christians against Poverty also have them.

There's a full list at the end of this

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/getting-a-debt-relief-order/getting-a-debt-relief-order

sourcrates

Try the step-change calculator again, but be more honest with your spending, if you have more than £50 left over at the month end, it will not recommend a DRO.

Remember to include everything you spend money on, use the step-change recommended values as they can sometimes be more than you allow yourself.

If your close to the £50 surplus, its not too difficult to make your budget balance to less than this.

Remember, you dont make any payments to a DRO, your debts are frozen for 12 months, then written off.

wba31

sourcrates wrote: »

Try the step-change calculator again, but be more honest with your spending, if you have more than £50 left over at the month end, it will not recommend a DRO.

Remember to include everything you spend money on, use the step-change recommended values as they can sometimes be more than you allow yourself.

If your close to the £50 surplus, its not too difficult to make your budget balance to less than this.

Remember, you dont make any payments to a DRO, your debts are frozen for 12 months, then written off.

I wouldnt even try it again, I'd call them and get them to look at your file and advise why it is not offering a DRO if you believe you meet the criteria set out by fatbelly earlier in this thread...

sourcrates

wba31 wrote: »

I wouldnt even try it again, I'd call them and get them to look at your file and advise why it is not offering a DRO if you believe you meet the criteria set out by fatbelly earlier in this thread...

The usual reason, if you meet all the other criteria, is that the OP has more than £50 disposable income at month end, hence why it wont recommend a DRO.

Play around with the budget figures until it does offer the DRO, as long as your budget can be justified, your there.

99.9% of Debt Relief Order applications with stepchange are successful, and, if approved, are up and running within 48 hours of been processed.

wba31

sourcrates wrote: »

The usual reason, if you meet all the other criteria, is that the OP has more than £50 disposable income at month end, hence why it wont recommend a DRO.

Play around with the budget figures until it does offer the DRO, as long as your budget can be justified, your there.

99.9% of Debt Relief Order applications with stepchange are successful, and, if approved, are up and running within 48 hours of been processed.

I think i didnt make myself clear, i meant to speak to them as a human on the phone could straight away advise on what is amiss and allow the OP to suggest the change rather than spending time on adjusting things.

I use DR to refer client's into SC and if DR doesnt quite line up with the solution I have discussed, I call SC (with my client) and have a quick chat to see what we havent done or covered that is withholding a solution

sourcrates

wba31 wrote: »

I think i didnt make myself clear, i meant to speak to them as a human on the phone could straight away advise on what is amiss and allow the OP to suggest the change rather than spending time on adjusting things.

I use DR to refer client's into SC and if DR doesnt quite line up with the solution I have discussed, I call SC (with my client) and have a quick chat to see what we havent done or covered that is withholding a solution

No I understood perfectly, I agree with you yes.

But the usual reason for non recommendation of a DRO on the debt remedy tool is because the debtor has more than £50 left over.