DRO Questions

reggierose69

Hi everyone I hope your all safe and well 
im just wondering is this the worst time to start the DRO process? Is stepchange and the other parties involved in the process likely to be operating as normal, or are they likely to be struggling  with limited staff causing the process to take much longer 
I know in all that’s going on this probably seems irrelevant but just wanted to get people’s opinion 
many thanks 

mwarby

From their website, it would appear they are encouraging use of online tools and email, with phone being unavailable. I think you might struggle getting a DRO setup with stepchange just now

reggierose69

Do you think that’s just because of the limited staff  and overwhelming demand, or because financial changes with government hand outs.
my concern is my situation is not going to change and had nothing to do with the impact of Coronavirus, I’m just delayed as I’ve mentioned before regarding changing a POA as soon as that is sorted I wanted to apply for the DRO I already have the credit card companies ringing me constantly and this is the first months payment on all of them that I’ve missed, I think they all seem to assume that missed payments are just as a result of the current situation, whereas my situation was always going to pan out this way, when I became my dads career a few months back, 
I feel I’m in limbo now as to wether to act now with DRO application or sit tight and hold my nerve with credit card companies ringing and wait for things to settle down but god knows when that will be 

1977dave

It's probably due to limited staff and non essential workers to stay at home, however stepchange etc may still be working from home but on a limited service.

Best thing you can do is just ride it out for now, do what you can with your DRO application online, apply for it, get all your documentation ready and then any creditors, advise them you're seeking debt advice from Stepchange and block their numbers to stop them calling and do as much as you can to progress your application

reggierose69

Thank you so much for help and advice take care everyone 

mwarby

It’s likely IMHO that there will be staffing issues at Stepchange and the Insolvency service. This will be the aspect of working from home and the enquires from those already in debt management or bankruptcy

TRX808

Hello everyone, hope all of you are okay. 
Quick question: my DRO moratorium ends exactly in a month (I can not believe it!), I haven't received any letters or any correspondence for any of my loans until today one of them came through post saying "notice of arreas given under 86B consumer credit act" and asking to contact them urgently. 
Should I ignore this letter or actually get in touch with them and tell them I'm on DRO that ends next month? 
Thanks a lot in advance 

TRX808

TRX808 said:

Hello everyone, hope all of you are okay. 
Quick question: my DRO moratorium ends exactly in a month (I can not believe it!), I haven't received any letters or any correspondence for any of my loans until today one of them came through post saying "notice of arreas given under 86B consumer credit act" and asking to contact them urgently. 
Should I ignore this letter or actually get in touch with them and tell them I'm on DRO that ends next month? 
Thanks a lot in advance 

While I asked this and I am back on this forum let me just get this off my chest. 

I'm sorry I haven't been more engaged in this forum as I was intending to do but as a NHS worker it has been a one hell of a year... My DRO is almost done, one month to go and let me just say that without this forum it would be probably not possible to do it on my own. I have been paying my debts (while getting deeper in them) for past 10 years and since my dro was granted in February 2020 I have been able to sleep like a normal person and play with my daughter with genuine happiness without calculating numbers back of my head trying to survive until next wages. Especially fatbelly and Socrates, thank you! Words can not describe how you have changed my life for better and altered my life's course from very dark place to much brighter future! And to those who are currently going through the process or thinking about it let me just say this from my own experience: those thoughts and overthinking every little detail was exactly how I was going through this but it is temporary and as time passed I realized that it's absolutely not worth damaging our lives for debts. There is always help available and there's always light end of the tunnel. 
I'm sorry for ranting and sounding so cliché but I had to say it! 

Thank you from bottom of my heart once again! 

sourcrates

TRX808 said:

Hello everyone, hope all of you are okay. 
Quick question: my DRO moratorium ends exactly in a month (I can not believe it!), I haven't received any letters or any correspondence for any of my loans until today one of them came through post saying "notice of arreas given under 86B consumer credit act" and asking to contact them urgently. 
Should I ignore this letter or actually get in touch with them and tell them I'm on DRO that ends next month? 
Thanks a lot in advance 

Hi,
You can write and explain yourself, but the letter will be computer generated, so I wouldn’t worry about it too much.

fatbelly

TRX808 said:

I'm sorry I haven't been more engaged in this forum as I was intending to do but as a NHS worker it has been a one hell of a year... My DRO is almost done, one month to go and let me just say that without this forum it would be probably not possible to do it on my own. I have been paying my debts (while getting deeper in them) for past 10 years and since my dro was granted in February 2020 I have been able to sleep like a normal person and play with my daughter with genuine happiness without calculating numbers back of my head trying to survive until next wages. Especially fatbelly and Socrates, thank you! Words can not describe how you have changed my life for better and altered my life's course from very dark place to much brighter future! And to those who are currently going through the process or thinking about it let me just say this from my own experience: those thoughts and overthinking every little detail was exactly how I was going through this but it is temporary and as time passed I realized that it's absolutely not worth damaging our lives for debts. There is always help available and there's always light end of the tunnel. 
I'm sorry for ranting and sounding so cliché but I had to say it! 
 

Absolutely correct

I'm delighted we were able to help and thank you for your kind words.

I've been at Citizens Advice during the past year and have been finding it difficult, but I'm sure that doesn't begin to compare with working in the NHS.