DRO or Bankruptcy? IPA?

TempUsername2307

Hello,
I'm in debt of around £4400. I'm currently on a DMP and pay £40 a month. My partner who I live with works part time and earns £830 per month. We also receive Universal Credit of around £1400 a month. The money goes into my partners bank account. I am considering applying for a DRO or bankruptcy but I am worried about being asked for a IPA from bankruptcy. I don't want to go bankrupt and have to pay more than the £40 I am paying on the DMP. Do they take partners income into account? I make lots of cutbacks from spending and now we have spare £500 to £700 after bills each month but I don't want to give this to creditors with IPA.

fatbelly

Well the general rule is - if you qualify for a DRO,  you do a DRO  not bankruptcy.

But either seems overkill. You say you have 500-700 surplus per month (which would disqualify you from a DRO)

Your present dmp clears your debt in 110 months. Could you not just raise that to 100 per month, avoid insolvency and clear in 44 months? Or, use your savings to pick off your creditors with full & final settlement?

mwarby

With the £500 a month you could be debt free in 9 months

TempUsername2307

mwarby said:

With the £500 a month you could be debt free in 9 months

Yes but I currently spend around that on renovating my house. Would creditors accept 40 to 50% of debt settlement if I tell them it would otherwise take 6 years for them to receive their full monies. 

fatbelly

If the debts are defaulted then 40-50% settlements are do-able.

Just don't tell them you're spending £500 a month on doing up your house.

TempUsername2307

fatbelly said:

If the debts are defaulted then 40-50% settlements are do-able.

Just don't tell them you're spending £500 a month on doing up your house.

Thank you for advice. I plan to offer settlements in stages. £2800 of the £4400 is what I want to settle as remaining £1600 is catalogue which I easily can pay per month. If I  successfully offer settlements to creditor will DMP provider sack me from DMP?