DRO delay

MalMonroe

fatbelly said:

sallymanton said:

I have just spoken to stepchange, and he has advised for me to ring them all and offer a payment, 

There's no point at all in doing that - a waste of your time and money

I agree - and it's a weird thing for StepChange to suggest, too. I've had a DRO and didn't have all this messing about.

MalMonroe

Do you have a named DRO adviser at StepChange? You should have. What to do is to keep chasing them, call them every day. This needs to start moving now. 

I got a DRO through Stepchange 7 years ago. They cannot submit any application until the £90 fee has been paid. (It's ironic that people who don't have any money have to pay this before they can be granted help to get rid of debt.) Did StepChange tell you that you can pay in instalments?  I paid in three £30 instalments because like you, I couldn't afford to pay in a lump sum. £90 is a lot of money.  Of course, that meant that there was a delay in applying but it couldn't be helped.

I agree with what others are saying about hanging in there. But until that fee is paid, no application can be submitted.

Before I even contacted StepChange, I contacted all my creditors and told them I was applying for a DRO and offered them £1 a month in the meantime, which they weren't happy about but that's all I paid them anyway. 

Once I'd paid the fee and the application was submitted, things seemed to happen fast and I was granted the DRO and could breathe again. It's a very trying time but don't give in, you'll be fine. Of course it's not so straightforward now we also have coronavirus to contend with but do hang in there!




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sallymanton

Hiya i have been ready to pay the fee for about 3 weeks now, as the money i would used to pay my DMP i have saved, stepchange have not given me the go ahead to pay it, they said i have to wait for a letter to come in the post.

I supoose like with everything its the not knowing and the feeling of being out of control is hard. I will just sit it out. 

Thanks so so much for your reassurance, i wont do anything now until i hear from stepchange. 

sallymanton

Still no joy,  stepchange said they said the final details to me on the 25th August, along with details of how to pay the £90 but i never received anything, think my neighbour received it and done something with it. So more delays i could of done without 😢

CocoM2020

Can’t they email you it? That’s how I got mine (They posted it as well but I think the barcode was only valid for so long so couldn’t wait for it arrive.)

sallymanton

I have asked them to email me the details, but takes 14 days for them to respond to my request, it says on their phone line they are still on reduced staff.. Always such a drama with me 

sourcrates

Don’t panic, debt collectors take years to recover debts, apart from letters and phone calls, nothing’s going to happen anytime soon.
Try and relax.

CocoM2020

Mine took 6 months (end of Feb to end of Aug). And this was last year. Email was easier as any time I rang my advisor was unavailable. 

sallymanton

I havent been appointed an advisor, just a case of ringing up and speaking to anyone. I will just try and not think about it, frustrating as it is 😔

JonVarnas

I'm currently in the same boat as you and didn't realise that it takes so long for a DRO to be processed. It's not knowing what's happening that's so frustrating. It would seem that the hold up is down to StepChange so from Monday I'm just going to blitz them with emails and calls.