DRO - STUDENT FINANCE

Wheretostart90

Hi there 
Myself and husband are looking at taking a DRO each. 
However could anyone tell me what happens when I receive my payments from student finance. I have already received 2, and I am due one in August of 1800 
£1500 of which is s Welsh government grant and the rest a maintenance loan. 
I won't have another until oct 22. 
I don't know if this will mean they will stop the DRO if it does get approved? 
Also could I clarify a couple of points that were made to me on the phone.
I have an old council tax debt which I pay (even if it is a struggle) £50 per month. 
It is with enforcement and they have been to the house in the past. (Before the arrangement)
The lady on the phone said this will be included in the DRO however I'm not sure that this is the case as it's council tax? 

We have a car on HP however we are in arrears with this agreement and I cannot moan the company has been very good. 
We have paid well over half the agreement so only owe interest now. 
She said if we hand the car back then the company would have to give us £1k to buy another vehicle? Is this right? 
I've also read that because we have paid so much we technically own more of the car than them and to hold on to it, get it to go to court and add the outstanding balance to the DRO?  
If anyone could help clarify that would be fab. Thank you 

sourcrates

From Debt Camel -

Are student loans treated as income when applying for a DRO?

Student maintenance loans and grants count as income for a DRO, so you would still need to meet the current minimum income threshold of £75.

The loan you get for tuition fees is ignored. If you are going to university as a mature student, a DRO may well be a sensible option for you.

I have a car on HP – is this a problem?

You have to talk to your DRO adviser about this as it can get complicated. Briefly:

• any arrears on the HP have to be listed as a debt in your DRO;
• if you don’t have arrears, the HP doesn’t have to be listed and then it doesn’t count towards the £30,000 debt limit;
• the car finance company may sometimes choose to end the agreement and repossess the car even if it is not listed. (This also happens in bankruptcy and IVAs.)
• your DRO has to decide if your future payments to the HP will be an “allowable expense”.

Of course if you don’t want to keep the car, you can hand back the keys and then list the debt in your DRO so it is wiped out.

Remember, you can only have a car valued at £2000 or less (from end of June).

Unsure about them giving you money back, that is highly debatable.

Just to clarify, Council tax is a qualifying debt in a DRO

Wheretostart90

Wow. Thank you for the reply. 
That's great news about the council tax as I called and paid my installment today and still have £901 remaining. 
Ideally I would have liked to have kept the car as I have spent money fixing it and it's big enough for my family however we simply cannot afford the monthly amount unfortunately. 
She said it is valued at £5k. It is not worth that.