DRO application, what a shambles!

stu12345_2

sourcrates said:

From my limited knowledge on the matter, bankruptcy is pretty much self declared, you pays your money, and clicks the button, and that my friend, is that.

I have never seen a post from any recently bankrupt on this forum where they have been made to claim benefits to maximise income, correct me if I am wrong.

is that the same rule for a DRO application, cos this is the hurdle I'm hitting , cos the advisor said they will not let me fill it in as they expect my income to improve within 12 months as a full-time job seeker and thus the dro would then be stopped mid term and if for some reason they let me fill it in and then I stopped my UC claim on purpose without getting a full-time job and remained part time, then they said the IP would cancel the dro midterm

I have googled " do you have to claim benefits when you apply for a DRO" I'm not getting the right answers, just answers about the extra income from benefits must be declared or if benefit money drops, then that must be declared.

nothing about are you forced to apply in the first place before you submit your dro application, as the creditors expect you do and so does the IP and the DRO advisor as all sources of income must be used to help the creditors you owe I was told by the advisor 

sourcrates

Judging by the tone of fat belly's post, certain advisors may be interpreting the rules in different ways.

When I did my DRO back in the early days, I filled in my form, with the help of an intermediary, it was submitted, paid, and approved within 48 hrs.

That was with Stepchange, things seem to be more difficult these days.

fatbelly

Bear in mind that your CAP rep will not be highly trained. It is likely you will know more than they will. I think they get 2 weeks basic training then everything goes through head office in Bradford, where the specialists are based.

I wish we could just point you to a piece of legislation and say 'there you are'. Unfortunately there is none, which is my point.

You would need to look through the entire Insolvency Act and no-one ever does that

I have pointed you to the guidance for DROs

The guidance for bankruptcy is more detailed

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/technical-guidance-for-official-receivers

stu12345_2

i wonder how much training the money wellness advisor had that did my telephone interview, cos she was very bossy and kept saying you are being technical , all the time to me eg I said I need an allowance for savings for white goods, bed, mattress replacement or money put aside for car repairs, not just mot and serving., she even said I wasn't allowed to buy stamps in my budget 

every time I came up with an answer to her question , and a workable solution., she kept saying the IP will refuse or it's not helping the creditors 

she kept saying it is my job to state the strictness of a dro application and how it it's  not like telling a dmp advisor your income and  expenditure to work out a monthly dmp to suit me

I found the telephone interview gruelling and unfriendly, compared to the initial response when I first contacted money wellness who where , we will have a solution that gets you debt free and not to worry we can solve this.
( which they couldn't)

sourcrates

Money wellness, aka Grant Thornton, will have transferred call handlers who used to mis-sell IVA`s, and big up the benefits of charging you fee`s for debt management plans, and put them in charge of DRO`s.

The sales technique has not changed much it seems, and doesn't bode well for those seeking their help. 

To be honest, there`s a lot to be said for the "ignore everything but an LBA" approach.

Save your cash in an emergency fund, ignore the lot of em, and only deal with the ones who get legal with you.
When people who are meant to be helping you,  erect barricades at every junction, its easy to lose interest in the whole process and start to make your own rules.

stu12345_2

she felt the same sort of person that does your form ever fortnight when you go to sign on the dole , that says why do you only want to work from 7 am to 7pm Monday to Friday, you are leaving out weekend, why is that.

I would say it covers more than 40 hrs availability , I have kept within the rules, whilst they watch the 10 mins they have with you 

I wonder if some of my creditors respond with we will accept £1 a month till your situation improves, or just let them apply for a ccj.
cos if I do £1 and some of the other creditors don't respond to the letters I posted on Wednesday, and I  hence I don't make any payment to them,then that will be making preference payments.

so may have to wait till everyone of them respond to my letters????

what I don't want is a ccj with a judge saying up your payment by claiming a bit of UC and here is a £100 surcharge added to your debt to cover solicitors fees from the creditor

stu12345_2

Updated, myself and wife made a claim for UC, today, even for a few pounds,( initial UC response says we don't need to search or apply for new  jobs!!, in the journal section of the claim)
we did the claim to see if we go through the hoops, see how it goes and whether we should drop it, cos the CAP  person will tell us to claim when she does a visit to us on Wednesday. or whether we can get a DRO application in from another debt DRO advisor. ,( more flexible than money wellness.)

and here is final summary from money wellness, I saved it from clipboard, I removed any confidential info, I think!!

( the last recommendation not suggested is cos we would be expected to claim UC and get full-time work from our current  part time jobs in next 12 months thus go above the £75 limit,, hence they won't let us apply for a DRO, despite the fact we said we will claim UC for the few pounds, then apply DRO, ( we are still under the £75 limit even with the UC)

then maybe drop UC claim as soon as DRO goes through, and then see how the IP reacts, cos we dropped the UC claim, ( cos the money wellness advisor rattled on about that is going to hurt the creditors, as the creditors want us to maximise our income, and if you don't  claim or then drop UC claim, and if you haven't  went to full-time work, as your left over surplus income will drop back down again on purpose)

( the risk here is if DRO gets approved, then IP then revokes it as soon as we drop the UC, then we can't apply for a fresh DRO for 6 years)

Our recommendation

 From the information you have provided we haven't been able to recommend a debt solution at this time this is because:

 *A token payment arrangement agreed directly with your lenders using our self help guide is suitable

 Further Support

 To help you manage your money better you can use your Standard Financial Statement as a budget, and this should enable you to pay all of your priority bills and your other debts. We've also created a useful guide full of the information needed to get you started: Your Debt Action Plan.

 This includes all the information I resources you may need including information on reviewing and increasing your income, plus information on further support - you'll find it here;

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 Solutions we advised against

 Below are other solutions that we advised against and the reasons why:

 . We advised that an informal arrangement, such as a Debt Management Plan, is less suitable because you can't, at this time, afford to make a payment to your debts.

 We advised that an IVA is less appropriate as you cannot afford the payment

 We advised that a DRO is not suitable because you are expecting your circumstances to improve in the next 12 months.

( note, I had to laugh  about the IVA, for goodness sake we rent council, we don't own a home, I said to advisor)( she said that don't matter, you can't afford the min monthly IVA  amount anyway, and that's the reason you can't get one, thus I can't advise one)

stu12345_2

I think the dro advisor with money wellness has made a mistake, they wouldn't advise or let  us make a dro claim cos they think our jobs will go to full-time .from part time in next 12 months 
thus taking us above the £75 dro monthly  limit, but as we work already at at mo,  and low paid, we are not subject to increasing our earnings as we are already above the 

The ’Administrative Earnings Threshold’ (AET)

The AET is an amount you can earn that affects what you’re asked to agree to.

For individual claimants, the AET is £892 per assessment period.

Additionally, if you’re in a couple, the combined couple’s AET is £1,437 per assessment period.

If you are above the AET you or your partner are not expected to look for more work or better paid work

( we are already above the AET)

ManyWays

You won't be refused bankruptcy because you are no claiming some benefit income. The only reason debt advisers prefer a DRO if possible is that there are no fees. 

stu12345_2

ManyWays said:

You won't be refused bankruptcy because you are no claiming some benefit income. The only reason debt advisers prefer a DRO if possible is that there are no fees. 

unsure if you get  my point, was told dro officer could refuse dro if an applicant doesn't claim any benefit they may be entitled to. even if it's tiny, but doesn't want the to go through all hoops and rules of the benefit claim.

we are claiming it at mo, not worth much, not getting  it anyway for months cos of last employer slowly releasing  final  pay over couple of months.
 we earn above the limit to be in the work search group. but is that a ndefinitely.rule ?