reasonable housekeeping figures DRO

wba31 wrote: »

From my understanding, they use their guidelines in the initial assessment and advice sessions, where they tell a client what their best options are, and then the budget is converted into CFS by the DRO team for use on the forms.

Ive not heard anything from them since I contacted them

Hi

Thanks for the reply

mmm, interesting - with the £50 per month disposable income rule being so important as to whether someone is eligible for a Debt Relief Order then it is important to get it right at the initial assessment / interview I would have thought, so I am slghtly puzzled (in an innocent, curious way only of course)

I am conscious that you are not officially speaking for Stepchange so I wonder if someone from there would wish to clarify how this works (using both sets of expenditure figures where DROs are concerned as you have mentioned and if this is the case of course).

In the meantime a number of my friends have said they are going to look at putting in a few sets of expenditure figures in the Stepchange 'Debt Remedy' Tool see what happens regarding a DRO - a comparison maybe with the CFS & Stepchanges figures, might be interesting.

This is certainly turning into an interesting thread and again I invite (as the previous poster has also done) Stepchange to comment.

DC

I have never personally had any major issues with their online tool. I have referred a number of people to use it, but it is only a computer program, so i know a few people have had to ring their online help line when the computer struggled with something that needed human intervention.
The guidelines are different, but i have never found them to be too far away from CFS guidelines. I believe that they break everything down more which is why they do not rigidly work by CFS, which of course just lumps everything into 4 groups. If there are areas that need to go outside guidelines, such as a diabetic needed extra on food i think the online tool requires a verbal conversation to take place to satisfy it...
I dont fully understand how it all works, but from what I've seen I like the online tool, for it's great for what it is, the important thing is to remember it is only an online tool, and sometimes a human is needed to dot the i's and cross the t's for complicated cases.

Hi

Been speaking further with a couple of friends

Here is an example of a set of figures put in the Debt Remedy Tool I have referred to as I understand them to be (I have not got the copy in front of me so apologies if there are any errors and keeping in mind this is only for discussion purposes on here and taking into account some earlier posts and threads)

Single Man (edit - might be woman, not sure) living alone (age 35yrs)

Rented Local Authority house

Working

No assets

Total Unsecured Debt - below £15000

Monthly Income

Wages - £1000

Monthly Outgoings

Rent £350

Water £35

Council Tax £75

Gas £50

Electricity £40

Contents Insurance £10

Telephone & Internet £30

TV Licence £13

Public Tranport £75

Food, Tioletries, cleaning £213

(A figure of £280 was originally put in the above Food Tioletries, cleaning section however the recommended figure that was flagged up was between £115 & £213 with the suggested figure being £162) - there were notes saying that "we need to speak to you because the money your're spending on the area below is outside the amount that we would recommend for a household of your size

We want to make sure that there is enough money in your budget for you to live on while making sure that your creditors can see that you are paying as much as possible

If you dont feel these values are realistic for you , please take a few minutes to contact us so we can discuss your situation in more detail and provide you with the right advice.

Clothing / Footwear £30

Total Monthly Outgoings £921


The Monthly Disposable Income £79


As far as I am aware these were the Debt Solution recommendations

Bankruptcy


Alternative Solution

Debt Management Plan


This example does look rather interesting to me at first glance and a fair question may might be -

If the the Common Financial Statement (CFS) Figures (as clearly mentioned in the DRO Intermedairy Guideline Notes) were applied in this example case (or one similar) would it be eligible for a Debt Relief Order

It looks an interesting one at first glance at least and maybe a bit more than that maybe.

Just an example, but, food for thought definitely in my opinion and maybe the Stepchange people could look at this and possibly comment as I see they have recently been active on a nearby thread.

I think there may be others also taking a closer look at this.

Just my opinions with the interests of those in debt etc at heart

DC

Hi

My other half has just had a go along the lines of the example one and put in the suggested £162 instead of the £213 in the food, housekeeping section.

DC

Depth_Charge wrote: »

Hi

Been speaking further with a couple of friends

Here is an example of a set of figures put in the Debt Remedy Tool I have referred to as I understand them to be (I have not got the copy in front of me so apologies if there are any errors and keeping in mind this is only for discussion purposes on here and taking into account some earlier posts and threads)

Single Man (edit - might be woman, not sure) living alone (age 35yrs)

Rented Local Authority house

Working

No assets

Total Unsecured Debt - below £15000

Monthly Income

Wages - £1000

Monthly Outgoings

Rent £350

Water £35

Council Tax £75

Gas £50

Electricity £40

Contents Insurance £10

Telephone & Internet £30

TV Licence £13

Public Tranport £75

Food, Tioletries, cleaning £213

(A figure of £280 was originally put in the above Food Tioletries, cleaning section however the recommended figure that was flagged up was between £115 & £213 with the suggested figure being £162) - there were notes saying that "we need to speak to you because the money your're spending on the area below is outside the amount that we would recommend for a household of your size

We want to make sure that there is enough money in your budget for you to live on while making sure that your creditors can see that you are paying as much as possible

If you dont feel these values are realistic for you , please take a few minutes to contact us so we can discuss your situation in more detail and provide you with the right advice.

Clothing / Footwear £30

Total Monthly Outgoings £921


The Monthly Disposable Income £79


As far as I am aware these were the Debt Solution recommendations

Bankruptcy


Alternative Solution

Debt Management Plan


This example does look rather interesting to me at first glance and a fair question may might be -

If the the Common Financial Statement (CFS) Figures (as clearly mentioned in the DRO Intermedairy Guideline Notes) were applied in this example case (or one similar) would it be eligible for a Debt Relief Order

It looks an interesting one at first glance at least and maybe a bit more than that maybe.

Just an example, but, food for thought definitely in my opinion and maybe the Stepchange people could look at this and possibly comment as I see they have recently been active on a nearby thread.

I think there may be others also taking a closer look at this.

Just my opinions with the interests of those in debt etc at heart

DC

I understand what you're saying, but its a very empty budget. Nothing in for "other expenditure" from cfs, dentist, hairdressing, cinema trip every now and again, saving for Christmas and birthday expectations. I would hope a discussion is had to ensure someone budgets for those items

P.S. where can a house be rented for £350 a month? Please tell me, paying £600 for 3 bed in Walsall, my lodger is looking for places and is looking at £450 for 1/2 bed flats