Debit relief order or DRO is for the people who don’t have the enough assets like home and money to pay-off their creditors.The people with an income of less than 50 pounds per month and who don’t have a property worth of 1000 pounds are eligible for applying Debt Relief Order.
For a while, It is the best way to get rid of the calls from your creditors who disturb your peace of mind(usually for 1 year or 12 months of period).After that you can be discharged off from the debit.
How you can apply for the Debt Relief Order (DRO)?
An authorized debt advisor can act as an intermediary to apply for DRO on your behalf to the bankruptcy court.
The application is sentonline to the official receiver who will look up at your application form.
In order to qualify for the DRO approval, the official receiver will look for following things in your application form, according to the official guidelines given in the https://www.gov.uk website.
1.You have less than£50 to spend monthly after paying your taxes, insurance and house expenses?
2.Is your debit £20,000 or lesser than this?
3.Are your assets worth of £1,000 or more?
4.Are you a permanent resident of England or Wales?
5.Have you applied for any DRO in past 6 years?
The official government approved DRO advisors can be found in the link at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/getting-a-debt-relief-order/getting-a-debt-relief-order#find-adviser.
Some of the key facts regarding DRO are as follows:
1. During DRO you don’t have to make any payment towards creditors.
2. The creditors are not allowed to force you to pay off your debt.
3. After DRO period your debt is written off but you are still eligible to payoff the debt that is not included in the DRO like student loans, child maintenance, TV license fee,Drug offence charges etc.
4. There is a fee of £90 in order to apply for DRO. Just In case if you are notable to pay DRO fee then there are lot charitable organizations that can help you to pay the fee.
Following is a link to the website where you can get the help:
https://www.turn2us.org.uk/Find-Benefits-Grants
Some of the restrictions you need to keep in mind during DRO:
1. You cannot borrow more than £500 from someone without telling him/her about DRO.
2. You are not allowed to create/promote or direct a company without informing the court about it.
3. You cannot try to manage the business with other name, it will be considered as a criminal offence.
4. You are not allowed to make checks that have higher possibility to bounce.
5. Applying for the overdraft without informing the bank or your building society about your DRO.
6. After your DRO is approved, you are not eligible to apply for DRO for next 6 years.
7. if the official receiver finds out that you are being dishonest about your finances and have misbehaved before or during DRO then you will be asked to agree to the debt relief restriction undertaking. In case you don’t agree then they may apply to the court for ‘debt relief restriction order’.
8. Afterthe DRO approval, it is likely that your bank account will be frozen, it will all be up to the bank and the building society.
To break any of the above restrictions, you will face criminal offence and will be prosecuted.
If you are not able to qualify for a DRO then there are many other options such as bankruptcy, debit management plan etc. to help you pass through the difficult time.
