Most people would be delighted to get a letter saying a bank has looked again at their PPI reclaim from a couple of years ago, decided they got it wrong and that a refund should have been paid so a cheque for £2,000 is on the way.
But for Mrs P this wasn’t good news. Her first thought was not what to do with the money, but would it make a difference to her Debt Relief Order. She talked to the debt adviser who had set up the DRO, who told her to inform the DRO Unit at the Insolvency Service right away.
This article look at this unusual situation where PPI is being repaid to someone in a DRO who has not recently complained. For the more common cases:
- if you have started a PPI complaint before applying for a DRO, discuss this with the adviser setting up your DRO as it may be better to wait until the PPI complaint is resolved;
- if you are in a DRO you should not put in a PPI complaint.
Getting a lump sum can be a problem for a DRO
You can’t start a DRO if you have savings of more than £1,000. If you get a lump sum during the year your DRO lasts, the Insolvency Service has to decide whether it is so large that your DRO will be ended – their term for this is “revoked”.
I’ve written about this in more detail in What if I get more money in a DRO? which has the details of how the Insolvency Service has said it will make the decision to revoke or not. And inheriting money is a special case, see Inheriting money in a DRO.
Mrs P’s DRO was revoked
In Mrs P’s case, the £2,000 PPI refund was over the £1,800 level where the Insolvency Service says it will usually choose to revoke. The IS however does have discretion, so I thought it was worth Mrs P emphasising that:
- even £2,000 wasn’t going to make any impact of her debts, which were well over £15,000;
- she hadn’t asked for this refund – her original PPI complaint had been years before and had been completed as far as she knew.
But after a month or so the Insolvency Service said her DRO would be revoked.
Bankruptcy was her only sensible option
If she had got a larger sum – perhaps £4-5,000, she could have tried offering a full and final settlement to her debts. With an even larger amount she could have paid off such a lot of debt that the rest would be manageable.
But with “only” £2,000, she had no practical alternative to bankruptcy:
- having the money meant it was going to be easy to pay the bankruptcy fees!
- as she had no spare income each month, she wouldn’t have to make any monthly payments in bankruptcy, so the bankruptcy would be all over in another year.
She had expected to be debt free at the end of her year’s DRO. Now she was still going to be debt free, it was just going to take another 6 months or so to get there – same destination, just a diversion along the way.
If she had any urgent and important expenses, she could also use some of the money to pay those – perhaps her car needed a service, the children needed new shoes or her washing machine had stopped working. If she had had any rent arrears, it would have been good to repay those. I’m not talking here about going on holiday or having the best Christmas ever, this has to be necessary expenditure. If you find yourself in this situation you need to keep receipts for any of the money you spend as the Official Receiver is likely to ask to see them when you go bankrupt.
Was revocation really the best choice by the IS?
From the debt adviser’s point of view the switch to bankruptcy was straightforward, the obvious next step. But for Mrs P the whole process was pretty stressful, especially as she felt that it wasn’t her fault and she didn’t even want this money. And there will have been no payout to her creditors in bankruptcy so they have gained nothing at all.
At the moment these cases are pretty unusual. But it is possible that the Plevin PPI ruling could mean more old PPI complaints are re-opened. I think the Insolvency Service might want to rethink its policy and exercise its discretion more frequently in this type of case.
Can you get help with winter heating costs?
How to complaint about a mobile bill
An emergency fund in a DRO or bankruptcy
Linda McLaughlin says
I had my debt squashed and had a letter saying they would no longer be chasing me for the debt it was sold on to another collector I have now asked for ppi that I paid to the original company are they able to refuse it I was told I had to have this ppi or I wouldn’t get loan.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Was your debt in a DRO?
Linda McLaughlin says
The bank of Scotland are now saying I didn’t have paid I know I did.
Linda McLaughlin says
The bank of Scotland are now saying I didn’t have paid I know I did.my debt was not dro cab contacted companies and they squashed them
Sam says
Hi, took out a DRO in May this yeah, my debt is about £15, 000. Within a month of the DRO, I had a salary increase of about £2000 per anum. I told my debt advisor about this and he informed the DRO office, but he told me that any increase in my salary again will result in my DRO being cancelled. I have avoided asking for a pay rise ever since. Last week my manager told me that I am going to be promoted and my annual pay increased with £8000 (before tax). Also, my manager hinted that I might be getting a bonus this December and it will be on the supervisor scale, which means I might get a bonus of almost £2000 before/after tax.
My problem is this:
1- Can I tell my company that I don’t want the pay rise
2- I believe the probability of the DRO being cancelled is high, if I get the bonus?
3- If I get the pay rise and the bonus, is there any available scheme that I can use to pay a final reduce amount to the people I am owing. I am thinking of sacrificing my whole December pay + bonus to pay off all the people I owe in a lump sum, but I don’t think it will be upto £3500.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well it’s great news you are doing so well at work! But it is correct that any further pay rise could result in your DRO being revoked.
If you get this bonus, a good use for it would be to make full & final settlement offers to some of your debts. A 2k bonus could be used to get rid of say 8k of debt probably – write to your creditors saying your DRO is being revoked as you have been given a bonus and you are offering them 25p in the pound as a full and final settlement, add that if this isn’t accepted you will probably have to go bankrupt (the article above explains how this is the fall back process for anyone getting a windfall that isn’t enough to clear all their debts.) That would leave you with debt of about 7k which you may be able to manage with a debt management plan? If you could use some wages as well for F&F offers your debt could be down to very little.
See https://debtcamel.co.uk/debt-options/less-common/full-final/ for details about F&F offers.
Sam says
Thanks Sara, you are a STAR.
mchael smith says
i had dro in 2010 i put a claim on ppi in 2016 banks got back to me saying they owed me £3748.27p is this my money as i used a compony to chase this up they got back to me saying good news sign them send them back in 28 days they want a payment of over a thousend pound but what happens if i dont get the ppi money
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Your DRO has finished so the money will come to you.
Stacey says
Help, I went bankrupt in Dec 2004 and discharged in feb2005.
I recently put a ppi claim in with claim guys they’ve come back to say I have a claim but as I’m currently in Iva or have declared bankruptcy the cheque will
Be sent to my practitioner with 20 days , will I still be liable to the company for there fee ?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
In this situation the Official Receiver normally seems to offer the claims firm about half their fee and they settle for that.
Keith says
I had a DRO in June 2010 and it expired in 2011.A couple of months ago a company contacted me and said I was entitled to a PPI refund and they offered to claim it back for me.I then got a letter telling me they had recovered a sum of money,less their fee and that the money would be sent direct to me from the credit card company.I would not have to pay them until I had received it.After a few weeks it had not arrived and on contacting the CC company trhey said the money had been used to clear the outstanding balance which was owed under the DRO,to which I replied,rubbish,as the debt was no longer recoverable.Who is right,as I have been told that what they have done is wrong and that they have to refund the money to me.Any advice greatly appreciated.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It is not so much that the debt is “no longer recoverable” as it has been discharged. It no longer exists and the credit card company should not be exericsing a right of set off.
Ellie says
Hi, I can completely relate to this article. I put in place last year my dro and it was due to finish on the 10th of June. I received a letter from the dro office to inform me that I was going to be receiving £3000 in ppi from Barclays Bank and that they would be revoking my dro. I didn’t know where this had come from as I hadn’t claim ppi from anyone and after a very long morning on the phone to lots of different people I found out that barclays wrongly refunded me in 2011and this was what was still due to me. I have had hell, different phone calls, CAB, people saying go bankrupt. If I go bankrupt I lose my home and not intitled to rehoming as I making myself homeless by doing the order. (Part of my tenancy)
There isn’t anyone to talk to about what to do, I didn’t ask for the money, I told them clearly I didn’t want it but it no help, for £3000 I’m now £9,500 in debt and there’s nothing I can do. Any advice
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I am sorry you are caught in this absurd situation.
Is this a private tenancy? Your debts, were they consumer debts – loans, catalogues, that sort of thing?
Ellie says
I’m in a council property but there are terms in my tenancy agreement.
There debts are tax credit overpayments, housing overpayment, studio catelogue and Barclay card. I occurred the debts with living in a very abusive relationship which I managed to escape 6 years ago. I put my head u
In the sand for a while until things got too much and I tried payment plans to pay off the debts but struggled with his as i had more money going out than I had coming in. I have three children and in receipt of pip as I have mental disabilities (OCD and emotional personally disorder) so am not able to work
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think you should go to your local CAB and ask them to talk to the council – in those circumstances, I would hope it can be agreed that you can go bankrupt and retain your tenancy.
Andrew says
Morning Sara
Sadly my wife’s uncle has passed away and has left the car and money [unknown amount at pr sent) to her. Car is only worth about a thousand but money will probably be 5- 10k.
Can we try and delay the payment going through and if not, can she offer the creditors that money as final settlement to clear the debts? DRO is completed in 11 weeks.
Also, if it is revoked, how will the credit file look?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Sorry to hear this – it is so difficult when someone dying actually creates more problems for your own finances, not what you want to have to deal with at a time of bereavement.
Unfortunately delaying the payment won’t make any difference. I’ve written an article on inheriting money when you are in a DRO as her options are not simple… https://debtcamel.co.uk/inherit-dmp-dro-iva-bankruptcy/. Best to ask any more questions over there as it’s more relevant.