Getting started
How to find free, approved debt advice
Which organisations can assess you for a DRO, what the first appointment involves and why you should never pay a company to arrange one.
Guides and articles
Debt Relief Order Guides and Articles
Plain-English guides to the moments that matter in a Debt Relief Order: finding an approved adviser, getting your paperwork together, reporting a change in circumstances and knowing what to do if an application is refused.
Practical articles
Step-by-step help at each stage
The core guides explain what a DRO is and who qualifies. These articles pick up where they leave off and answer the practical questions people ask next. Each one assumes that only an approved debt adviser can assess your eligibility and submit an application to the Insolvency Service.
Application
Preparing for your DRO application: documents and checklist
A checklist of the identity, income, spending, debt and asset details your adviser will need, and the gaps that cause delays.
During the DRO
What happens if your circumstances change during a DRO
What you must report to the Official Receiver, how a pay rise, windfall or inheritance is treated, and what revocation means.
If things go wrong
What to do if your DRO application is refused
The usual reasons an application is refused, whether you can apply again, how to ask for a second look and the alternatives to discuss with your adviser.
Start here
Core guides
New to Debt Relief Orders? These six guides cover the basics in order: what a DRO is, how the process works, who qualifies, how an application is made, what it costs and how the advantages weigh against the drawbacks.
What is a Debt Relief Order?
Who a DRO is for, what it does to your debts and what it means for the year ahead.
Read the guideHow does a DRO work?
From assessment to discharge, the stages of a DRO and the roles of the adviser and the Official Receiver.
Read the guideDRO eligibility
The debt, income, asset, vehicle, property and residency tests, with the exceptions that catch people out.
Read the guideHow to apply for a DRO
What the approved intermediary needs from you, how long it takes and what happens after the application is submitted.
Read the guideDebt Relief Order costs
Why there is no application fee since April 2024, and the indirect costs you should still plan for.
Read the guideAdvantages and disadvantages
A balanced look at the benefits, the drawbacks and who might be better served by another solution.
Read the guide
Weigh the alternatives
Compare solutions
A DRO is one of several ways of dealing with debt in England and Wales. An approved adviser must consider all of them, so it helps to know how the alternatives differ in cost, length, what you keep and what happens to your credit file. Our debt solutions hub brings the comparisons together.
DRO vs bankruptcy
Fees, debt limits, what happens to assets and how long each stays on record.
Compare the twoDRO vs IVA
A free 12-month write-off against a five-to-six-year repayment arrangement run by an insolvency practitioner.
Compare the twoDRO vs debt management plan
What is written off, whether interest stops and who is bound by each arrangement.
Compare the two
Interactive tool
Check how your situation compares with the DRO criteria
Eight questions about your debts, income, assets and housing. The checker runs in your browser and stores nothing. It cannot confirm eligibility, which only an approved debt adviser can do, but it shows which criteria your answers may affect.