I have £15,000 of debt — what are my options?
£15,000 of unsecured debt: Still well within DRO limits, but the repayment maths starts to matter. What each UK solution would mean at this level, and the three factors that actually decide it.
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What each solution would mean at this level
At £15,000, a DMP paying £200 a month with interest frozen takes just over six years. Paying £100 a month takes over twelve. That difference is the whole decision: if the plan runs beyond about ten years, a formal solution deserves serious consideration rather than being dismissed.
| IVA | DMP | DRO | Bankruptcy | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Formal insolvency | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| Where it applies | England, Wales and Northern Ireland | The whole of the UK | England and Wales (Northern Ireland has its own version with different thresholds) | England, Wales and Northern Ireland (Scotland calls it sequestration) |
| Typical duration | 60 months, or 72 with home equity | Until the debt is repaid — no fixed end | 12 months | Discharged in 12 months; payments up to 3 years |
| Monthly payments | Monthly, affordability-based | Monthly, flexible, changeable | No payments at all | Only if you have surplus income |
| Your home | Excluded; equity sets the term | Not affected | Not available to homeowners | May be sold |
| Credit file impact | 6 years from the start date | Defaults recorded, 6 years each | 6 years from the order date | 6 years from the order |
| Public register | Listed on the public Individual Insolvency Register, which anyone can search. Your address can be withheld only on evidenced safety grounds. | Nothing public. A DMP is a private arrangement. | Listed on the public Individual Insolvency Register. | Listed on the public Individual Insolvency Register, and in some cases advertised more widely. |
| Fees | Paid from your monthly payments | Free providers available | Free — no application fee | £680 application fee |
| Creditor protection | Legally binding on included creditors | None — entirely voluntary | Full protection, then write-off | Full protection, then discharge |
The three questions that actually decide it
1. What is left each month after essential living costs? Not what you would like to pay — what genuinely remains after rent or mortgage, council tax, utilities, food, travel, childcare and insurance. Every solution is built on this figure, and an optimistic one is the most common cause of an arrangement failing later.
2. Do you own property? Owning a home rules out a Debt Relief Order entirely and puts equity in scope in both an IVA and bankruptcy. It is the single biggest structural factor.
3. Where in the UK do you live? Scotland has Trust Deeds, the Debt Arrangement Scheme, sequestration and the Minimal Asset Process. IVAs and DROs do not exist there. Northern Ireland has separate legislation again.
What we will not tell you
We will not tell you that a particular debt level means a particular solution. There is no such rule, and any site or advert that implies one — £20,000 of debt? You could write off 85% — is selling rather than advising. Two people with identical debts and different incomes, assets and locations belong in entirely different places.
Priority debts come first regardless
None of this changes the hierarchy. If part of what you owe is rent, mortgage, council tax, energy or court fines, those come first — before any repayment plan to a credit card. See how priority and non-priority debts differ.
Not sure which of these applies to you?
Answer eight questions about your circumstances and see which routes are worth understanding, before you speak to anyone.
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