Debt Arrangement Scheme - any advice

Joshysmum

Hi all

I've been reading this forum with great relief that I am not alone!!!

I had a telephone interview with the CCCS this morning and it looks like I have two options - a DMP to clear my debts or a Debt Arrangement Scheme.

One of my creditors is now 1st Credit who put the fear of god into me last week - so I am thinking that a DAS would suit me better as I need to make sure my house is protected. All my debts are unsecured, but I dont want to risk any chance of those "gits" going after my house.

Does anyone have any pointers on DAS's and has anyone had any problems getting one? I'm calling an advisor on Monday to try and get an interview?

Many thanks

JM.

savingholmes

Hi JM - welcome to the boards. I'm not on either of those arrangements so I can't advise you there. I would however suggest that it may help if you posted a full statement of affairs - that's all your income, outgoings, assets and liabilities with aprs and minimum payment amounts. Then you can be offered some more tailored advice and support on where you can make cut backs to you can either a) live within your means and b) ideally also release more money for debt repayment. You can do this using makesenseofcards - and then you format it to put it on the mse forum. I found this very scary when I first did it but at the same time it meant that I got help and advice much quicker and we are now living within our means and paying far more back in debt than I would have believed possible this time in July...

Good luck!

beanielou

I take it you are in Scotland.
AFAIK DAS's run in Scotland & a DMP is the English equivalant.
To go onto a DAS you need to go through an accredited money advisor so you will be able to start the ball rolling on Monday by getting an appointment to see a money advisor.
HTH

Welcome to MSE by the way & keep posting.

coolcait

Hiya joshysmum

Another FM - kev1980 - is just starting down the DAS route. If you search for his posts, you'll be able to see how he's getting on so far, and why he decided to go for DAS. Hopefully you'll find it helpful.

DMPs are available for people in Scotland too. And, for people who can only make token payments of a couple of pounds (so probably wouldn't get onto DAS), a DMP will work fine.

However, if you can pay more than a token amount, DAS is probably a better bet. On the surface, there's not much difference between a DMP and DAS, in the sense that you're paying back an agreed amount to your creditors each week or month. In DAS, you make a single payment to an agreed/approved payment distributor, and they then dish it out to the creditors, I don't know if it works the same for a DMP. So that's already more straightforward and streamlined for you.

In a DMP, creditors can opt to freeze interest, and they can opt not to take any further action against you.

The big advantage of DAS is that creditors HAVE to freeze interest, fees and charges (and they get written off if you complete the programme) and they CAN'T take any further action against you. If you own a home, creditors CAN'T touch it if you're in a payment programme under DAS.

From my point of view, DAS wins hands down over a DMP any day of the week, for anyone who is able to make more than a token payment. I often think that it might be a good option even for people who are currently making the agreed minimum payments to their debts. Imagine how much more quickly you'd pay it off if the interest was frozen by law!

You have to go through a DAS approved money adviser to get onto DAS, and not all advisers are DAS approved. If the adviser you're seeing on Monday isn't DAS approved, they should be able to put you in touch with someone who is.

If you're currently under a genuine risk of court action against you (not just creditor threats), ask the money adviser about putting in an 'intimation' that you're thinking of going for DAS. That will get you six weeks' protection from court action. However, you need to time it carefully, as you can only put in an intimation once in every 12 months, and it can take a few weeks to set a DAS programme up.

Good luck!

Joshysmum

Thanks for the advice and comments - all are greatly appreciated.

I had my CCCS review on Friday and from that I have around £200 a month to share between £12,000k of debt, which I don't think is too bad??

BUT I called the only accredited money advisor in my council area and he cannot take on any more cases till the New Year - however the guy was fantastic and said that when the time comes for his to be available, a DAS should not be a problem at all and if I get any official court hassle from 1st Credit in the mean time, then I should contact him and he'll squeeze me in no matter what.

So I'm going to go down the CCCS DMP for the next couple of months and then hopefully get onto a DAS. All my CCCS bumpff came in the post on Saturday so that'll be my job for this evening - getting all that sorted.

Thanks again and if anyone has anymore DAS info/experience it would be great to hear it. I read Kevs thread and am hoping he'll update it soon!

JM.