Debt Arrangement Scheme - Scotland

coffeelady

Hi, I have just come across this board, and would love some info from you. I am thinking of going down the DAS route. Its for council tax arrears, and now the Sherrif Officers are demanding i up my payment to them quite drastically, or else they are threatening sequestration. One of the options i have read about is DAS. The amount would be for £5000. Does the money advisor set out the time limit for the debt to be repaid? What kind of repayment would i be looking at? I also believe it gives you protection from losing your home. Reading the stories on here, it seems to have put a lot of peoples mind at rest. Would be gald for any info. Thanks

Miss_Poohs

Hi Coffeelady - if I were you I'd start a new thread on this one, stating "Scotland" in the title.

I'm by no means an expert in DAS, but I'm not sure council tax arrears are allowed by DAS, if they are you'd need to move on it ASAP, as I do know CT is a priority debt, one you can infact be made BR for.

Like I say - start a new thread and I'm sure someone with lots more knowledge than me will come along and answer for you.

Good luck.

Suffol

Miss Poohs

I've been thinking about this a lot - for me on my 15-year DAS, it seems to stretch ahead into infinity, and if things improve and/or lumps sums come my way (I can hope), I'd like to hope that F&Fs might be the way out sooner rather than later.

BUT, & unfortunately, I think that F&Fs if you're on an established DAS and the creditors have been getting their payments regularly may be less attractive than if you're on an unregulated DMP, where you can just stop paying. Creditors know that under the terms of a DAS, if you default, they can slap on all of the interest that you would have been paying for the term of the DAS to date, then pursue you for the full amount. Therefore, because they're getting paid, and are more likely to continue to get paid, they won't be so keen to get rid of you with a favourable F&F.

However, one path might be going down the CCA route - or threatening to. If they know that they can't enforce because they haven't got the right documentation, they might be more amenable to a better F&F. So that's my medium-term objective - quite a lot of my debt, over 50% I'd say, is quite likely to be unenforcable. I'll establish the CCA position, and then have it ready for when my fortune changes and I either get given or manage to save lump sums to try to get rid of this debt millstone.

I could of course be quite wrong - just my thoughts!

Chris;)

Miss_Poohs

Thanks for that Chris, my OHs DAS was 13yrs long, although he's had it nearly 2 yrs.

His biggest debt is a NR loan - the rest are CCs, CCA is perhaps worth a try. I am currently trying help him claim back the PPI on the NR loan.

In total he's paying back £86,000, wot joy. LOL

ScottishGal_3

Hi guys,

Just wanted to say that the information i've picked up from this thread has been a life saver. I was told about the DAS from an IP when I considered entering into a trust deed, he recommended DAS over trust deed and I personally think it's a god send as I get to keep my house and remain solvent!

As it stands at the moment, my DAS (and my husbands) has been approved and now just waiting on payment distributer to contact me to arrange starting making payments. Think it's Gregory Pennington that been instructed to do so.

It has taken about 2 months to get to this stage, so not too bad and I haven't really had much hassle from my creditors. Have about 10 in total, totalling £20k and only 2 replied and approved it (RBS & Very Catalogue) But AIB approved it no problem.

My DAS is over 6 yrs and 8 months and i'm just so relieved to have an end date in sight and hope to increase payments as I go along to bring the end date closer!

Only issue I have is that i've not received any paperwork yet, my advisor confirmed about a week ago that AIB had approved it, can anyone tell me if you receive like a certificate or something.

Thanks again guys..xx

Miss_Poohs

Hi Scottish Gal - my oh didn't receive any certificates of anything - infact all correspondance went straight to the DAS advisor at Welfare Rights.

My husband does get statements from some of his creditors - NR and M&S but they are for information only.

So happy to hear that its worked out for you too. DAS is an invaluable tool - you get to stay solvent, pay back your debt (eventually) and for property owners, keeps your home safe in the process.

Good Luck

Suffol

ScottishGal

My money advisor emailed me a copy of the AIB's notice of acceptance of DAS, but only after I asked her. It's been useful - I needed to send it to two creditors in the first week afterwards as they were still chasing me - but in the eight weeks since, there's been absolutely zero contact from anyone, and believe me it's complete bliss!

The money advisor says that she'll get quarterly statements from my payments distributor, Carrington Dean, and pass them on to me, but her strong advice was that no news was good news, and that I should just get on with life and stop worrying about the debt mountain I've got to climb. I'm not quite used to the idea yet, and still feel it's all too good to be true and that the phonecalls will start again - but as time goes on, I'm getting used to it :-)

Chris

chipsmum

Hi Folks

It's taken me a little while to fully get my head out of the sand and realise that a lottery win is unlikely but have finally added all debts up on a spreadsheet and worked out what I realistically can afford to pay if I am accepted for DAS.
Then I screwed up my courage and called the Citizens Advice Bureau this morning to try to get an appointment with a Money Advisor. I spoke to a very helpful girl that said she would send me a pack of forms to complete and then they would assess my circumstances and see if I would be suitable for DAS. She admitted to not being a DAS expert but did say that a DAS could only last a maximum of ten years. This has put me into a total panic as my OH is not currently working and with what I can currently afford each month, I estimate my DAS will last 13 years.
Once he gets a steady job and hopefully with some work bonuses, pay rises and other one off windfalls, I will be able to increase payments and lessen the term.
BUT if initially my DAS looks like a 13 year arrangement, will it be rejected ??
I felt really positive this morning, applied for a new bank account and decided today I was going to take the first steps to sorting this but now feel back at square one and sick to the stomach with worry.
I could try to prune my budget back further to get the term down to 10 years but don't think it is possible right this minute.
I have been reading posts from people who have had their DAS set-up for up to 15 years. Are they the exception to the rule ?

Any advice greatly appreciated and thanks to Suffol for advice already given.

chipsmum

Sorry another hysterical post from me !
I was advised today by the CAB to cancel all my direct debits except for my priority debts like mortgage and council tax, utility bills etc.
Of course nearly all of them came out of my account today following the Bank Holiday leaving me nothing to live on for the rest of the month - jeez how dumb can I be :eek:
Anyway I do have a large cheque from my pet insurance to cash but am worried about paying it into my bank in case they grab it to pay my overdraft. Help !

ScottishGal_3

Miss_Poohs wrote: »

Hi Scottish Gal - my oh didn't receive any certificates of anything - infact all correspondance went straight to the DAS advisor at Welfare Rights.

My husband does get statements from some of his creditors - NR and M&S but they are for information only.

So happy to hear that its worked out for you too. DAS is an invaluable tool - you get to stay solvent, pay back your debt (eventually) and for property owners, keeps your home safe in the process.

Good Luck

Thanks Miss Poohs, I just want the payments to start now. Hopefully i'll hear something from my distrbutor this week to get the ball rolling. x

Suffol wrote: »

ScottishGal

My money advisor emailed me a copy of the AIB's notice of acceptance of DAS, but only after I asked her. It's been useful - I needed to send it to two creditors in the first week afterwards as they were still chasing me - but in the eight weeks since, there's been absolutely zero contact from anyone, and believe me it's complete bliss!

The money advisor says that she'll get quarterly statements from my payments distributor, Carrington Dean, and pass them on to me, but her strong advice was that no news was good news, and that I should just get on with life and stop worrying about the debt mountain I've got to climb. I'm not quite used to the idea yet, and still feel it's all too good to be true and that the phonecalls will start again - but as time goes on, I'm getting used to it :-)

Chris

Think i'll defo request a copy, calls and letters seem to have stopped for now but always expecting something to land on the doorstep!! Habit I suppose!

But the stress levels have definately dropped since I was told it was approved.