Ease the Burden of Debt with Debt Relief
Finding relief from your debt load will release stress and give you an opportunity for a fresh start. The proposal process is a debt settlement option which allows you to make an offer to all of your unsecured creditors and have only one monthly payment.
What Are My Options?
To begin the process, you must contact a Licensed Insolvency Trustee (LIT). Exelby & Partners Ltd. are LITs and are experienced at determining the amount of settlement that you should offer.
The proposal is filed with the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy (OSB) and creates an immediate ‘Stay of Proceedings’ against all creditors, ending the phone calls, letters and legal action. Creditors vote on whether to accept your offer.
The majority of proposals filed by Exelby & Partners Ltd. are accepted as filed. If the creditors do not accept the proposal as filed, there is a negotiation process beginning with a meeting of creditors. Once the proposal is approved, you will attend two mandatory counselling sessions and make your monthly payment to the Administrator. If you should miss any three payments, your proposal will fail and creditors’ rights will be reinstated. There is no automatic bankruptcy.
In the proposal, you retain your assets and income and the process is generally five years or less. You are allowed to pay your proposal off early if you have the ability to do so.
Finding Alternatives
If you file an assignment into bankruptcy in Alberta, again you must obtain the services of a LIT. The amount that you are required to pay to your creditors is determined by your net income. The Trustee will advise you of that amount. The creditors are entitled to surplus income, non-exempt assets, income tax refunds and GST refunds. You will be required to attend two financial counselling sessions and the creditors have the right to oppose your discharge from bankruptcy.
The bankruptcy process is more complicated than the proposal process. It is important that you have a clear understanding of the process and that you have all of your questions answered. The vast majority of people who file an assignment into bankruptcy with Exelby & Partners Ltd. receive an automatic discharge from bankruptcy which means that no creditors oppose their discharge and there is no Court application.
Contact us as any of our locations in Edmonton, Red Deer or Grande Prairie to schedule an appointment.
When Should One Seek Debt Relief?
The average interest rate on credit cards is approximately 20%. For example, if one owes $20,000.00 on credit cards, the approximate annual interest is $4,000.00. This individual will pay about $333.33 in interest every month of the year. This means that if you take home a net monthly income, the first $333.33 of your monthly income will go directly to interest and will not even reduce your debt balance. You have less money to pay your living expenses or for savings and you have not reduced your debt load at all. Most credit card statements will tell you how long it will take you to pay off your balance if you are only making the minimum payments. Sometimes the statements tell you that it will take longer to pay them off then some of us can expect to live.
Seek Debt Relief when:
How Does Debt Relief Help?
When you bring your debt load into a solution that is manageable for yourself, you will release stress and give yourself an opportunity for a fresh start. You will have more discretionary income which means you can spend more on things that you need or want or you can begin to save money for things that may want such as house, vehicle or a vacation.
Debt relief is available to help people get back to the starting point and work towards a better future. You work hard for your money and you should see benefits. You will learn to track your spending, deciding what you like and don’t like about your spending habits and learn to save.
Many people are on a fixed income and may have limited resources. For these people, learning to manage your monthly income so that you have a plan to meet your monthly expenses will create stress relief.