A Debt Agreement is an agreement to settle debts over time instead of declaring Bankruptcy. One of the first steps is to present your creditors with a proposal. ALC's Debt Solution experts can help negotiate and prepare a proposal so you can settle your debts with a payment plan that you can manage.
Essentially, your debts are consolidated into one affordable payment and we distribute this payment to your creditors over time until the debts are settled in full.
Should creditors accept your proposal, your debts are frozen and creditors will not be able to contact you for debt collection or take legal action against you. A Debt Agreement is an alternative to bankruptcy.
Traffic fines, child support, HECS and Centrelink debts incurred by fraud are excluded from a Debt Agreement.
When you enter a Debt Agreement, most of your unsecured debts are "frozen". This means all the interest, service fees, account keeping fees and late payment fees STOP.
Unlike Bankruptcy, under a Debt Agreement, there is no vesting of property and you are allowed to keep all of your possessions.
Creditors will only accept your proposal if they consider it reasonable. For a Debt Agreement to be accepted, a majority in number and value must accept it. With our expertise, in managing debts, we can help you negotiate a settlement and prepare your proposal.
Once you enter into a Debt Agreement, your credit file will reflect this. This information will appear for seven years. Once you finish paying your Debt Agreement, your credit file will reflect you have paid it.
If you can't afford to pay your Debt Agreement, it could be terminated. This means the Debt Agreement is cancelled, the debts revived and the creditors are able to resume collection of the debts. In addition, interest, fees and charges that the creditors forgo at the start of the agreement may be added to the debts.
You may change or vary your Debt Agreement, if your creditors agree to the change. A variation to a Debt Agreement will only be accepted if a majority of creditors, in number and value, agree to the changes. With our expertise in Debt Agreements we can help you change your proposal.
If you are in a position to pay the Debt Agreement sooner, you should consider doing so. By paying the Debt Agreement sooner, you will save time. There is no financial penalty to paying the Debt Agreement sooner.