DAS is a formal debt repayment scheme designed to enable people who are struggling with debts to pay them off at an affordable rate over a reasonable length of time in a Debt Payment Programme (DPP). As it is a statutory scheme under Scottish legislation, creditors have a legal obligation to stop any further interest and charges and cannot take any further action to recover the debts from you whilst you are in an approved DAS DPP.
It is relatively quick and easy to set up a DAS DPP and there is no charge to you for doing so.
Eligibility for DAS
You have one or more debts
You live in Scotland
You have sufficient funds left over after your living costs are paid to make a reasonable repayment proposal (or you are expecting your income to increase in due course to mean this is the case)
You have had advice and assistance from an approved money adviser such as AMI Financial Solutions
Advantages of DAS
You pay one affordable monthly payment, set at whatever level you are comfortable with
Your debts will not increase – as long as you successfully complete your DPP then creditors must waive any interest and charges that would have been due
A DAS protects you from enforcement action, for example your creditors cannot take action to make you bankrupt or to arrest your wages or bank account
You do not have to deal with your creditors. We handle the set up process and, once approved, a payments distributor arranges the payments to each debt
Your assets, such as your home or car, are not at risk. DAS is not an insolvency procedure such as bankruptcy or a Protected Trust Deed, so assets are not involved in the process. Also any windfalls etc that you may receive do not have to paid in towards your debts unless you want to do so to reduce the term of the DPP
Even if some creditors object to the proposals the DPP may still become approved and those creditors would be bound by the DAS regardless, as long as the proposals are deemed to be “Fair and Reasonable” by the DAS Administrator who supervises the scheme on behalf of the Scottish Government
There is considerable flexibility available throughout the term of a DAS DPP to accommodate any changes in circumstances. For example, if there is a temporary crisis or reduction in your income then a payment break can be easily requested
Disadvantages of DAS
Your credit rating may be adversely affected
There is not usually any debt being written off, only a freeze of any further interest and charges, therefore a DAS may take longer to complete than an insolvency option such as a Protected Trust Deed or Bankruptcy
DAS proposals can be rejected by creditors and if they are not deemed ‘fair and reasonable’ by the DAS Administrator then the DPP will fail to be approved and cannot proceed
If you do not comply with the conditions of the DPP then it may be revoked and creditors are then free to seek to recover the debts from you directly again and to add back on the previously frozen interest and charges if they wish
