Consumer Proposal
A consumer proposal is a formal plan to repay your creditors a portion of your debt over a period of up to 5 years. As your Licensed Insolvency Trustee, Vine and Williams will help you develop a proposal to offer to your creditors.
Repay a portion of your debt, get protection from creditors, keep your assets and avoid bankruptcy!
A consumer proposal is a formal plan to repay your creditors a portion of your debt over a period of up to 5 years. As your Licensed Insolvency Trustee, Vine and Williams will help you develop a proposal to offer to your creditors. All collection action must stop immediately on filing of the proposal. We notify your creditors and manage the voting process with them. You stop making payments to your creditors and make one regular payment to your proposal account. There are no added fees. You also attend two private financial counselling sessions to help you on your way to financial success in the future.
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the whole process can be handled by phone, video and email … from the safety of your home!
Want to know more? Contact us for a free confidential assessment.
Consumer Proposal FAQ
- Proposal payments don’t change like they can in a bankruptcy
- You know exactly how much you have to pay to finish and you can pre-pay to finish early
- You remain in control of your assets – you can sell your house, sell or trade in your car, inherit money, win the lottery, get a bonus or raise – it’s all up to you and yours to keep
- You don’t have to report your income monthly like you would in a bankruptcy
- You keep your tax refunds unlike a bankruptcy where they come to the trustee
- The impact on your credit report is less severe, especially if you have a previous bankruptcy
- The amount you offer to creditors is dependent on your income, your assets, your total debt and your household budget
- The proposal has to be better for your creditors than if you went bankrupt. That does not necessarily mean you have to pay more than you would in a bankruptcy.
- Every situation is different and your payment is not just based on a percentage of your debts. We will work with you to develop a plan that you can afford.
- YES – all tax debt is included – personal tax, HST, employee deductions
- AND – any other government debts or overpayments such as EI, Canada Child Benefits
- It’s your choice … the goal in a consumer proposal is for you to keep all of the assets that you want to keep.
- You can keep vehicles and houses as long as you can make the related payments.
- You can voluntarily surrender assets like cars and houses that you no longer want and the shortfall on the debt goes in to the consumer proposal.
- Personal belongings and household effects are yours to keep up to generous provincial limits
- RRSP’s, TFSA’s, RESP’s, life insurance and other investments.
- Your consumer proposal does not affect your spouse. You don’t marry someone else’s debts.
- If your spouse is a co-signer or guarantor of your debt, your consumer proposal doesn’t release your spouse from any liability and won’t stop any collection action against them. It only helps you.
- Your spouse can make their own arrangements to continue to pay the debt, or consider filing their own consumer proposal or bankruptcy.
- The accounts included in your consumer proposal will be reported on Equifax and TransUnion with R7 ratings. There will be a note that you filed the consumer proposal.
- An R7 indicates you have made an arrangement to settle your debts and it is better than an R9 bankruptcy rating which can remain on your credit report for 7 years in a first time bankruptcy or 14 years if it is your second bankruptcy.
- The R7 and record of the consumer proposal can remain on file for 3 years after you complete your proposal. Equifax and TransUnion have their own policies and may remove the R7 rating sooner.
- You can work on improving your credit score while you are in the consumer proposal and we will show you how to rebuild your credit!
- Your consumer proposal must include all of your unsecured debts … you can’t pick and choose
- Credit cards, lines of credit, loans, overdrafts
- Government debt including taxes and overpayments
- Payday loans and lines of credit
- Student loans (special rules apply and you have to be out of school for over 7 years for them to be automatically discharged)
- Bank “student loans” that are not government guaranteed are included
- Personal loans
- Unpaid rent, utilities, phone bills
- Don’t see it listed … ask us!
- Child and spousal support
- Court fines, penalties and restitution orders
- Debts arising out of fraud
- Student loans (direct government loans or government guaranteed) if you have been out of school for less than 7 years
- Mortgages, vehicle loans and other secured loans where you choose to continue payments
- Contracts like cell phones where you decide to continue the service
- This is a consumer proposal and there is no set amount that your debts can be “cut” by.
- If you answer those ads, you may be asked to pay a fee to a consultant who will then refer you to a Licensed Insolvency Trustee. Only a Licensed Insolvency Trustee can file a consumer proposal for you and you don’t need a referral. Consultations are always free and there is no need to pay a consultant to help you.