Filing a consumer proposal is a straight forward and simple process, particularly when you have a trustworthy professional as the administrator of your consumer proposal file. When you first meet with your advisor, you will be required to provide all the necessary information about your household income, your debts and your assets. Most administrators will provide you with a list of what is needed.
After you determine what your offer to your creditors will be, you will be required to attend a meeting to sign the legal documents for filing your consumer proposal with the government and with your creditors. If your consumer proposal is not accepted, you may also be required to attend a meeting to discuss any counter offers that your creditors may make to see if you agree to change your proposal terms. Once your consumer proposal is accepted you are required to maintain your payments according to the terms of your proposal, which normally requires a monthly payment. If you fall three payments behind, your administrator can annul your proposal and your creditors can resume their collection activity again.
The other requirement is for you to complete two credit counseling sessions. These sessions are normally completed by a qualified counselor from your administrator’s office. They take no more than one hour and are done one on one. Topics covered include money management, budgeting, use of credit and information about the credit bureau. There is no extra charge for attending these counseling sessions.
It is also important that you keep your administrator updated with your current contact information, as well as keeping them informed of any material change to your income should that impact on your ability to maintain your consumer proposal.
In general, those are the only requirements imposed on you as a result of filing your consumer proposal. From time to time there may be a part of your proposal that imposes on you some specific requirements. This may include to keep your income tax filings up to date, for example. Should your proposal have any specific requirements, in addition to making your payments, you would of course need to ensure these requirements are met.
