Who should I appoint as my Administrator?
Whilst you can submit a Debt Agreement Proposal yourself, most people choose to appoint a Registered Debt Agreement Administrator. We strongly recommend that you only deal with a Registered Debt Agreement Administrator who has a sound reputation and experience in the industry. Furthermore, it is advisable that you deal with an administrator who is qualified in all areas of personal insolvency. That way you won’t be dealing with someone who is only registered and qualified to offer you a Debt Agreement. If you deal with a Registered Trustee in Bankruptcy, they are licenced to offer you any personal insolvency service. In other words a Registered Trustee will not be biased towards only offering one service to you.
Here at Debt Free we have a fully qualified and licenced Registered Trustee in Bankruptcy, who is licenced to offer you any personal insolvency service including a Debt Agreement, Personal Insolvency Agreement or Bankruptcy. Our unique debt assessment processes will ensure that you are offered the right debt solution.
Before you decide who to appoint as your administrator, make sure you do your own research and ask the following questions:
- How long have you been registered with AFSA?
- How long have you been operating in the industry?
- What personal qualifications do you hold?
- Who will be responsible for handling and supervising my case?
- What other services are you licenced to provide?
What fees are charged and when do I start paying?
All Registered Debt Agreement Administrators will charge fees. The critical issue to understand is how much are those fees and when will you be asked to start paying them.
The fees charged by Debt Agreement Administrators will be split into two (2) categories. These categories are:
- Set-up fees
- Administration fees.
Set up fees
Most administrators charge a set-up fee. A set-up fee is to remunerate the Debt Agreement Administrator for helping you prepare the Debt Agreement Proposal and lodging it with the Debt Agreement Service at AFSA. The set-up fee may become payable before your administrator submits the proposal to AFSA for processing. Most Debt Agreement Administrators will charge a set-up fee and will most likely ask that the majority of it be paid before the Debt Agreement Proposal is lodged with AFSA for processing.
The key issue here is that you should not pay any money towards the set-up fee until the administrator has completed a thorough debt assessment. This is critical because unless a thorough debt assessment has been completed you will not know if you are eligible for a Debt Agreement or whether you can afford a Debt Agreement.
Here at Debt Free Australia we do not start charging any set-up fee until we have completed a thorough debt assessment. Once we have done that, we will know how much you can afford to pay into your Debt Agreement each week or month and only then we will ask you to start paying that amount towards your set-up fee. In other words, we will not charge you any money until we are satisfied that we can offer you a Debt Agreement and you are eligible.
We have seen some companies charge a set-up fee for the client to later find out that they were not even eligible for a Debt Agreement.
Administration fees
Debt Agreement Administrators will also charge an administration fee. This fee is to supervise the agreement and to pay creditors on your behalf. The administration fee is charged as a percentage of the contributions that you make under the Debt Agreement and can only be drawn from the contributions you make once it has been accepted by your creditors.
If you would like some advice on selecting a Debt Agreement Administrator call the team at Debt Free Australia. Our team is fully trained and can advise you on your best options. Call us today on 1800 462 767.