Can a Canada Bankruptcy Trustee Help Keep You out of Bankruptcy

Posted by: Krista McDonald on 10/27/2011

Canada bankruptcy trustees are creations of the federal government.  Our bankruptcy laws – spelled out in the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act of Canada (BIA) – established the position of bankruptcy trustee as a professional debt consultant responsible for administering both consumer and business bankruptcies.

As such, it only seemed natural to include the word “bankruptcy” in our professional title.  However, in the 1990’s the government amended the BIA to include an alternative to bankruptcy called a consumer proposal, which we are also responsible for administering.

Finally, if you check the website of the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy you will learn our primary duty, by law, is to review the situation and counsel the debtor on available alternatives.

So regardless of what you may have heard or read about Canada bankruptcy trustees, the fact is we can actually help keep you out of bankruptcy.  And we can do that in more ways than just seeing if you qualify for a consumer proposal as an alternative to bankruptcy.

First, you need to know we offer free initial consultations.  There is no shame in seeking help at the first sign of financial trouble.  We will work with you to thoroughly assess your current financial situation, including what you owe, what you own, and what you earn.

Next, we will help you establish a personal budget to better manage your current income and to make better financial decisions.  In some cases, personal budgeting alone is enough to get people in financial trouble back on sound footing.

If that sounds too good to be true, ask yourself if you really know where every dime you make every month goes.  Few Canadians use personal budgets and really don’t know where the money goes.  They only know they don’t seem to have enough to cover all the bills every month.

When we begin exploring monthly expenses with people who come to see us, we find some know the monthly minimum payment on their credit cards, but have little idea of the specific nature of the charges they put on those cards.

Personal budgeting involves breaking down those credit card payments into the items they actually bought.  We can teach you to organize your expenses into specific categories.  Once you know where your money is going, it is often possible to cut expenditures enough to free up sufficient income to begin making substantial reductions in what you owe.