A joint programme is one application, one monthly payment and one set of protections covering both of you. How the Debt Arrangement Scheme works covers the scheme itself.

It suits couples whose finances are genuinely tangled together. It is not the right shape for every couple, and applying separately is often the better answer.

Two people can apply together. Since 2 July 2013 the test is that each debtor is liable for a debt the programme would pay, rather than that both are liable for the same debt.

The conditions in one place

The relationship limb

Regulation 22(1)(b) covers spouses or civil partners of each other, and people living together as if spouses or civil partners of each other. Cohabiting couples are in, and no minimum period together appears anywhere in it.

AiB’s client eligibility guidance uses the same two categories and adds that both parties must independently meet the individual eligibility requirements.

Both of you have to consent

Regulation 22(2) requires the consent of both debtors, and the money adviser’s declaration has to cover both. How to apply for a Debt Payment Programme sets out what the application contains.

No. Since 2 July 2013 the test is that each of you is liable for a debt the programme would pay, not that you are both liable for the same one.

What changed, and why it matters

The joint and several requirement was removed by the 2013 amendment regulations, whose Explanatory Note says so in terms. A page still requiring a joint debt is quoting a test that is more than a decade out of date.

AiB now puts it the same way: clients can apply for a joint programme if they are each liable for a debt which could be paid under it. Which debts can and cannot go into a programme covers what counts.

Sole debts are not merged

A joint programme does not make you liable for your partner’s debts, or the other way round. It puts two people’s debts into one repayment arrangement.

Where a debt genuinely is joint, AiB tells advisers to treat it as if each client owes the full outstanding amount, which protects each of them if the other stops paying.

The consent of the creditors of both of you is relevant, under regulation 23(2). The threshold itself is the ordinary one for individuals.

The threshold

Since 4 November 2019 a programme for an individual is approved where not less than nine tenths in value of the creditors consent, under regulations 23(1)(a) and 24(1) of the Debt Arrangement Scheme (Scotland) Regulations 2011. The substituting instrument was the 2019 amendment regulations.

The test is nine tenths by value, not by number. A single creditor holding more than a tenth of the total can withhold consent and put the application to the fair and reasonable test.

Silence, and what follows an objection

Silence counts as consent. Regulation 23(5) deems a creditor who does not respond within 21 days of the request to have consented, irrespective of any assignation of the debt.

That rule applies only to a programme providing for the payment of more than one debt. A programme covering a single debt gets no deemed consent.

An objection does not end the application. Where approval cannot be given under regulation 24, regulation 25(1) requires the DAS Administrator to approve a programme that is fair and reasonable.

The fair and reasonable test sets out the factors, and whether all your creditors have to agree covers the thresholds.

Varying it later takes both of you

AiB requires an application to vary a joint programme to be made by both clients. How to vary a Debt Payment Programme when your income changes covers the grounds.

Jointly where your debts and your budget genuinely run together. Separately where they do not, or where only one of you needs a programme.

The two structures side by side

Where a joint application helps

AiB notes that joint incomes may be combined where appropriate, particularly where only one partner has viable surplus income for a programme. How a Debt Arrangement Scheme payment is calculated explains the assessment.

That is the practical case for applying together. One budget, one payment, and one set of creditors dealt with at the same time.

What one payment actually means

A joint programme is a single arrangement. One figure goes to the payments distributor each month and is shared out among the creditors of both of you, pro rata.

That is simpler to run while you are together, and it is the thing that has to be unpicked if you are not.

Where separate applications help

Each of you has to satisfy the entry test in your own right, so a bar that catches one of you does not have to catch the other. Whether you qualify for the Debt Arrangement Scheme lists the bars.

Separate programmes also come apart cleanly if the relationship does. A joint one has to be revoked and rebuilt.

The programme is revoked, because the relationship condition no longer applies. Regulation 30(1)(c) then gives six weeks in which a charge for payment and diligence are not competent.

The six weeks, and what to do inside it

AiB describes treating both clients, in effect, as if they had made a moratorium application in their own names, in its guidance on revocation. That is stated practice rather than a provision of the statute.

AiB also says a client in that position may apply for a moratorium in their own name even if they have already had one in the preceding 12 months. Again, that is AiB’s practice statement.

The 21-day rule that protects the interest freeze

Where you apply for an alternative programme within 21 days of the revocation, the 2011 interest, fees and charges regulations mean the revocation does not reinstate interest and charges on the debts.

Miss the six weeks and AiB warns that interest, fees and charges may be applied again, at the creditor’s discretion. Why a Debt Arrangement Scheme is revoked covers revocation generally.

The programme is revoked automatically under regulation 40A. Regulation 44A(1)(a) then suspends the effect of that revocation for six weeks.

What the six weeks is, and what it is not

AiB’s revocation guidance says creditors cannot apply any interest, fees or charges to the debt during that period, and that the time is there so the surviving client can seek money advice.

The six weeks of protection from a charge for payment and from diligence in regulation 30(1)(c) is tied to revocation on the relationship ground, not to the death ground. Those are two different provisions and they should not be run together.

Every way a joint programme can end early

The two six-week periods in that table do different jobs. One stops enforcement, and the other holds the revocation itself in suspense.

What to do first

Get money advice inside the six weeks, and ask about a moratorium and about a programme in your own name. How a statutory moratorium protects you explains the six-month protection.

No published source deals with whether the deceased’s estate remains liable for a joint debt, or with what happens to payments already made. Those are questions for your adviser.

Both of you go on the DAS Register, which is free to search and open to anyone. What a lender sees on your credit file is a separate question, and less settled than most pages suggest.

The register

Regulation 19(3) records each debtor’s full name including any former name, date of birth and home address. What the DAS Register is and who can search it covers what is held and who looks at it.

The DAS Register is free to search and open to anyone, and it is kept by the Accountant in Bankruptcy.

The credit file

No credit reference agency publishes a retention rule for a Debt Arrangement Scheme. Experian, Equifax and TransUnion all publish what they hold and for how long, and none of them lists a Debt Arrangement Scheme at all.

The widely quoted six years is the rule for insolvency entries, and a Debt Arrangement Scheme is not an insolvency. What your creditors report is the state of each account, so ask them and check your own file.

How to rebuild your credit after a Debt Arrangement Scheme covers what actually helps, and what a joint arrangement means for two files rather than one.

Before you decide on the structure, get the conversation with a free adviser done. Citizens Advice Scotland and National Debtline both cover joint applications, and our Debt Arrangement Scheme page sets out how we help.