Most pages answer this with section 146. That is the wrong provision for the period you are asking about, because section 146 only starts on the day you are discharged.

There is also an exclusion in the £1,000 calculation that almost nobody prints. How a MAP works covers the six months these rules run through.

Section 218(13) of the Bankruptcy (Scotland) Act 2016, with the definitions in section 219(2). Section 146 does not start until you are discharged.

Why the definitions matter

Section 219(2)(a) defines the debtor for this purpose as a person whose estate has been sequestrated and who has not been discharged.

So the duty runs from the award to your discharge and then stops. A different duty, in different words, picks up the day after.

Why so many pages get this wrong

Section 146 is the provision that turns up first in most guidance, because it is headed as a condition of discharge. It reads as though it governs the whole bankruptcy.

It does not. Section 146(1) applies it only where a debtor is discharged under section 140, and section 146(6) starts the clock on the date of discharge.

The two regimes, side by side

What the disclosure has to say

While you are undischarged, the information required is that your estate has been sequestrated and that you have not been discharged. After discharge it is that you are subject to the conditions.

The Accountant in Bankruptcy’s guide for MAP debtors gives only the £2,000 limb, so read the sections rather than the summary.

£2,000 of credit, alone or jointly, and credit of any amount at all while you have debts of £1,000 or more. Both are in section 218(13).

The second limb has no lower figure

That is the one people miss. Where you already owe £1,000 or more, a small amount of borrowing still triggers the duty.

National Debtline is one of the few sources to give both limbs, and it is right to do so.

A figure that is not in the Scottish Act

A £500 threshold appears on several pages about Scottish bankruptcy. It is not in the Bankruptcy (Scotland) Act 2016 and it is not the Scottish figure.

Importing English insolvency rules into a Scottish answer is the commonest error in this subject, and whether a MAP is the Scottish version of a Debt Relief Order sets out where the two schemes really differ.

Utility charges and council tax are left out of that £1,000 calculation.

The provision that does it

Section 219(1) says that in calculating the credit or the debts mentioned in section 218(13), no account is to be taken of the supplies listed in section 222(4) or of any council tax.

Section 222(4) is the utilities list. It covers gas, electricity, water and communications services.

What that means on a low income

Energy arrears and a council tax balance are exactly the debts a household in difficulty is most likely to have. Leaving them out changes who is caught by the second limb.

Why the exclusion exists at all

No source addresses the purpose, and the same utilities list is used elsewhere in the Act for a different purpose.

Whatever the reason, the words are clear and they are on the face of section 219(1). Very little published material mentions them.

It does not make them disappear

The exclusion is about the arithmetic in section 218(13) and nothing else. Those debts still exist, and whether a MAP writes off all your debts covers what happens to them.

More than a loan. Section 219(2)(b) expressly includes goods hired to you under a hire purchase agreement or agreed to be sold under a conditional sale agreement.

The everyday list

What is not credit

Paying for something outright is not credit, whatever the size of the payment. Neither is a bill you settle in the ordinary way at the end of a month.

The line is whether you receive goods, services or money now and pay later. If you are unsure, disclose rather than guess.

Joint applications are caught too

Both provisions say alone or jointly with another person. Applying with a partner does not take you outside the rule.

The duty is yours rather than theirs. Telling the lender is a short sentence at the point of application.

While you are undischarged it is an offence under section 218(13), and the penalties are set out in section 219(5).

The penalties, on the provision they belong to

On summary conviction, section 219(5) provides for a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum, or imprisonment, or both.

The custodial maximum is three months, rising to six where the person has a previous conviction inferring dishonest appropriation of property. On indictment it is a fine, or up to two years, or both.

After discharge the structure is different

A first failure to comply extends the restriction period from six months to twelve. The offence arises only on a further failure during that extended period.

Section 147(1) does the extending and section 147(2) creates the offence, so the sanction on a first slip is another six months of the same duty.

The offence is the silence, not the borrowing

Both provisions attach the offence to obtaining credit without giving the required information. The borrowing itself is lawful.

That distinction is worth holding on to, because plenty of published material states flatly that a bankrupt cannot borrow. The Act does not say that.

None of that is a reason to stay silent

Telling a lender is a short conversation. The rule exists so the decision is made with the facts on the table.

The provision changes rather than the figures. Section 140(1) discharges you at six months and section 146 then applies for six months more.

The timeline

Section 146 came into force on 30 November 2016 and carries no textual amendment. Its two figures are the same £2,000 and £1,000 you were working to before discharge.

Which restrictions still apply after a MAP ends sets out the section 146 conditions in full, including the business name limb.

A restrictions order does not automatically carry the thresholds

The credit restrictions are not automatic. Section 157(1) lets the decision maker specify that they apply, which means some orders carry them and some do not.

AiB says its registrations team requests them on all occasions, which is practice rather than the effect of section 157 itself, and whether a MAP affects your job covers what else an order carries.

What lenders can see

mygov.scot reports that bankruptcy can stay on a credit file for at least six years, and no statute sets that period.

The award is also on a public register anyone may search. How long a MAP stays on your credit file and how long it stays on the register deal with each.

Speak to your money adviser before you borrow. New borrowing is not written off with the rest, so it follows you out the other side.

Why new debt is different

Section 145(1) discharges you of the debts you owed at the date of sequestration. Anything taken on afterwards sits outside that and remains payable in full.

Money arriving during the six months has to be reported to the trustee as well, which what happens if your income improves covers.

Ask before you commit to anything

A money adviser is already involved in your case and can look at the budget with you. That is a better first call than a lender.

It is also free. Nobody in Scotland has to pay for this kind of advice.

Where to look first

• Check that everything you are entitled to is actually in payment, including any council tax reduction.
• Ask your council’s money advice team what local support exists.
• Contact Citizens Advice Scotland, StepChange or National Debtline, all of which are free.
• Tell the Accountant in Bankruptcy about any change in your income.

Rebuilding comes later, and it comes slowly

Nothing published establishes what any particular lender will do with a disclosed sequestration. Treat anyone offering a guaranteed decision with suspicion.

What you can control is the entry being accurate. Check your own file once the six months are up rather than assuming it has updated.

Your banking and your energy supply

Nothing in the Act freezes a bank account, though mygov.scot says a bank may freeze or close one, which whether your bank account is frozen sets out.

A supplier may change how you pay rather than what you owe, and whether your gas and electricity supply is affected covers what is and is not published about that.