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- What information does the DAS Register hold about you?
- What events are recorded on the register?
- Can anyone search the DAS Register?
- Can your details be kept off the register?
- How long does an entry stay on the DAS Register?
- Is the DAS Register the same as your credit file?
- What can you do if a public entry still worries you?
- Related guides
- Frequently asked questions
It is the statutory register of Debt Payment Programmes, kept by the Accountant in Bankruptcy under regulation 18 of the Debt Arrangement Scheme (Scotland) Regulations 2011. It is free to search and it is open to anyone.
That is the part of the scheme people hesitate over. One affordable payment and frozen interest sound good until somebody mentions a public register.
Part of your pay is protected by law
The deduction is set by statutory tables, not the creditor
An arrestment can be stopped or replaced
Worried about who can see your programme? Check what the register shows.
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So it is worth knowing exactly what it holds. It is a record with a defined list of contents, not a blacklist and not a credit file.
Here is what goes on it, who can look, when your name comes off, and what it does and does not mean for your credit. Our guide to how the Debt Arrangement Scheme works covers the scheme itself.
What information does the DAS Register hold about you?
Regulation 19(3) sets out the personal details: your full name including any former name, your date of birth, your home address or addresses and any business name and address, and your continuing money adviser’s business address.
The personal details, line by line
| What | The detail | Provision |
|---|---|---|
| Your name | Full name, including any former name | Regulation 19(3)(a) |
| Your date of birth | Held for every debtor on the register | Regulation 19(3)(b) |
| Where you live | Home address or addresses, and any business name and address | Regulation 19(3)(c) |
| Your adviser | The business address of any continuing money adviser | Regulation 19(3)(d) |
| What is not provided for | Regulation 19 does not provide for your creditors to be named, for account numbers, or for what you earn | Regulation 19(2) and (3) |
The Accountant in Bankruptcy’s guidance for money advisers lists the same information, and describes the register as a free web-based register which is accessible to everyone.
What the regulation does not provide for
There is no provision for publishing your creditors, your account numbers or your income. What is listed in regulation 19 is what the register is for.
That is a narrower record than most people picture. It is also why the register tells a reader that a programme exists rather than what is in it.
What events are recorded on the register?
The whole life of a programme, from the first intimation to any appeal. Regulation 19(2) sets out the list, and three further entries were added on 2 July 2013.
The list
| What is recorded | Where it comes from |
|---|---|
| An intimation that you intend to apply | Regulation 19(2)(a) |
| An application that has not yet been approved, and any withdrawal of it | Regulation 19(2)(b) and (c) |
| The date any request for creditor consent was sent | Regulation 19(2)(d) |
| A programme approved under regulation 24 or 25, and the notice of approval or rejection | Regulation 19(2)(e) and (f) |
| An application to vary, and a variation that is approved | Regulation 19(2)(g) and (h) |
| Correction of an accidental error, a variation on composition, and an application for review | Regulation 19(2)(ha), (hb) and (hc), added 2 July 2013 |
| An appeal to the sheriff | Regulation 19(2)(i), which since 2 July 2013 reads regulation 47C |
| A notice of intention to apply, for a statutory moratorium | Section 195(3) and (4) of the Bankruptcy (Scotland) Act 2016 |
A statutory moratorium goes on it too. Section 195 of the Bankruptcy (Scotland) Act 2016 requires the Accountant in Bankruptcy to enter the name in the Register of Insolvencies and the DAS Register.
Two entries worth understanding
The consent request date is recorded, which is the clock creditors are working to. The notice of approval or rejection is recorded too, and both carry legal consequences.
An appeal to the sheriff is on the list as well. Since 2 July 2013 that entry refers to regulation 47C rather than regulation 47.
Why the entries matter to you, not just to creditors
Some of the protection in this scheme runs from an entry rather than from a signature. Regulation 30(1)(ba) protects you from the moment your application is entered in the register.
Approval is dated the same way, at midnight before the notice goes on. How to apply for a Debt Payment Programme sets out the sequence.
Worried about a public register entry? Get free advice in under 60 seconds
Can anyone search the DAS Register?
Yes. It is free, online and open to the public, which is the point of a statutory register.
How access works
The register describes itself as an online public register holding information about those intending to apply for, and those who already have, a Debt Payment Programme.
A searcher has to accept the data protection terms before searching. Those terms prohibit systematic or automated collection of the data without AiB’s express written consent.
What a search can and cannot tell you
The register answers whether a person is in a programme, and when the steps in it happened. It is a record of process rather than of finances.
It is also updated as the programme moves, because variations, reviews and appeals all go on it. An entry is a live record, not a historic note.
What the register is for
The regulations put it there so that a creditor can tell whether a debt is inside an approved programme. That is the job the entry does.
An employer has no reason to be in it, and nothing requires you to tell one. Whether a Debt Arrangement Scheme affects your job deals with that question properly.
Can your details be kept off the register?
In defined circumstances, yes. Regulation 19(4) says information need not be included where the DAS Administrator is of the opinion that including it would be likely to put any person at risk of violence, or otherwise jeopardise their safety or welfare.
Where that came from
The exception was inserted by the Debt Arrangement Scheme (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2018 with effect from 29 October 2018. Before that it rested on guidance alone.
The Accountant in Bankruptcy publishes a separate document on the sensitivity obligation covering its public registers.
How to raise it
Tell your money adviser at the application stage rather than afterwards. It is a decision for the DAS Administrator, and it needs the reasons in front of it.
This is not a general privacy opt-out. It is aimed at safety, and the register is otherwise public by design.
How long does an entry stay on the DAS Register?
On revocation, 14 days. On completion, the Accountant in Bankruptcy says your details will be removed but gives no timescale, and no regulation sets one.
The one number that is published
An entry is removed 14 days after a programme is revoked.
AiB states that twice in its guidance on revocation, and why a programme is revoked covers what else happens at that point.
Why nobody else prints a completion figure
Because there is not one to print. Neither the regulations nor AiB’s published guidance fixes a period for removal after a programme finishes.
A page that gives you a number for that is giving you an assumption. Ask AiB directly if the timing matters to you.
Completion is different, and honestly so
No statutory period governs how long an entry stays after a programme completes. The Accountant in Bankruptcy says details are removed on completion without giving a timescale.
AiB’s register site says information is removed in accordance with its retention and destruction policy, and that policy is not published. Do not assume the 14 days applies to a programme that finishes normally.
What happens when a programme ends covers the rest of the finishing process, including the notice of completion.
Is the DAS Register the same as your credit file?
No, and this is where most pages on the subject go wrong. The register is a statutory record kept by a public body, and a credit file is a commercial record kept by three companies.
What the agencies actually publish
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.
Experian’s own retention page lists the categories it holds and how long it holds them, and a Debt Arrangement Scheme is not one of them.
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.
Where the six years comes from
It is the published rule for insolvency entries and for defaulted or closed accounts. A Debt Payment Programme is neither of those things.
So the honest answer is to check your own file with each agency rather than trust a figure. Rebuilding your credit after a Debt Arrangement Scheme sets out what to do with what you find.
Three records, side by side
| DAS Register | Register of Insolvencies | Your credit file | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it is | A statutory register of Debt Payment Programmes | A statutory register of insolvencies | A commercial record of how you handle credit |
| Who keeps it | The Accountant in Bankruptcy | The Accountant in Bankruptcy | Experian, Equifax and TransUnion |
| Is a Debt Arrangement Scheme on it? | Yes | No. A Debt Payment Programme is not an insolvency, though a moratorium notice is, while it runs | No agency publishes a Debt Arrangement Scheme entry at all |
| Who can look | Anyone, free of charge | Anyone, free of charge | You, and lenders with a lawful basis |
| What lenders use | Not a lending record | Not a lending record | This one, plus whatever they ask you |
What can you do if a public entry still worries you?
Weigh it against what the programme stops. The register entry is the price of statutory protection that no informal arrangement can give you.
What you get for it
- Interest, fees, penalties and other charges frozen from the date of the application.
- A charge for payment and diligence become incompetent once the programme is approved.
- Any arrestment of your income or property is recalled on approval.
- No creditor can petition for your sequestration on a debt in the programme.
A Debt Payment Programme is not an insolvency solution. You repay the debt in full, and what changes is the pressure rather than the balance.
None of that is available from an informal arrangement, however sincerely a creditor agrees to it. The register entry is what makes the rest of it statutory.
And what a register entry is not
It is not a lending decision and it is not a credit file. Those are separate records kept by separate bodies for separate purposes.
What is published about the link between the two is one sentence. National Debtline says the credit reference agencies check the register regularly and may update your credit file to reflect what they find.
Nobody publishes more than that. It is a may, and it is the only sourced statement connecting the register to a credit file.
It also ends. A revoked programme comes off after 14 days, and a completed one is removed.
The comparison worth making
A protected trust deed and sequestration both appear on the Register of Insolvencies, and both are insolvency. The disadvantages of a Debt Arrangement Scheme sets the trade-offs out in full.
If borrowing is the worry, getting a mortgage during a programme deals with the credit conditions, and our Debt Arrangement Scheme page sets out how we help.
Frequently asked questions
Is the DAS Register public?
Yes. It is kept by the Accountant in Bankruptcy, it is free to search and it is open to anyone, subject to accepting the site’s data protection terms.
What does the DAS Register show about me?
Your full name including any former name, your date of birth, your home address or addresses and any business name and address, and your continuing money adviser’s business address, alongside the events in your programme.
Does the register list my creditors or how much I owe?
Regulation 19 makes no provision for publishing your creditors, your account numbers or your income. What it lists is the personal details and the events in the programme.
Can I ask for my details to be left off?
Regulation 19(4) allows information to be left out where the DAS Administrator considers that including it would be likely to put someone at risk of violence or jeopardise their safety or welfare. Raise it with your money adviser at the application stage.
How long does a DAS entry stay on the register?
Fourteen days after a programme is revoked. On completion the Accountant in Bankruptcy says details are removed but gives no timescale, and no regulation sets one.
Does a Debt Arrangement Scheme show on my credit file for six years?
No credit reference agency publishes a retention rule for a Debt Arrangement Scheme. The six years widely quoted is the rule for insolvency entries, and a Debt Payment Programme is not an insolvency.
Will my employer see the register?
Nothing requires you to tell an employer, and the register is not an employment record. It is public, so anyone can search it, but creditors and money advisers are the people who use it.
Is the DAS Register the same as the Register of Insolvencies?
No. They are separate registers kept by the same body, and a Debt Payment Programme is not an insolvency, so it goes on the DAS Register rather than the Register of Insolvencies.
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Written as general information about Scottish debt law rather than regulated financial or legal advice, and your own circumstances may change the answer. Free, impartial help is available from Citizens Advice Scotland, StepChange, National Debtline and Advice Direct Scotland.