Student loan debt does not count towards the £25,000 limit. Section 2(2A), which has applied since 29 March 2021, leaves it out of the calculation.

What the provision actually says

Section 2(2A) provides that the amount of a loan is not to be regarded as a debt where it was made by virtue of regulations to which section 73B of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980 applies.

It was inserted by regulation 4(3) of SSI 2021/148, in force 29 March 2021, on the same day the ceiling itself became £25,000.

Who else says so

National Debtline states it plainly: total debts of no more than £25,000, and student loans are not counted when working out how much you owe.

The Accountant in Bankruptcy’s own MAP page gives the £25,000 without the carve-out, and most published summaries do the same. The provision is in the Act whatever a summary says.

The half that works against you

A student loan is left out of the £25,000 test on the way in and is still owed on the way out.

Student loans are not written off either, by a different route. Section 145(7) leaves the student loan regulations untouched rather than listing the debt as an exception.

Both halves in one place

Your total debts must be no more than £25,000, under section 2(2)(b) of the Bankruptcy (Scotland) Act 2016.

It includes interest, so use current balances

Section 2(2)(b)(ii) caps the total amount of your debts including interest at the date the application is made.

An old statement is not the number to use. Ask each creditor for a current balance before the arithmetic is done.

The figure and its date

The £25,000 was substituted by regulation 4(2) of SSI 2021/148 with effect from 29 March 2021. Lower ceilings still in circulation are out of date.

The section also allows another amount to be prescribed, and none has been. What the £25,000 debt limit is sets out the figure on its own.

How far above the typical case it sits

The Accountant in Bankruptcy’s annual statistics for 2025-26 put the median debt in a Minimal Asset Process case at £12,400.

So the ceiling is roughly double the middle case. It is a real bar for some people and a comfortable margin for most.

No minimum debt is currently prescribed for the Minimal Asset Process. The old £1,500 floor stopped applying on 6 February 2023, though the power to set one again remains.

The wording matters more than it looks

Regulation 2 of SSI 2023/9 substituted the word “such” for “£1,500 or such other” in section 2(2)(b)(i), with effect from 6 February 2023.

So section 2(2)(b)(i) still reads “not less than such amount as may be prescribed”. The floor was made prescribable rather than deleted.

Why the distinction is worth keeping

Nothing is currently prescribed, so in practice there is no floor today. Ministers could prescribe one again without amending the Act.

mygov.scot lists the eligibility conditions without a minimum, while several commercial pages still print £1,500.

Everything you owe at the date the application is made, apart from a student loan. The Act sets out one exclusion and no others.

The everyday list

The date the total is measured on

The figure is taken at the date the debtor application is made. A payment made the week before reduces it and a new debt taken the week before increases it.

That is also why a stale certificate for sequestration causes trouble. The arithmetic and the paperwork have to describe the same day.

Debts that surface late

Old catalogue accounts, a mobile contract that ran on and a council tax year you thought was settled are the recurring three. All of them count.

Your adviser builds the list with you before the certificate for sequestration is granted. Whether you are eligible for a MAP covers what happens if the total turns out to be wrong.

Secured debts rarely arise

Section 2(2)(e) bars anyone who owns land from using a MAP at all, so a mortgage is not usually part of the picture.

A secured creditor also keeps the right to enforce its security whatever the discharge does to the personal obligation. That is section 145(5).

The Act sets out one exclusion and it is about student loans. Section 2(2A) does not mention fines, so treat them as part of the total and have your adviser confirm it on your figures.

The separate question, and the uncomfortable answer

What happens to a fine after the award is a different matter. Section 145(3) lists what discharge does not touch, and fines and penalties due to the Crown are the first item on it.

Section 145(3) lists what survives. Fines and other court penalties, debts obtained by fraud, and aliment or a periodical allowance payable on divorce are not written off.

So a large fine can push you towards the ceiling and still be owed at the end. Whether a MAP writes off all your debts goes through the whole list.

Ordinary debts are in a different position

Credit cards, loans, overdrafts, council tax arrears, rent arrears and utility arrears are exactly what a Scottish sequestration is built to deal with. They count towards the ceiling and they are discharged.

The restrictions that follow the discharge are set out at which restrictions still apply after a MAP ends.

One measures what you owe and the other measures what you own. Both have to be satisfied, and passing one says nothing at all about the other.

The figures, with the date each took effect

The asset tests are applied on the date the application is made and leave liabilities out of account, which how assets are valued against the £2,000 limit explains.

Failing either test is enough

The conditions in section 2(2) are cumulative. Someone with £4,000 of debt and £2,400 of belongings is outside a MAP on the asset side, however small the debt is.

It works the other way too. A person with nothing at all still fails if the debts come to more than £25,000.

Savings sit on the asset side

The Accountant in Bankruptcy’s evidence checklist treats savings above £1,000 across all your accounts as defeating a Minimal Asset Process application. That is its practice rather than something the Act states.

That catches people who have kept a small buffer while their debts mounted. What happens to your savings sets out how far the published material goes.

And some property is removed entirely

Section 2(3)(a) takes out of the asset calculation anything that would be excluded from vesting in the trustee. National Debtline puts the same point in plainer words: basic household items do not count.

A MAP closes and the other Scottish solutions do not. Which one fits depends on your income and what you own rather than on the debt figure alone.

The alternatives

Full administration is the nearest neighbour

Full administration sequestration has a minimum debt of £3,000 under section 2(8)(a). That figure is unrelated to the vehicle disregard, which happens to use the same number.

It runs longer, discharge is a decision rather than a date, and a contribution order can be payable. The difference between a MAP and full sequestration compares them.

The two comparisons people actually search for

A Debt Arrangement Scheme writes off none of the money you owe. Interest, fees, penalties and charges stop, so the balance stops growing, but the principal is repaid to the last penny.

A MAP against the Debt Arrangement Scheme and a MAP against a debt management plan both set the alternatives out on figures.

A repeat application has its own bar

Ten years must have passed since any previous MAP, and five years since any other award of sequestration.

Both periods run from the date of the earlier award rather than from the discharge. That matters to anyone whose debts have crept back up.

The one thing worth doing first

Write out every debt with a current balance beside it and take the list to a money adviser. Citizens Advice Scotland, StepChange and National Debtline will all go through it free of charge.