What is the Debt Arrangement Scheme (DAS) in Scotland?
Scotland’s DAS does something no English solution offers: full legal protection while you repay in full. Where repayment itself is unrealistic, the Minimal Asset Process is the write-off route an adviser will consider.
How it works
An approved money adviser builds a Debt Payment Programme from your budget; once approved, it becomes legally binding. Interest and charges freeze from approval and are waived entirely on completion. There is no minimum or maximum debt, no set time limit — a programme runs as long as full repayment at your affordable rate takes — and a payment distributor spreads each payment across your creditors. Arrived here looking for a DRO or an IVA? Scotland has neither — here is the DRO equivalent and here is the IVA one.
The comparison that matters
DAS repays everything; a Protected Trust Deed usually runs 48 months and writes off what remains. That is the real Scottish choice, and it turns on whether full repayment at an affordable rate finishes in sensible time — arithmetic an approved adviser will run with you. DAS also protects the assets a Trust Deed or sequestration puts in play, which is why homeowners look at it first.
How long can DAS last?
As long as full repayment at your affordable rate takes — there is no fixed term and no maximum. That open horizon is the honest trade for total protection: a programme can run well beyond a Trust Deed’s 48 months, and the decision usually turns on whether that length is worth what DAS protects.
Can homeowners use DAS?
Yes — and it is the reason many do. A Debt Payment Programme touches no assets: the home sits outside it entirely, which neither a Trust Deed nor sequestration can promise. For a Scottish homeowner with equity, DAS versus Trust Deed is usually the whole decision.
If your circumstances change
Programmes flex by variation: payments can be reduced, payment breaks applied for (including on a crisis basis), and the term extends to absorb them. A programme can be revoked for unremedied non-payment — the protection is conditional on the programme being kept honest, and the approved money adviser stays involved throughout.
How do you apply for DAS?
Through an approved money adviser — free across Scotland — who builds the Debt Payment Programme from your budget and submits it under Accountant in Bankruptcy oversight. Creditors can object; the fair-and-reasonable test decides. You cannot apply directly yourself, which in practice is a feature: the adviser’s involvement is what makes the programme stick.
Not a Scottish DMP
A Debt Management Plan is informal: interest freezes are at each creditor’s discretion and creditors can still sue. DAS is law — the freeze and the protection are statutory. If you live in Scotland and are comparing the two, that difference is the entire point.