I received a frantic call from someone who had filed a consumer proposal with me in July 2006. For the ease of this story, I will call him Joe (not his real name).

Under the terms of that consumer proposal, Joe had offered to pay $24,000 and the creditors accepted the consumer proposal. Joe has continued to make the required payments for the past 3 years, but unfortunately early this year, illness stuck a family member and the family income has substantially decreased.

I reviewed the options with Joe. Although he could file for bankruptcy, I suggested that he amend his consumer proposal. He has already paid a large portion of the consumer proposal and it was possible that his creditors would agree to an amendment considering the change in circumstances.

Joe had paid $17,000 to date and an amendment to his proposal was filed asking his creditors to accept the money paid to date and no further payments. Joe had nothing to lose by making this offer. If the creditors rejected it, he still had the option of filing for bankruptcy.

The creditors agreed to the amendment, and Joe avoided having to file for bankruptcy. As you can imagine, Joe is happy now that he can concentrate of helping his family while avoiding bankruptcy.

If situations change after you file a consumer proposal is it important to keep us informed. As you can read from Joe’s experience there may be options available to help you.