Your monthly payment will be based on your disposable income. This is what you are left with after you take away your reasonable monthly living expenses (excluding your debts) from your monthly income.
----------------------------------
Debt Management Companies :- http://www.impartialdebtadvice.co.uk

Nevermind... a consolidation order in ontario is only after you have judgements against you.

Yup... when you search "consolidation order ontario" you find that, while the OPD through the bankruptcy act is available only those provinces, Ontario has a consolidation order handled differently.

Are you sure Ang? I just checked Google and found this paragraph pasted below from a Bankruptcy site in Ontario:

" OPD is available only in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia. If you live in one of these provinces, an OPD program (also known as a “consolidation order”) may be a suitable solution to your debt problems. (Manitoba and British Columbia had OPD programs, but have cancelled them.) "

Also it's a debt help plan offered by Trustee's in bankruptcy or Credit Counsellors, depending on the location in Canada. So it will take an extended timeframe compared to bankruptcy or debt settlement to resolve the debt with no reduction in the principal or freeze in interest.

Yes, you can negotiate a settlement by yourself.

Nope, your options are pretty much"

- Consumer proposal... I believe usually done through a credit counselling agency and does not have to be accepted by the creditor

- Bankruptcy in which the creditors have no say, but can affect you for a long time.

- Consolidation order which does have to be accepted by the creditors and drops off your bureau in three years.

- Negotiate with your creditors yourself. The downside to the negotiations if you are looking to settle is that often they will not negotiate on a caught up account... and letting it go affects you as long as a bankruptcy. They will usually work with you on collecting the full amount and may be enticed to not report you as R-9, but will not likely settle for less on a current account.

- Hire somebody to negotiate for you. The above disadvantages apply, plus it costs you money for fees. They may, however, be able to obtain a lower settlement just through experience. On the other hand, they could be fly by nighters who charge you crazy amounts of money and achieve nothing.

Thanks for all the advice guys.

I think a settlement is what I'm looking for, as it won't be as bad as bankruptcy and I can get rid of the debt sooner than I would consolidating it. Does a settlement fall off my credit report after 3 years? I guess the R9 (from it eventually going to collection agencies) remains for 6 years regardless though, am I right?

I've looked into total debt freedom, but the one thing that has detered me is the service fees involved in the contract... 15% of the total debt is quite a bit. Hence why I was wondering if I could negotiate a settlement myself...or are there any other options?

... and a quick search confirms that an orderly payment of debts (or consolidation order) IS in fact available in Ontario.

Yup... and with no security, they have an even more vested interest in working with you as they don't have really have any aces to hit you with other than a collection agency.

Both Ang and Drunk are right, it wont hurt to take a stab at calling them.

The worst they could do is say "no". Let us know how it goes.

Car loans are secured, thats different so as Ang pointed out the bank is usually more interested in keeping you as a client in the car, rather then repo'ing the car and selling it at an auction for less then the value of the loan.

Yes, with my car loan.. both through the bank when I qualified for their funding, and the high risk people when I bought a car after trashing my credit. And, no, I was not up to date with either when I called, although I did manage to get all of the debt, in both occasions, paid off without going to collections.

The bank's attitude is "they'd rather rework the loan terms than lose the money/take the vehicle etc." After it goes to collections some banks will recall the collection so long as it is only assigned. Some will not. Once it is sold, they cannot.

Most banks will work with you if they can.

My approach would be to contact all creditors, including the ones caught up, to get on the hardship program. It will reduce all payments to free up cash.

Some banks will do a consolidation loan at reasonable interest if your history with them is good. Again, it depends upon the bank, your relationship with them, and their lending policies and how much leeway the loans officers have.

Declaring bankruptcy is an option and, depending on your circumstances, can seem like a relief. But it will trash your credit for a long time afterwards, although possibly no longer than trying to muddle through on your own... and secured credit cards can go a long way towards helping you recover. Both bankruptcies and charge offs remain for 6 years after last payment or discharge

One final option, depending on which province you live in, is a court ordered "orderly payment of debts" order. In that, you take your debts in front of a judge and they set up a repayment plan for you... court ordered. Not all provinces offer this option, though. I'm not sure if Ontario does. I believe reference to that can be found in the bankruptcy act, including which provinces have opted in. The major advantage to this is that, I believe, this one drops off your report in three years after completion.