Richard you write, You can keep your home in Ontario as well, provided that you pay the equity to your trustee.

How do you pay the equity to the trustee? Would you not have to sell your home in order to do that?

You can keep your home in Ontario as well, provided that you pay the equity to your trustee.

I'm sure the rule is the same in NS; as I understand it the bankruptcy act is regulated at the federal level.

I know in Nova Scotia you can keep your home if you file for bankruptcy. I would ask a bankruptcy trustee in your province if it's the same.

That’s a great article Matt, thanks for posting. Very well read.

Just to add to that, in order to qualify for a consumer proposal or bankruptcy, you must be insolvent. What that means is you owe more then you own. That’s pretty much why mortgage lenders view bankruptcy and consumer proposals as the same thing. People that fall into the proposal category usually do so because they have more in the way of assets and/or income (home, car, money, RSP, GIC’s etc.)

If you are a homeowner, debt settlement is a great alternative to the Trustee administered plans where you loose total control of your finances to the Trustee. For example we have had many mortgage agents arrange equity take outs of the home with a second mortgage and our office settles all the debts for less then what was owed with those proceeds. If it was a consumer proposal situation, the mortgage lender would not have lent on that deal.

So that’s one major disadvantage to a proposal if you are a homeowner. Conversely formal consumer proposals do have some advantages over an informal one like debt settlement.

Those looking at bankruptcy might want to check out this article as well for more info: Filing Bankruptcy in Canada and What You Need to Know

Thank-you