Debt management is a growing need in Ottawa, as it is across the country. The average Canadian’s owing/earning ratio is pushing 1.67/1; we don’t see living costs lowering any time soon, and we certainly don’t see wage values increasing.

If you need help dealing with your debt, your first call should be to us. Our trained debt management professionals have been serving the Ottawa region for over three decades. We’ll present you with your options and create a plan to help you regain your financial health and your confidence.

Option 1: Consumer Proposal
Being bombarded by collections calls and letters from creditors is like being consistently smacked in the face. Ottawa debt consolidation experts will all promise to make it go away. What they don’t tell you is that you have to qualify for them — and you probably won’t.

But since creditors would rather recoup some of their money than write it all off, a consumer proposal would be your best course of action.

The proposal in question would be made by us to your creditors to reduce the amount you owe — sometimes by as much as 70%. When an arrangement is made, interest charges stop, you owe what you owe and you agree to pay it back over a relatively short period of time.

What can you pay off with a consumer proposal?
Unsecured debt. This includes credit card balances, lines of credit, income tax and student loans if you’ve been out of school for over seven years. Secured debt like mortgages and car loans don’t qualify.

Option 2: Bankruptcy
This is a last option. You’d do this when you have neither the money to pay what you owe nor the means to get it anytime soon. We’ve been helping people in Ottawa go through this difficult process quickly, with dignity and with a plan for the future.

Beware Ottawa’s Debt Settlement companies.
If you don’t qualify for a debt consolidation and you haven’t yet reached a proposal, you may be approached by a debt settlement company that will offer to negotiate a deal with your creditors en masse. In exchange, you’d pay them monthly to collect a lump-sum amount that would eventually be dispersed among your creditors.

Because debt settlement companies aren’t licenced, if you paid them their fees this morning and they disappeared this afternoon, you’d have no recourse. Also, while they work out a deal to bind your creditors together, the money you give them will be held in escrow and not used to pay off your debts — so you’d still be accruing more debt.

Instead, look for an LIT who can help you right your ship.

Why Doyle Salewski?
We’re one of Eastern Ontario’s most experienced debt management firms, negotiating debt consolidations and consumer proposals in Ottawa since 1996. Today we have clients across Ontario and Quebec.

We’re compassionate, understanding, easy to work with and mindful of the communities we serve, evidenced by our commitment to charitable work (28 organizations and counting).

And we offer a free comprehensive introductory financial analysis and consultation so we can come to the table with ideas the moment you retain us. Call us first for Ottawa management solutions at 613-237-5555.