What is a Consumer Debt Management Programme?

Credit Counselling Singapore (CCS) facilitates repayment arrangements on behalf of suitable debt-distressed borrowers under the Debt Management Programme to enable them to repay unsecured debts such as credit card, credit line and personal loan accounts, to creditors in full.

The Debt Management Programme (DMP) is a formal consumer debt restructuring agreement facilitated by CCS with major consumer banks and credit card issuers in Singapore, represented by The Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS).

If you have sufficient payment capacity, as assessed by the Credit Counsellor during credit counselling, you may wish to repay your creditors through a DMP.

On your behalf, CCS will prepare a DMP Proposal and Repayment Schedule, to fully repay each creditor in affordable monthly instalments, at a reduced interest rate and over a reasonable period, until the debts have been fully settled.

The repayment proposal will include paying off all unsecured personal debts that have been incurred with banks and/or credit cards issuers - credit cards, credit lines or overdrafts, personal loans, renovation loans, study loans.

The proposed monthly instalment amounts are within your payment capacity, after setting aside expenses for yourself and your family, and based on the budget that has been drawn up with the Credit Counsellor.

You commence payments to each creditor in accordance with the DMP Repayment Schedule only after creditors have accepted and approve the DMP Proposal. The approval of DMPs as well as the specific terms and conditions of the agreement is at the sole discretion of individual creditors. CCS will inform you via email on the outcome of creditors decision.

You will be invited to attend an Onboarding Session to receive a briefing on what to expect, how to set up payments and guidance on how to manage your money.

Our Debt Servicing and Support (DSS) team will provide you with support, guidance, and talks / workshops on improving financial knowledge, maintaining mental and emotional wellbeing.

Upon successful completion of DMP, you will be invited to attend a DMP Graduates Workshop on rebuilding credit worthiness.

While on a DMP, all existing credit cards and unsecured facilities will be cancelled.

The individual’s status of being on a DMP will be reported to Credit Bureau Singapore (CBS). You credit report will show that you have been placed on a Debt Management Programme with CCS.

Creditors are not likely to approve application of future credit or loan.

Please note that credit reports are only accessible by the individuals themselves and financial institutions (for the purpose of assessing credit worthiness). An individual’s credit report is not publicly available information.

When you have reached full settlement with all creditors and inform CCS, we will report the completion status to CBS for the DMP status to be removed, and you may then gradually rebuild your credit worthiness

The Debt Management Programme (DMP) is meant to provide debt relief to overly indebted borrowers. The general criteria to be on a DMP are as follows:

1.    Have unsecured debts of $10,000 or more.
2.   Have unsecured debts owing to two or more creditors.
3.   Have been assessed to have sufficient payment capacity to repay all unsecured debts fully within a reasonable time.