Before you start
US consumer debt management plans. The calendar checks entered cash events; it does not obtain creditor acceptance or change contractual payment dates.
1. Identify what was actually declined
A creditor may reject participation, a proposed concession or a particular payment amount. Ask which applies and whether the agency is still seeking an answer. A pending request is not acceptance. Confirm using the creditor’s established contact channel. Keep the latest statement and the agency’s reply together, with dates. CFPB guidance calls for creditor acceptance checks before sending payments to a counseling organization.
2. Separate the debt from the agency transfer
Request the revised amount going to the agency, its fee and each creditor allocation. Separately record the excluded account’s current payment and due date. Do not assume removing one account automatically reduces the agency fee or cancels an existing transfer. Ask who must change instructions and when. Avoid counting both an agency transfer and its onward creditor distributions as separate cash leaving your household.
3. Check the next cash dates
Enter opening cash and up to eight income or payment events. Include the revised agency transfer, excluded-debt payment and essential bills that affect this period. On the same day, the calendar puts payments before income conservatively. An unknown amount stops the running balance; an undated item remains separate and incomplete. The result covers only entered events, so it cannot establish that a whole month or year is affordable if bills are missing.
4. Ask for a workable revision
Show the counselor any shortfall and ask about a revised arrangement or alternatives. You can ask the excluded creditor about hardship terms directly, but do not budget an unapproved reduction as fact. Keep current obligations visible while seeking instructions. Ask how partial participation changes the proposal’s term, total fees and remaining debt. If court papers arrive, get legal help on that separate process; plan discussions do not pause a court deadline.
Fictional example: check the documents
Fictional opening cash on September 1 is $500. An agency transfer of $300 on September 2 leaves $200. The excluded creditor’s $160 payment on September 3 leaves $40. An essential $90 bill on September 4 produces −$50 before $600 income arrives September 5, bringing the entered balance to $550.
The earlier version omitted the $160 payment and appeared to stay positive. The corrected calendar exposes a $50 timing gap. It does not approve delaying the creditor payment; the household takes the dates to the counselor and creditor for confirmed options.
Before you finish
- Creditor-specific acceptance or refusal evidence
- Revised agency amount, fee and allocations
- Excluded debt’s statement and due date
- Opening cash, income and essential bill dates
- Written instructions for any changed arrangement
My preparation notes
All notes are optional. Use labels such as Debt A and Document B. Keep identifying records, account numbers and tax IDs outside this page.
Entries are optional and stay in this page's memory. This worksheet does not send or save them. Use generic account labels and document labels. Do not enter account numbers, Social Security numbers, PINs, access codes, passwords, names or addresses, and do not upload documents. Downloading or printing creates a copy you control.
Take the complete payment list and timing gap to the counselor before relying on the revised plan.
Combine up to eight dated income and installment entries
Enter cash available at the start of the opening date, before the listed transactions. Add actual income availability dates and payment due dates from your records. Include other known cash needs if you want them reflected. Use generic labels such as Payment A; the tool does not connect to a bank or payment provider.
Amounts use exact cents. On the same date, all payments are deducted before any income is added, then entries keep their original order within each type. This conservative assumption can show a temporary shortage even when income arrives first; verify actual availability. An unknown amount makes that row and every later running balance unknown. Undated entries appear separately and cannot be placed in the running balance. A blank amount is unknown, not zero.
Enter actual dates as YYYY-MM-DD. If a date is unknown, leave it blank; do not invent one. Dates are calendar dates, with no time zone or time-of-day comparison. This record does not calculate a legal deadline or schedule reminders.
Amounts are US dollars: use a point and at most two decimal places, without commas or currency symbols. Enter 0 only when confirmed; blank is unknown where allowed. Each amount may be at most $1 billion. Only a calendar’s opening cash may be negative. Rates and dates follow the labels of the particular model.
Questions you may have
Does refusal cancel the whole DMP?
That depends on the provider’s agreement and the remaining creditors. Ask for a revised written proposal and assess all payments together.
Can I simply stop paying the excluded debt?
A DMP request does not remove the obligation. Verify current terms and seek an accepted arrangement; do not treat an unanswered request as permission to miss payment.