Oral Answer by SPS Sim Ann to Parliamentary Question on Bankrupts

28 FEB 2012

28 Feb 2012 Posted in Parliamentary speeches and responses

Mrs Lina Chiam, Non-Constituency Member

Question
To ask the Minister for Law for the past two years, what is the number of bankrupts who are sent for debt restructuring schemes and the number who are discharged from bankruptcy.

Answer

  1. Sir, Mrs Chiam asks for the number of bankrupts who are sent for “debt restructuring schemes”. I take it that Mrs Chiam is referring to the Debt Repayment Scheme (or “DRS”) under Part 5A of the Bankruptcy Act.

  2. The DRS was introduced in 2009 to allow debtors with regular incomes and debts not exceeding $100,000, an opportunity to avoid bankruptcy by paying off all or some of their debts through a repayment plan. In 2010 and 2011, 274 debtors in total were placed on the DRS. Of these, 7 have completed the scheme while 29 fell out of the scheme as they did not adhere to the repayment plan. The remaining 238 are still on the scheme.

  3. Sir, Mrs Chiam also asks for the number of bankrupts who were discharged from bankruptcy in the past two years. In 2010, 2,252 bankrupts were discharged from bankruptcy. In 2011, the number was 1,391.

Last updated on 25 Nov 2012