Being an individual

You must meet these 2 conditions:

1. Be a Frenchman domiciled in France or abroad, or be a foreigner domiciled in France
2. Be of age or emancipated minor

If you own your principal residence (home):

Your application cannot be rejected on the grounds that you own your principal residence, even if its value would allow you to pay off all or part of your debts.

When you live in a couple (marriage, Civil partnerships, cohabitation), you have 3 possibilities :

• You can file a file with 2, in common (this solution is to be preferred if you have debts in common).
• You can each file your own file (if there are debts common to the couple, you will have to indicate and justify how the burdens are shared within your couple).
• You can file a file on your own, on your behalf (if there are debts common to the couple, you will have to indicate and justify how the burdens are shared within your couple).

If you are married and you are the only one to file a file:

• At the time of filing, you are the only one registered with the National Personal Credit Reimbursement Incident File (PPIF).
• When the case is declared admissible, only seizures against you are suspended. The creditor of your spouse may request the seizure of his or her property or of property that you have in common. But if you and your husband have common debts, the suspension you are given prevents the seizure of the common property.
• When the measures to deal with over-indebtedness are applied, you are the only beneficiary. As a result, creditors can claim from your spouse the payment of the debts you have in common with him.

Being in debt

These may be expenses that you have not paid or cannot pay.

As a result, you can file an over-indebtedness file:

• if you can't pay off your debts
• or if you know that soon you will not be able to pay your expenses (example: invoice). For example, you know you're going to be unemployed and you don't have a job offer.

But only everyday expenses (debts that meet personal and/or family needs) are eligible for the debt overhang file:

• Bank debt: mortgage maturities, consumer loan maturities, overdrafts
• Current expenditure: rent arrears, unpaid bills (water, gas, electricity, telephone), tax arrears, ...
• Debts that exist because you have taken out the security of an individual (example: rental deposit) or a company (individual contractor or business)

Other debts are not taken into account in the over-indebtedness procedure or are treated differently:

• Professional debts, i.e. debts directly or indirectly connected with the professional activity pursued
• Maintenance debts (maintenance payments)
• Damages awarded to victims in connection with a criminal conviction
• Penal fines

To be of "good faith"

You have to be of good faith, that is to say not having made it impossible to pay your debts and to make a sincere declaration of over-indebtedness.

To complete your case, you can be assisted by a social worker present at the CCAS: titleContent, the mayor's office, in a budget advice point, at the Caf: titleContent, in your HLM office ... In this case, enter the name and contact information of this person in your file.

It is also possible to request information or make an appointment with the Banque de France via the internet:

Request for information or appointment at the Banque de France

The folder should contain the following documents:

• Form cerfa n°13594 to be printed and filled in

Declaration of over-indebtedness

• Proof of identity, resources, expenditure, debts and assets
  One list of supporting documents is available.

• Letter signed to quickly explain your current situation and the causes of your debt overhang. In particular, indicate the seizures in progress of the property or income and, if necessary, the ongoing eviction procedure.

Letter to be attached to the debt distress file

After sending (or filing) your file, you remain obliged to pay your current expenses (food, rent, ...) and to reimburse your credits. The filing of your file takes the form of a certificate of deposit sent to you by simple mail.

Certificate of deposit

After the transmission of your file, a certificate of deposit is sent to you by simple letter within a period of 2 working days.

The following information shall be included in the certificate:

• Number assigned to your debt distress report
• Contact details (telephone switchboard) of the commission that will examine your file
• Date of submission of your file. As of that date, the commission has three months to consider whether your file is admissible and what solutions are possible.

Suspension of certain seizures

If you have requested it in your file, certain execution procedures (seizures, ...) may be suspended.

Enrollment in Credit Incident File

The lodging of the file shall entail the applicant's entry in the National Personal Credit Refund Incident File (FICP).

Being an individual

These 2 conditions must be met:

1. Be a Frenchman domiciled in France or abroad, or be a foreigner domiciled in France
2. And not to engage in independent professional activity, that is to say not to be a farmer, a craftsman, a trader, a liberal profession or a micro-entrepreneur (self-employed person). Indeed, these professionals are part of a specific procedure. However, a micro-entrepreneur may benefit from the debt distress procedure if he waives this status before the debt distress commission examines his file.

If you own your principal residence (home):

Your application cannot be rejected on the grounds that you own your principal residence, even if its value would allow you to pay off all or part of your debts.

If you live as a couple (Civil partnerships, cohabiting)

When you live as a couple, you can:

• file a file with 2, in common (this solution is preferred if you have debts in common)
• or each file your own file (if there are debts common to the couple, you will have to indicate and justify how the burdens are shared within your couple)
• or file a single file on your behalf (if there are debts common to the couple, you will have to indicate and justify how the burdens are shared within your couple).

If you live in Alsace-Moselle

You can file a file for over-indebtedness with the Banque de France and engage a civil bankruptcy procedure specific to the inhabitants of Alsace-Moselle, because the two devices coexist.

Being in debt

These may be expenses that you have not paid or cannot pay.

As a result, you can file an over-indebtedness file:

• if you can't pay off your debts
• or as soon as you know that you will no longer be able to pay your expenses (e.g. bill) in the near future. For example, you know you're going to be unemployed and you don't have a job offer.

But only everyday expenses (debts that meet personal and/or family needs) are eligible for the debt overhang file:

• Bank debt: mortgage maturities, consumer loan maturities, overdrafts
• Current expenditure: rent arrears, unpaid bills (water, gas, electricity, telephone), tax arrears, ...
• Debts arising from a given guarantee to an individual or a company (individual contractor or business)

Other debts are excluded from the over-indebtedness procedure or are dealt with in special ways:

• Professional debts, i.e. debts directly or indirectly connected with the professional activity pursued
• Maintenance debt (alimony)
• Damages awarded to victims in connection with a criminal conviction
• Penal fines

To be of "good faith"

You have to be of good faith, which means:

• not having organized your insolvency (e.g. signing one or more loans with the intention of not repaying)
• and make a sincere declaration of debt distress.

To complete your case, you can be assisted by a social worker present at the CCAS: titleContent, the mayor's office, in a budget advice point, at the Caf: titleContent, in your HLM office ... In this case, enter the name and contact information of this person in your file.

It is also possible to request information or make an appointment with the Banque de France via the internet:

Request for information or appointment at the Banque de France

The folder should contain the following documents:

• Cerfa Form No. 13594

Declaration of over-indebtedness

• Proof of identity, resources, expenditure, debts and assets
  One list of supporting documents is available.

• Letter signed to quickly explain your current situation and the causes of your debt overhang. In particular, indicate the seizures in progress of the property or income and, if necessary, the ongoing eviction procedure.

Letter to be attached to the debt distress file

After sending (or filing) your file, you remain obliged to pay your current expenses (food, rent, ...) and to reimburse your credits. The filing of your file takes the form of a certificate of deposit sent to you by simple mail.

Certificate of deposit

After the transmission of your file, a certificate of deposit is sent to you by simple letter within a period of 2 working days.

The following information shall be included in the certificate:

• Number assigned to your debt distress report
• Contact details (telephone switchboard) of the commission that will examine your file
• Date of submission of your file. As of that date, the commission has three months to consider whether your file is admissible and what solutions are possible.

Suspension of certain seizures

If you have requested it in your file, certain execution procedures (seizures, ...) may be suspended.

Enrollment in Credit Incident File

The lodging of the file shall entail the applicant's entry in the National Personal Credit Refund Incident File (FICP).