A new Debt Management Plan (DMP) Protocol has been launched by Consumer Affairs Minister, Jo Swinson. This new protocol is designed to make sure that consumers have the correct advice and all charges are clearly explained when they are considering debt management plans and more importantly the providers of these services. At the moment commercial debt management companies charge the customer a fee to administer their debt management plans. The customer normally makes one payment which the debt management company then splits between the individual creditors. At this point an administration fee is then taken by the debt management company to cover their services. The new protocol is designed to ensure that the consumer is made aware of the “free of charge”