Trust Deed expenditure guidelines

What is the Common Financial Tool?

Since 2015, payments made into a protected trust deed in Scotland have been worked out using the Common Financial Tool. This tool is also used to work out payments into sequestration (Scottish bankruptcy) and debt arrangement schemes (DAS). They are not necessarily applied to a more informal debt management plan in Scotland.

The Common Financial Tool has been introduced to improve consistency and fairness. Debtors and their families should benefit from being assigned sufficient money to be able to manage their household bills and other reasonable expenditure. Creditors should benefit by being paid what the debtor can reasonably afford to pay.

It is mandatory for advisers to use this tool when calculating payments into formal debt solutions in Scotland.

You will be asked to provide details of your income, your household bills, your other regular expenses, and also the assets that you own. In certain instances you might be asked to provide back-up to confirm these figures – for example payslips, bank statements and utility bills.