Hi Steve, when I completed my review form, I just filled the new one up to keep them happy - it shouldn't take you long anyway. My outings had gone up a little by £20 or £30 but my repayment stayed the same. Ideally my advice for anyone starting a trust deed would be to make sure their agreed contributions can be manageable as 3 years can be a long time to start with.

Hi I photocopied mine and just use the figures off that to complete it unless there is a big change in income. They shouldn't ask for bank statements due to data protection,just wage slips.

Hi steve1984.

There are two types of expenditure really.

The first is bills that really "are what they are". This might include your mortgage or rent, council tax, and direct debits for things like gas and electricity. These should be entered as they are not least because they'll appear as such on your bank statement.

The second is things that you'll spend different amounts on each month, or only buy from, time to time. Allowances are made for these things. Food and clothing would be two good examples of regular spend like this. Car repairs would be a good example of a spend that only occurs from time to time.

These will not be checked too closely against your bank statement. They're allowances that are there for you to manage.

So... if the bill entries are accurate and you're finding the allowances manageable there probably isn't too much need to change the figures much?

To clear up the point from debs, your trustee is absolutely entitled to request copy bank statements from you. There is no data protection issue with this. If someone fails to hand them over the trustee can go directly to their client's bank to get copies.

Must have it wrong sorry. When I was asked to send bank statements in to my trustee due to no wage slips I was told to black all the transactions out due to data protection.

Hi debs.

I think every firm will take their own view on precisely what they expect with bank statements and the frequency at which they might choose to review them.

Firms also interpret data protection responsibilities in slightly different ways as well.

Why are most things on it inaccurate?

Paul

Paul.......

Ive cancelled sky, switched energy provider, reduced other stuff etc. So if i put it all in accurately i appear to have lots spare. But i dont. Each month is break even. So i would be happt just to sign off as it is. It seems a pointless exercise just increasing other expenses just to try get it to add up to the same. my point is if no wage rise then should just be an option of carry on as before instead of manipulating figures etc. Otherwise twhats the point of cancelling sky etc

Hi steve1984.

I guess the answer to that depends upon the view that your trustee takes if they review your expenditure sheet against your bank statement.

If certain bills no longer exist, or have reduced, they may take the view that your contribution might have to increase. If the difference isn't significant they may let it go on the grounds that other expenses are likely to have crept up.

I can appreciate this might not seem like it makes a lot of sense, but trustees are constrained by the amount that creditors will allow to be spent in certain areas.

The income and expenditure is sometimes the hardest thing to get right as we need to work within guidelines for minimum and maximums and also try to take in account of contingencies, etc.

In my experience there is normally a rise in ongoing costs ie petrol, food, gas, electricity etc and the form you have should be used as a guide only. If there has been increases, then you should show these however as you say, if there has been no wage increase, it is unlikely the contribution will rise.

Mark

Hi Steve1984,

The income and expenditure can be tricky especially when it comes to your first couple after you have entered into your Trust Deed.

If you are concerned about what to put give your relationship manager a call and ask to work through it with them over the phone. You can even make an appointment to drop into their office to go over the review form.

Some clients I deal with they can be nervous and unsure when it comes to completing the form and as a result they like to come into my office for 15 ÔÇô 20 mins to complete it with me. I'm sure it's the tea/coffee and good selection of biscuits that we have in our meeting rooms that they really come in for.

Mmmmmmm .... biscuits

Coming back to the topic,I have my first review pending at 6 months (5 payments now made) and I am a tad nervous about it also.. Simply as I have not done one before and have no idea what to expect.

My wages change monthly due to a monthly bonus and our outgoings change monthly due to lots of different things (Fuel, Food, Car expenses for repairs, nursery costs etc). My wife's salary is fairly static but has been lower than expected for the past 5 months by a small margin.

To try and combat some of my worry around my wages we have been sending my wage slips in monthly to my administrator at RMS. They way we should all be on the same page with what I am getting in salary.

Expenses wise, we will be using our original expenses as a guide to ensure I am allowing for everything which was originally allowed for when entering into the TD. I will then factor in any new or increased expenses. I will also print out statements for the back to support this where possible (although as we now manage most spending where possible in cash, as this gives us a greater control over what we are spending in real time, this may not be as clear as might be desired by our administrator).

We are with RMS Tenon for our PTD's and they have been very helpful with anything and everything up to date so I am hopeful the review process will continue in the same manor.

I am sure that there will be no problem, colski. Income/expenditure reviews aren't an exact science, but as long as people are being up front and highlighting any issues then reviews invariably go very smoothly indeed.

I kept a photocopy of all my reviews. I always updated the "bills" as stated above to keep them accurate to my bank statements and if thst meant I has spent £10 less on gas and electricity I made sure my kids clothing or food expenditure increased by £10.
I would worry that if you didn't they could increase your trust deed payment by the amount you are saving not paying sky etc.