Hi everyone,
Looking for some advice as drowning at the moment and just feel the constant worry is a dark cloud over me daily. I have £65k of unsecured debt - mixture of loans/credit cards. This is a bitter pill to swallow as i have always had excellent credit rating and been measured with any debt throughout my life. My credit score was in and around 989 Experian score for years, I have never missed payments etc and can’t believe I have managed to fall into this level of debt so quickly. I am also a company director for my own company and cost of living crisis is the sole reason I am in this situation. However, I have fought long enough and have to sort this mess out never to return to it. I have most of my debt on 0% transfers, however, a number of offers have now ended and I am starting to pay interest on them which is astronomical. I can’t get anymore borrowing in order to shift the debt around. I am now looking at around £2k per month to debt which i have been sustaining. However, it is not sustainable long term as my business is increasingly facing more and more challenges due to the cost of living crisis and i need to tighten my belt further. It is a very successful business during normal times, and am confident it will return to that. However, this is a storm I will need to ride out for some years to come before there is any recovery.
About me:
Gross monthly pay - £2500
Car - none in my name/with any finance
One Mortgage that is a property rented out. No equity in it.
Current home is mortgaged but in partners sole name.
Debt - 65k mixture of unsecured loans/credit cards with MBNA (one loan + one credit card), Virgin (credit card), Halifax (credit card), BOS (Loan + credit card) with monthly payments around £2k every month.
A few questions:
1. Is a trust deed a suitable option for me? And if so what would my roughly monthly payment be and over how long?
2. I have noticed on the creditor apps that there is a section to offer help in the form of either giving a payment break or a repayment plan. Is this something i should be exploring first of all before looking at a trust deed? I take it the minute I approach this with creditors, this will adversely affect my credit rating by taking on one of these plans and would maybe result in the account being closed down afterwards?
3. Can I continue to be a company director for my business? I am the decision maker and owner.
4. All of this debt has accumulated in the past year and over recent months - will this affect creditors agreeing to a trust deed?
5. At the end of the 6 year period, will i be able to (once I have worked at building positive credit again) be able to get a mortgage/another card? Or will i forever now be faced with higher interest rates for all credit options due to trust deed history.
Any advice greatly appreciated - so glad this forum is here! I feel less alone.
Thanks for reading.
Thanks for your post, Sa1976. It isn't easy to reach out for advice and I am glad you have done so as I am sure we can help. You certainly shouldn't give yourself a hard time for finding yourself in this situation as it can so easily happen when circumstances get more challenging. As you would imagine there are very many people out there in a similar boat just now.
The main goal has to be to find a sustainable solution that allows you to overcome this difficulty within a reasonable timescale so that you can move out from under your dark cloud. That kind of daily pressure can be very detrimental to a person's health and wellbeing.
To take your specific questions in turn:
1) A Trust Deed may well be the solution that you are looking for, though is not necessarily the only option you have. Any good debt adviser would take you through all of the options so that you can choose the one you feel suits you best. How much you would have to pay is based purely on your budget. You would be promising to pay whatever you can afford once all reasonable living costs have been taken account of. It is therefore impossible to give you a clear answer to this without going through your budget with you. A public forum is probably not the best place to do that so I would encourage you to contact us directly and we would be happy to run through that with you offline.
The usual time period for payments into a Trust Deed is 4 years, though it can sometimes be longer if necessary - usually if there are any assets to account for and extra payments are offered to creditors in order that these can be left alone (eg your property may fall into this category, though not necessarily if there is no equity).
2) Payment breaks are only really useful for temporary cashflow issues but don't generally provide a sustainable solution to a debt problem. A repayment plan may be an option worth looking at, however it can be difficult organising this yourself with various different creditors. You are usually better to get advice based on your whole situation first and then decide whether dealing with creditors individually is your preference. As a Scottish resident you may be eligible for the Debt Arrangement Scheme, which is a form of repayment plan but where all of your debts are dealt with as one and you get other protections along with it. We would always advise on this option too, alongside the Trust Deed route.
3) Yes, you can usually continue to act as a company director in a Trust Deed, as long as it is not prohibited by the comapny's articles of association (these can always be amended beforehand if necessary).
4) No, in my experience this is unlikely to cause any problems when seeking to set up a Trust Deed and is in fact most often the case.
5) After 6 years the debts and the Trust Deed will disappear from you credit file, so should not cause any longer-lasting negative effects for your creditworthiness. It is possible that lenders who you have debts with currently may keep a record on their own system if you go through a Trust Deed and therefore may not be willing to offer you further credit in future, however this doesn't seem to be the case with most lenders as far as I can tell.
I hope that is useful for you. As I said, please don't hesitate to message me or one of the other experts on the site directly if you would like to get more detailed advice tailored to your specific circumstances. We'd be happy to help.
@kevin-mapstone Hi Kevin,
Thanks for the prompt reply. Really useful info and advice. Very much appreciated.
Just a few more questions if that is ok.
1. During the 6 years, the things that I won’t be able to get are; a mortgage, further credit ie loan/credit card etc, car finance, mobile phone finance - anything I have missed?
2. Will a trust deed affect travelling abroad/overseas? This may be a stupid question but one I want to check.
3. If decided this was the best route forward, how long does it take to put into place and how many more payments would you roughly pay before the new monthly payment would be in place?
4. Once creditors have been notified and the new monthly payment is in place, will I receive hassle in the form of letters? If so, how long would this be for roughly please?
5. Re property that has no equity in it, would a valuation etc need to be carried out to verify this or would they be able to verify that without this?
Understand re the monthly payment. I really appreciate all your help and feel a bit better about finding a solution.
Thanks.
Good afternoon
In response to your questions.
1. During the period of your Trust Deed you will be unable to obtain a mortgage, or incur any further credit via loans or credit cards. While it is not impossible to obtain car finance/mobile phone finance if this is something that is already within your agreed budgeted expenditure then you will be expected to obtain like for like payments so that there is no impact on your payments towards the Trust Deed.
2. A Trust Deed will not affect travelling abroad/overseas for holidays.
3/4 Setting up a Trust Deed depends on the complexity of the case but if all information is made readily available to your Insolvency Practioner and your financial situation has been evaluated and your monthly contribution payment to creditors decided then a Trust Deed proposal can be drafted within a week and sent to you for signing and approval.
Your Trust Deed proposal is sent to your creditors. Creditors then have a period of 5 weeks within which they can raise objections. A Trust Deed becomes protected if that period passes and there are not sufficient objections. Your first contribution payment towards your Trust Deed is usually after the Trust Deed becomes Protected.
You will still receive reminder letters/emails etc until all creditors have been notified that you have entered into a Trust Deed. It is important to keep in touch with the Trustees office regarding any reminder letters etc as creditors can sell on debts very quickly. Your Trustees office will administer and deal with creditors on your behalf.
5. A valuation would be required to be carried out for the property and an up to date redemption figure from the mortgage company in order to establish if there is any equity.
I hope that this helps but feel free to contact me if you would like further clarification.
Debt Adviser & Forum Administrator - Ask me anything about Trust Deeds