Notifications
Clear all
Scottish Trust Deed Forum
2
Posts
2
Users
0
Reactions
1,401
Views
Topic starter
02/10/2010 9:23 am
If I'm being honest, it's a week and a bit, but I liked the dramatic effect of the title.
I would love to say it's been really unusual and so far from the norm that I felt compelled to write about them. Actually, they were not that unusual and looking at the forum over the last year or 2, probably shows how difficult finding decent, honest, good advice can be. I thought I'd try and lighten the mood a wee bit with 2 recent meetings.
MeetIng number 1 has financial problems & initially goes to see a well known Edinburgh lawyer for advice and assistance. The lawyer knowing all things about all things (aye right!) puts the fear of God into them both (Even though it's only the guy who has any debt) His advice? 'Prepare for the worst, firstly the house will definitely go, along with your furniture. Make arrangements for rented accomodation and get your stuff in storage as soon as possible'
I was referred by a friend of theirs I had dealt with previously to review matters and entered a house of boxes in their preparation for the 'big move', 4 dimples on the carpet where the telly had been and no curtains. Probably no bed either as apparently they hadn't slept for 2 weeks either.
The 2nd couple (don't worry it's shorter) Advised to do a Trust Deed each with a well known 4 letter IP firm. Unfortunately the contributions are on the lower side and will just about meet the IP firms extortionate fees ( no seriously, this is a big big number) with little room for a dividend to creditors. Solution?? Extend the Trust Deed to 5 years. Not reduce the fees or something similar, but add another 24 payments each!
Sorry for going off on another rant, but unfortunately the above is not that unusual.
You may be wondering about the outcome of both, but that's for another day. ( don't worry they have good endings)
Mark
Mark is not posting regularly in the Trust-deed.co.uk forum.
02/10/2010 10:36 am
I guess this perfectly illustrates two major issues that people should look into before choosing how to proceed to deal with their debts.
Firstly we'd suggest that they enquire in what way their advisor is qualified to advise on debt. Many people are surprised to hear that there is no mandatory qualification required to be a debt advisor. For that reason the vast majority of debt advisors, especially within debt management companies and callcentres operated by larger trust deed companies, are entirely unqualified. There are recognised professional qualifications but these individuals have not chosen to taken them and their employers have not required them to do so. The example of the lawyer provided by Mark is also interesting. Debt advice is pretty specialised and a well-meaning amateur can cause more damage than good.
The second issue is trust deed fees. In the support team we regularly hear from people who are being asked to do four or even five year trust deeds. Sometimes this can be for the very good reason that they have very substantial debts and a longer term is required to ensure that the creditors get some sort of dividend so they will accept it. However there are other cases where the fees quoted by the trust deed company are so high that all of these extra months/years are purely to fund a fee level way higher than would be available elsewhere.
Hopefully bringing these potential issues to the fore will help a few people avoid the negative consequences that can result.
Qualified Debt Adviser & Forum Administrator - Ask me anything about Trust Deeds 
