Hi Helen

Is this for a Trust Deed and does it say what the 'fee' is for.

All you should pay is contribution times agreed period and any agreed asset payment.

Mark

Hi Lynnmc,

Welcome to the site.

From what I have learned from just recently applying and signing up for a Trust Deed is that ever practitioner is different. Most follow a common way of dealing with things but charges, how they approch things like bonuses, equity in your home, PPI etc can vary wildly.

How many companies have you met with?

I did allot of research on what a TD (along with a DAS and bankrupsy) would mean and what to look out for (all you need to do is go back over old posts on this site to get a good feel of key things to ask). Then I effectivly interviewed several firms to select the one whcih was right for myself and wife.

I made sure that all things of key points of importance were documented in the deed (no equity in the house for example so this was not included in the process and no fee would need to be applied in this case also etc).

As for the term, a TD can last up to 5 years and is based on what you can reasonably aford on a monthyl basis against your debts etc. From me a 42 month period was best. Most TD from what I understand are arround 36 months (3 years). They can be extended if required (say a payment or two needs to be missed due to an emergancy etc) whcih is agreed directly with your Trustee.

My advice for yourself is to stop where you are and do not sign till you have met with several practitioners (a few weeks will not make that much of a difference to your debts). Try the people (experts) from this site. They are all highly regarded, do not charge fees in advance and are really approchable which I felt was key in my TD. Then you can compair the company you have been looking at and their advance charges agaist other firms and what they offer.

Hope that helps,
Colin

Hello lynnmc and welcome to Trust-Deed.co.uk.

The "normal" length of a trust deed is three years.

There can be good reasons for one to be extended beyond that, but very often we find that the reason for the extension is to allow the recovery of above-average fees by the trustee.

Put simply, some firms charge more than others to run a trust deed. That's fine, but where it leads to an extension the individual would obviously be better served by finding out if another firm (with lower fees) could run the trust deed over a shorter term.

What is the £975 fee for? Again, when things like this are mentioned we often find out that another firm could provide the exact same service but without the fee.

I'm not sure whether you're in a hurry to proceed, but it sounds like taking a little pause at this stage might be in your long-term best interests.