Hi Adam202.

I'm very sorry to hear that you're in this position.

While we have heard about challenges and frustrations, we've never heard here before of anyone that has been totally unable to rent privately. You may have read it already, but if not I hope the following article might help you:

(Link removed by admin).

Have you asked for a copy of the "income and expenditure" they're using to work out your payment now and a copy of what they used at the start? I'd suggest you do if not to help get to the bottom of the salary increase issue.

Presumably they have a record of your current address and you could provide them with your work address which they could verify? This might help to resolve the commuting costs issue?

I hope this is helpful, but I appreciate you may have covered some of this ground already.

As mentioned on another thread, the site will go offline for a few hours soon. We can pick things up tomorrow if needs be.

Hi Adam202,

When you complete and return the current status report that is the information that the advisor will work off of when calculating if you can afford to increase your payment or not. From time to time these can be completed with things missing which were included at the start of the Trust Deed when you worked through you budget with your advisor.

Like TDA has suggested I would request a copy of the income and expenditure you completed at the start and also the one you have just completed for your review. This is probably what they will be working off of.

I would also sit down and take the time to thoroughly complete an income and expenditure. You could even discuss this with your relationship manager over the telephone or you could always pop into their office to discuss it. I think when it comes to things like this it's always easier to do things in person.

Your travel costs are your travel costs. Some people have very small travel costs and others have very expensive travel costs. How much is your travel costs and are you driving to and from work or are you using public transport?

In over 10 years of advising clients I've rarely came across a client who has experienced any difficulties in securing rented accommodation. We deal with approximately 150 clients per month who have been declared bankrupt and again we rarely hear that they have had a problem renting a property.

I have a client at the moment who rents a room within a lovely 5 bedroom detached new build property for a couple of hundred pounds per month. He used a website called spareroom and shares with an elderly lady. I've been in the house and it's beautiful. He is doing it as a short term solution to allow him to clear his debts. I know this may not be ideal but it could be something to consider as it may allow you to move closer to your place of work.

Don't feel that you need to just accept what you are being told by your relationship manager. Try to speak with them, document everything that you spend your money on and what your bills are and they should then have a realistic understanding of exactly what your budget is currently like. Unfortunately though if you do this and your budget falls out with the majority of the acceptable expenditure guidelines that we use then they may need to consider an increase in your payments.

It seems strange that they cite an increase in salary in particular if there has been no increase. Have you been working some overtime lately or have there been any bonuses added to your pay during the period you sent in the payslips for?

What transport do you use? These costs should be able to be evidenced one way or another. Even if it is a car journey, the length of the daily commute can be worked out and petrol costs calculated according to the car's fuel efficiency if needs be.