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Topic starter
10/03/2016 2:05 am
I have a friend who has just been asked to produce bank statements for his TD. He is now very worried and does not know what to do as they will show that he has taken out 2 new credit cards since his TD was started. Unfortunately my friend has learning difficulties, not to mention suicidal thoughts, depression and increasing signs of OCD. I have tried and tried to advise him but I can't force him to take my advice. He has a minimum wage job.
I will give him your phone number tomorrow and suggests he talks to you, but he has trouble dealing with supermarket change so it would be better to advise him via my email so I can read it and try to explain it to him.
I don't know what to advise him, he has obviously broken his agreement. Will they now take his wages directly? He wants to say he can't get paper statements. I spend most of my time trying to explain that paying off your entire credit card bill for the month is less important than making the min payment. I also have to protect him from endless calls offering loans from suspect websites.
He has a council house and a worthless car he loves but never drives, he refuses to get rid of it. I'm sure he could eventually get back in the black if he repaid things in the right order but it's hard to even get him to admit what he owes and he is now courting disaster.
I'm unemployed myself so can't help financially, I just need advice how to help him with the immediate problem of the request for bank statements and the long term problem of how to manage his finances given his handicap..
Thanks in advance.
10/03/2016 8:56 am
Hello Cedartree and welcome.
This may not be quite the issue that you and your friend think it is.
While it's almost always a very bad idea to source new credit during a trust deed, there is actually no general rule against it. Producing bank statements to the trustee needn't be of particular concern.
The main issue is that the trustee is highly unlikely to make any allowance for the repayment of new debts. This can make keeping up with essential bills, the trust deed payment, and the new debt repayments increasingly difficult (or impossible).
Another issue is that at least one purpose of a trust deed is to get a fresh financial start, and building up further new debt makes that much less likely later on.
If you could persuade your friend to cut the cards up you'd likely be doing them a big favour.
Qualified Debt Adviser & Forum Administrator - Ask me anything about Trust Deeds 
10/03/2016 9:47 am
Hi Cedartree,
As TDA has advised I don't think it's as big a deal as what you both think.
The Trustee has an obligation to review a person's current financial circumstances and this can involve a review of bank statements or payslips.
Taking our further credit when in a Trust Deed isn't ideal and the repayment of this can't come at the expense of the Trust Deed payment.
The best person that your friend should speak with is his Trustee. The Trustee should be able to reassure your friend and perhaps help him look at his budget and prioritise his bills.
It sounds like you are a very supportive friend. Given your friends condition it might be better for the both of you to arrange an appointment with the Trustee to sit down and discuss things. That way you can support him and help him understand things.
David is not currently posting in the Trust-Deed.co.uk forum
10/03/2016 6:01 pm
I'd be more critical of credit card firms which give cards out to people in a trust deed - unless it wasn't showing on a credit file yet?
Topic starter
10/03/2016 8:11 pm
Many thanks to all for the quick response and sound advice. I will reassure him that's it's not the end of the world, and try to get him to see reason. Totally agree about irresponsible lenders, TD at least 3 years old so if definitely showed up. He got a call from them yesterday and they were talking about ending the TD. So this is either good news as he's close to paying it off or bad news, he's not sure. I'll get him to call them back from here after work so I can talk to them and let you know how it went. Once again many thanks to everyone for the advice.
10/03/2016 11:52 pm
It sounds more likely to be good news Cedartree.
I do hope that's the case.
Qualified Debt Adviser & Forum Administrator - Ask me anything about Trust Deeds
