You should certainly change the figures to accurately reflect your current income and outgoings and send them back to your trustee.

Whether they will then allow a reduction in your payments is another matter, but it is possible. Only thing is, if they do allow a reduction then you will probably find that the term will increase to compensate.

I had another look at the figures some months we are about £140 extra but then other months we are maybe 300-400 short , the months we have extra compensates for this and allows us to make our payments I would ideally like to pay the same amount I am I'm just worried that they will increase the trust deed to reflect the months we have extra then the months we have less we
Will Struggle these are my expenditures and income
Incoming
£3300 wages
£244 child benefit

Outgoings
Rent £574
Council tax £156
Child maintenance £87
Life assurance £40
Home insurance £35
Electric £202
Telephone £48
Mobile £60
Internet £23
Sky package £23
Housekeeping £620
Tv licence £12
School meals £98
School uniform £10
Car insurance £117
Car tax £33
Car fuel £320
Car running £50
Clothing £120
Medical £28
Contingency £60
Work meals £40
Hairdressing £49
Sport/hobbies £68
Property maintenance £25
Pocket money £40
Laundry £25
Optical £28
Pet food £34

However some months salary is £2900 I hope that makes sense am just worried as the changes I have last year haven't been put on the income expenditure they gave me so am confused

Should also add I am paying up council tax arrears of £250 and trust deed payments are £405 a month combined

Hello Mamahep85 and welcome.

The only opinion that's really going to be important here is that of your trustee.

As Kevin suggested already, I think you should submit the numbers as you believe them to be and await a response.

What led to the council tax arrears building up? Presumably this was after your trust deed began?

Hi
There was confusion overr the council tax as we believed it was included in the trust deed but wasn't as we had made a payment at some point and this stopped the debt being from a certain date, it should have been paid off tbh but we found ourselves short a few times with having to get things for our youngest so we paid any excess we had towards it whenever we had it. We also had personal debts to family when our family car broke down and we had to replace it with a bigger car as we had six of is, we had to borrow from family so during the year we have had to pay that back, my trust deed people were aware of this at the time, I'm just worried that after sending payslips etc from last year for the last review nothing has changed on my current income/expenditure, the figures from last year were £3400 income so not too much difference plus we have a higher expenditure now, however the figures on the sheets are the original amounts and that's £3000, one person said on phone 50% of overtime might have to be paid but without the overtime our income isn't enough, doing it isn't a problem and we make our Payments I just worry that my last review wasn't done properly and this will reflect badly on us, sorry if this is long winded lol have been worried for days

Hi Mamahep85,

As Kevin and TDA have advised it's only really your Trustee that can give you clarification.

Your best to list all of your expenditure as you have done above and submit this to your Trustee. If you feel you can maintain the same level of payment then your Trustee may be happy to allow things to continue at that level. What you need to consider is the addition debt that you have incurred since signing the Trust Deed such as the council tax and also debt to family members. The last thing anyone wants is for you to get back into debt trying to maintain a payment to the Trust Deed that is unaffordable.

A reduction in payments might work better for you although this could mean an extension to the Trust Deed timescale to compensate.

You could always ask for a sit down meeting with your relationship manager to discuss everything. Sometimes this can help.

Let us know how you get on.

I don't quite understand what you mean about your council tax arrears. Were he arrears from a period that was prior to the signing of the Trust Deed? If so they should be included.

As far as we were aware it was and we listed it its on our list at £169 but more had accrued before the trust deed was active, I phoned the company about it and no one seemed to be able to tell me what to do, the amount owe ended up being £650 and we have paid £400 up to now the council also said they had no claim as by time trust deed was
Finalised we had made a payment towards out council tax and this had counted as the debt, it wasn't for the debt it was for that current month but they said due to that they had no claim was very confusing tbh.
I called them today and asked if it would be possible to settle early as a family member has offered to help us and we pay them back instead so they are contacting them tomorrow for us, they gave me settlement amounts for both trust deeds, now I just have to wait and see what happens there first, do I still make my payment as usual when there is a settlement offer being made ? It would definitely be easier for us as I'm no longer working and my hubby has to work overtime every month to make all our payments

So it sounds like you were trying to pay your current bill but the council applied the payment against your arrears Mamahep85?

Was this a payment that you initiated or was it collected by direct debit?

I wouldn't cancel your current trust deed payment unless your trustee has explicitly consented to this. It's something to ask them directly when you get the chance.

In case it's helpful, there's more information about council tax and trust deeds at:

https://www.trust-deed.co.uk/council-tax-arrears-debt.html

If I remember right I made a payment online to them it was all from that bill period so by the end of the tax year I wouldn't be in arrears so they said they had no claim but it's on my creditor list that I have a copy of, ibe queried this but never get an explanation so I gave up asking tbh

So the council tax debt was for missed payments after the Trust Deed was signed then?

I also experienced the same in regards to council tax arrears these were meant to be included in my trust deed but ended up being paid by wages arrestmrnt each month !!!

Yes the majority were after as we had a £1000 bet bill u expectantly last year which as you can imagine floored us, the dog was injured and both my cats run over in the same month was a nightmare #128530;

Pets eh Mamahep85! I have a cat and a dog and our cat costs us the most money with trips to the vet!

With council tax arrears, any arrears prior to the Trust Deed can and should be included. Any arrears or failure to pay after the Trust Deed then you are liable for as it's an on-going liability.

I have heard of advisors telling people they don't need to pay the rest of that years council tax as it's included into a Trust Deed or Sequestration but in my experience the council will look for the remaining months payments to be paid as the on-going liability.

Did you try and clarify this MichelleG with your Trustee and why you had a wage arrestment put in place?