Welcome to the trust deed forum sandyann64.

It's not a firm that I've heard of. Others may be able to offer a comment.

In terms of things to be wary of (with any company) it really comes down to your circumstances.

Are you homeowners? If you are, is there equity in your home?

Do you have a car worth more than £3000 that you rely on?

How much do you each owe? Are there any joint debts?

How much have you been paying via the CAB debt management plan in total each month? Is this a manageable amount, or do you think you could afford more or need to reduce the amount?

Do you both work?

Sorry to answer your questions with more questions, but if you'd like to share some information I'm sure our members and experts will have lots of information and suggestions that will hopefully assist you.

Thanks for your speedy reply. In answer to your questions we are homeowners with little or no equity on our home (bought at height of market in 2006) maybe even in negative equity at present. Car is worth around the 3k mark- ten years old. We currently have 46k unsecured debt and are paying £430 Per month at present which is getting tight due to fuel costs but we are coping at the moment. We both work though I have gone through four redundancy phases in last three years and hubby is not on a permanent contract but has worked in his current role for 17 months now. Hubby's job brings in about half what he used to earn and our firm made drastic pay cuts for all staff three years ago and have never gone back to giving pay rises to date. Suddenly we feel like there's no end to this and no hope of a way out. Hoping this meeting next week will be the start of a long journey out of debt, but just wanted to make sure that this company isn't a middle man to whom we would have to pay a huge fee as we would rather deal with a company directly. As for our individual debts, we have never divided them up and always dealt with them as one lump sum. Is this the wrong thing to be doing?

Hi sandyann64.

I don't think that the firm you are due to meet with are a direct provider of trust deeds, but I stand to be corrected. With any firm you'll want to clarify the position regarding fees before you go ahead. Intermediaries in terms of trust deeds come in many shapes and sizes, including for example the CAB or this site or many debt management firms. Most will not charge additional intermediary fees in excess of the usual trust deed fees, but you'll want to be sure as I mentioned.

From the information provided it doesn't sound like there will be an issue with your home or car, but you'll want to get that confirmed in writing before you actually sign trust deeds if this is the route you decide upon.

Joint debt management plans and joint debt arrangement schemes are possible, but trust deeds work on an individual level (albeit your mutual circumstances will be taken into account). Whether a trust deed is suitable for either or both of you will therefore depend, in part, on how much debt each of you has individually. There are circumstances where one spouse chooses one option and the other a different one... so it would be useful if you could work out the individual debt levels and share them with us (or at least have the figures ready for your meeting).

Depending on the breakdown of your individual debt levels it does look fairly likely that trust deeds and the debt arrangement scheme will be available options, both of which will give you a lot more protection and security than your current debt management plan.

It does sound like the debt arrangement scheme could be quite a long affair. Without any fees (which can be avoided for DAS) £46000 at £430 per month would take around nine years to repay.

Actually AMI is an IP firm, not a middleman. The fact that they haven't shown up on here before is probably a good thing I'd have thought! No reason to worry about them as far as I am aware.

Thank you Kevin.

I'm glad to stand corrected on that and totally agree that the fact that AMI haven't been mentioned on the forum much previously is almost certainly a good sign. I just checked back and the one reference I found back in summer 2010 here was positive.

I hope all goes well with the meeting sandyann64.

Many thanks to you both. Much appreciated.

Hi, I have not heard anything negative about AMI, so I am sure you will be fine. As kevin said, " no news is good news." It does sound as though a trust deed may be better, certainly quicker. As long as you get everything in writing about your house, you will be fine.

Hi,
I'm the Managing Director of AMI. Thanks to Kevin for correcting T/Deed Assistant that we are indeed an IP firm and not a "middleman".I also welcome and agree with Shona's comments.
Thank you also for mentioning we have had previous positive references.
Alison

Hi Alison.

Thank you for confirming the position again. I apologise for my initial error... I'm glad that Kevin was quickly able to update and correct the position.

Hi Sandyann64

Ive been in a PTD with AMI for a year and a half now and have found them a good company to be with.
Our situation was very similar to yours in that we bought our house at the height of the market and car was worth similar amount, albeit a lot less now. Only difference is that we didnt have as much debt as yourselves.

Any queries I have had to get in touch with AMI about, has been sorted quickly and with great assistance. I can also say that Alison Moore dealt with us personally from the very beginning and found her very helpful, friendly and professional. The only small quibble I have now about AMI is that in the latter months, it is rarely the same person I get to talk to twice, and can find that a bit unnerving at times - in saying that, any issues we've had, has been dealt with and sorted timeously. So not really a big problem.

Alison helped make a big improvement in our lives, before this I really felt we'd hit rock bottom. (We'd got into debt using credit cards to pay bills/mortgage while hubby was out of work)!
But now we are just looking forward to finishing our PTD and getting back on our feet, and I can highly recommend this firm.

p.s. We got caught out with a cold-calling 'middleman' company before being advised by a local authority financial advisor to change to AMI, and were 'robbed' to the tune of £700 in fees which we never ever retrieved. Unfortunately as we'd never had any debts/money worries before, this ballgame was all new to us and stupidly trusted the middleman company to take care of us initially. You learn from your mistakes! Good luck.

Thanks for adding that information greenie.

Forums naturally tend to attract comment from persons expressing concerns. It's great when we can focus on positives as well and give credit where it is due.

Youre welcome!

Hi everyone. It's been a lot of hard work and soul searching but we finally signed our trust deed on Tuesday. Must say that AMI's rep was lovely and at no time at all pushed us into signing anything. She came to see us three times and arranged for our house to be valued. Greenie, your experience really makes me glad we chose this company. Will let you all know if and when we get protected. Oh and another thing - I mentioned to the AMI rep that I had been on this site getting advice and she said she wouldn't expect us not to have got as much information as possible.

Hi sandyann64.

We've heard from a few people this week who have had good reasons to regret going ahead with trust deeds. Your post is very valuable as it helps to reinforce that in the right circumstances, at the right time, and with the right firm, a trust deed will be the best way forwards for many people.

Congratulations to you on making a big decision, and congratulations to AMI for supporting you with the correct advice-led approach. I'm glad this site has helped you to find information also.

I'm sure all will be fine, but please let us know how it all goes with protection from here.