Hi krm and welcome to the forum.

The first thing is try not to worry about losing your home. If as you say you have approx £10,000 of equity then this is a manageable amount under a Trust Deed.

Before entering into a Trust Deed you need to ensure that the company you proceed with has obtained a valuation of your property and you have provided them with a redemption figure for your mortgage. By doing this the equity in your property can be calculated.

Once this has been done you want to reach an agreement with the company you use on how this will be paid over into the Trust Deed. Normally this is done by extending your payments at the end of the 4 year period to pay over your equity. We will discount the first couple of thousand pounds of equity as in theory if your property were to be sold, this money would be used to cover marketing and solicitor fees. This will reduce the amount of equity you have further.

The most important thing is to receive absolutely everything in writing with regards to your home, your payments per month and how your Trust Deed will work. That way things should run pretty smoothly.

It's always a good idea and something I would recommend that you meet face to face with an advisor to discuss everything and to make sure you are happy. A good advisor should explore all of your available options and not just a Trust Deed. That way you can make an informed decision on what is the best option for you. This can take place at your home, in the companies office or anywhere else you feel comfortable.

As I write this I'm in a lovely B&B in Inverness on my way to see two of my clients about entering into Bankruptcy this morning.

Welcome to the forum krm.

When you sign a trust deed assets that you own, of significant value, "vest" in your trustee. Equity in a home and cars would be the two most common types of assets that this applies to.

Vesting basically means that your trustee has an obligation to, somehow, raise their asset value to help repay the creditors to that trust deed. This money is in addition to the monthly contributions it's assessed you can afford from your income.

You almost certainly don't need to worry about your car. If it's on HP it's owned by the finance provider rather than you. It's not an asset.

In terms of your home, you'll want to be careful. You'll want the trust deed provider to value your home before you sign anything. You'll want to get in writing how much equity, if any, they calculate exists. If there is some equity, you'll want to agree a workable plan in advance about how it will be dealt with.

Once that's done you'll be able to make an informed decision about whether a trust deed works for you. It's not the only option and good firms will be sure to spell out the alternatives also, like DAS perhaps which does not take your home into account at all.

Are you the sole owner of your home or is it jointly owned?

Good morning David.

I'm trying to decide whether:

A - You're a truly dedicated professional giving up part of your weekend to assist your clients or...

B - You've been a bit sneaky to get a good nights sleep away from baby duty!

Thanks for the replies - feels like my world is collapsing a bit so detailed advice is appreciated.

TDA - I'm the sole owner of the house and only name on the mortgage.

If I wanted to progress this to the next stage (talking to an advisor) how would I do this? I'm wary about selecting a practitioner that would not have my best interests at heart.

Hi krm, I was a bit like you. I had been approached by a middleman company and was nearly on the point of signing up. I started googling and found this forum. In the end I made contact with one of the companies represented on here. What shone through for me was the amount of positive comments about these guys on the forum. I was visited at home and my circumstances were assessed. By the time the visit was over I had a clear picture of what a trust deed was and the fact that the trustee role is Essentially working for the benefit of your creditors. I was treated with courtesy and and it was not a pressured sales pitch. In the end I can safely say that it was the best decision I have made in what are pretty bleak circumstances. I don't own a property so there are no equity issues. I sometimes read posts from people who have been badly burnt on this issue because they don't appear to have had the consequences spelled out at the beginning. When some people like yourself who have not signed up yet post asking questions about this you can bet there will loads of us who use the forum shouting at the screen, contact one of the guys on here! You might not always like what you have to be told but you can bet it will be honest and there won't be any nasty surprises coming out the woodwork further down the track. In your shoes I would contact one of the TD experts on this forum.

Hi krm,

To speak with me or any of the other experts on the forum you can click on the "contact" button and take it from there.

A good advisor/Insolvency Practitioner will balance your interest with the creditors and find a middle ground which works for all involved. I'm my opinion you should feel comfortable and happy with how your Trust Deed is structured before signing anything. By sitting down and discussing things in person with an advisor you can decide this.

Try not to feel like everything is collapsing. If you do decide to enter a Trust Deed you will have a fixed timescale of payments with a light at the end of the tunnel. Having a completion date gives you something to aim at and work towards.

Every week there are success stories of people who have used the experts on the forum and other companies not represented on the forum to set up their Trust Deed and have successful completed them and become debt free.

Good evening TDA,

Finally home after two days in the Highlands carrying out home visits to clients and covering close to 500 miles. Thankfully for a change it was sunny so it was a nice drive.

Haha what I will say is when my clients requested home visits I didn't need to think too long about an overnight stay in a lovely quiet B&B. it's been 6 months since I've had a sleep like I did last night.

Everyone's a winner!

Thanks for the advice everyone. I'll have a think about things and decide on my next steps.

Your best to take your time and think things over krm.

Don't be shy in asking loads of questions on the forum. Everyone will be happy to help.

Do you feel you can afford £300pm, krm? It is really important that the level of contribution is realistic in any debt solution, otherwise you could just be swapping one problem for another!

Kevin, I'm currently paying out over £750+ to service my debts. This was entirely manageable but my situation has changed (long story) so now I am struggling to pay.

I think £300 would be manageable but I'm guessing that a more accurate figure will be set down after speaking to an advisor?

Hi krm.

We added an article to the site on the subject of affordability yesterday. You can read it at:

(Link Removed By Admin).

An adviser will work through your income and expenditure with you. You should check the expenditure figures and allowances used to be sure that you can live on what's there.

Your monthly payment should be your income minus what you reasonably need to cover your bills and expenses over a period of several years.

Hi I was just reading your post and thought I should share my experiences with you about step change. Myself and husband contacted step change earlier this year....Long story short we had a Massive reduction in household income when I was receiving maternity pay(which then became part time pay as I had to reduce my working hours once i returned after maternity leave) and we struggled to meet our ongoing living costs - let alone the credit card and loans we had previously been managing no problem. I completed step changes debt remedy and then after a lot of discussions with my husband we plucked up the courage to have a chat with one of the step change councillors. I can honestly say they have been a lifesaver. What with the reduction in income plus another mouth to feed we felt that there was no way out but they were so friendly and the advice we received was invaluable. I would highly recommend them to anyone. Calling them was the best decision we ever made! I wish you all the best and don't worry there is always a way out no matter how bleak things may seem! Barbara x