Hi Callie and welcome.

We'll need some more information to be able to help you if you could help us please?

Are you already in a trust deed?

If you are, did you have income from employment when you started it?

Has something else changed in your circumstances?

yes we're in a trust deed and didnt have income from employment and our circumstances haven't changed .

Hi Callie,

So am I right in saying that you signed up for a trust deed and that you're having to make the monthly payment out of benefits only (including your DLA)?

Is your daughter in the same situation and also in a trust deed?

How much do you (or you both) pay each month?

Are you (or you both) homeowners?

Its actually my husband who took the trust deed. My daughter is only 6 🙂 But yes our payments have always been out of our benefits.We are paying £200 a month at the moment but they have asked for more details and our money has gone up so I'm terrified they will take it all. No we're not homeowners.

Hi Callie,

We're always quite surprised to hear that people living on benefit income alone have been advised to start trust deeds.

Had your husband become bankrupt instead no monthly contribution would have been required if you only have the benefit income. I almost hate to ask but... were you advised of that?

It's hard to see what the benefit of a trust deed could be if there are no significant assets involved either.

As your husband is in a trust deed, and has agreed to make monthly payments from benefit income, he'll need to comply with any reasonable requests for information about your household income. If household income has increased there may be some risk that the trust deed firm will seek an increase in the monthly payment.

Only the trustee can confirm whether this is the case and how much any changes will amount to.

ok,guess we're stuck with it then,oh well. many thanks for your help.

How long has your husband been in the trust deed Callie?

How long is it due to run for?

How much did he owe before the trust deed started?

Its been for a year so far and another 3 to go. Its £51,000

I'm struggling with the advice you received in the first instance Callie.

You may want to read some of the posts here from Reidy1982 in the last few months. Lou may have some thoughts for you if she reads this thread as there seem to be some similarities in the circumstances causing concern.

What company suggested the trust deed? Sounds like you perhaps have been badly advised.

Paul

Maybe your husband should think about bankruptcy instead, callie. He'd need to discuss it with his trustee, but as trust deed assistant says if he is on benefits only then he wouldn't be asked for a contribution and would be discharged after 1 year only.

Hi callie,
welcome to trust-deed.co.uk.

Well i can very much relate to you in this situation hun, i started a trust deed in august of last year with a glasgow company. By the time decemeber came i was struggling badly. I came here and found i was badly advised for my situation.
I am in the same situation as yourself, all my income is benefits as i have long term illness so when i looked at the information i was given originally and then the information i know now i know for sure a trust deed was never the right fit for me.

What alarms me is there taking money from your daughter DLA? as well as your other benefits. I get dla but mines is soley for myself because of my long term illness. DLA is a benefit for the welfare of the person and is paid "To cover the extra costs of being disabled". So since that dla is in your childs name i would assume that a trust deed has no rights to take any payment from that when it is soley paid for the benefit of your child's illness or disability despite weather the payment rise or not.

Was your husband ever advised of Sequestration (ie:#) bankruptcy OR LILA( low income low asset)? Because legally in bankruptcy you would not be asked to make any contributions to this because it is all benefit based. I know your probably reading this and thinking the worst when bankruptcy is mentioned but it really is not scarey at all. I thought so in the beginning but getting the right advise i'm just edging for my trustee to discharge himself from my trust deed so i can jump in head first and get my life back on track.

This would have been the better option for you all, because legally you would not have been asked for any contributions towards it, You say your not a homeowner? so you have no assets there that can be sold for profit in a bankruptcy. Do you have a car? and if so is it worth more than 3000? if you dont then again this would be the better option for your family. It only last for a year and you can have your trustee do it or you can ask him to step down and do it yourself.

If this was somthing you wanted to explore then its somthing i am willing to happily speak to you about my experience so far. Plus you have the professionals here at trust deed who will gladly give you advice in the matter.

You maybe worried that beecause you have been in this trust deed for a period of time you are stuck. Thats not exactly true, there are ways, you can request that your trustee discharge himself from the trust deed so you can apply for your own sequestration. This will take some time but you will get there. If they refuse there are other route you could that really would give them no choice.

Stay strong and if you wish to talk about it some more let me know.

we should perhaps think of what may have happened before we all cast asertions on the Trustee

For example, they may have owned property - high level of debt and entered into the process before the Certificate Route was introduced.

In this scenario - on the assumption that the level of benefits are high- i would see why they entered into a Trust Deed.

Failing which, i would agree that a LILA may have been the best option.

If you have only been in the Trust Deed for 1 year, it means you signed up in 2011 sometime. The Certificate for Sequestration route was introduced in November 2010 if you had an asset of more than £1,000. If you had no assets, the the LILA route was introduced back in 2008. If you were not advised of all this at the time, then you have been advised poorly. Sorry there are no excuses for such poor advice.