Like everything else in a trust deed bonus questions should be dealt with before you sign on the dotted line so you know in advance what will happen.

If its a regular bonus then like overtime its only fair that both sides benefit or there would be no incentive to work hard!

Again though different trust deed firms will work differently so only your own td firm could advise.

Paul

Hi TimeLord.

This would normally be handled in a similar way to overtime.

However, if there is no formal agreement in place before the trust deed is signed you are rather in the hands of your trustee. I suppose they could take 100% for creditors of they chose to. I don't think most would though.

It may depend to some degree on how much your bonus is worth - for smaller amounts you may be able to keep a higher proportion, but for large amounts it would be hard for any trustee to justify turning a blind eye to relatively large sums of money.

Hi Timelord

It's a good point. There should be a bit of balance with these things, otherwise people would opt not to do overtime or work to achieve bonuses and that way no one benefits.

Like most things, there should be an agreement at the start with an agreed percentage payable to the Trust Deed.

Mark

Hi guys,

on a slightly related topic, I'm possibly getting a promotion at work which may attract a pay rise of around £5,000 pa. would all my increase be expected to be given over to the trustee or would I be allowed to keep a portion of it?

I never agreed anything at the start with my trustee unfortunately.

Thanks!

Welcome to the forum Trixie1980.

That's a bit different I'm afraid.

If it's regular guaranteed income then it will be used, in full, to work out how much you can afford to pay back towards your debts (and the trust deed fees) each month.

Make sure you tell your trustee about any expenses that have increased at the same time that you tell them about the pay increase. This may help to mitigate against your trust deed payment going up too much.

Thanks TDA, I thought as much but thought I'd ask in hope! Bit disheartening that I'll be breaking my neck taking on lots of extra responsibility, longer hours and have nothing to show for it for the next 2 years 🙁

Never mind, I got myself in this mess, just need to get on with it LOL

Re Bonus, for the past couple of years I've been getting an annual bonus and so far the Trustee has been more than fair. On my first bonus they took 40%, on my second bonus they took just over 50%. The second bonus was higher than the first, hence the difference.

As I had changed jobs during my trust deed, there was no opportunity to agree this before the trust deed was signed, so its been done on a case-by-case basis with the Trustee.

Ironically as I'm now into the last year of my trust deed, I am due a substantial pay-rise at the end of this month. It looks as if the creditors will get around 100p to the £ (and maybe even some interest) - a far cry from 11p to the £ at the time my trust deed was protected. All due to a combination of increased contributions due to wage increases, annual bonuses and PPI recovery.

Mind you I have little to show for the dramatic turnaround in my fortunes these past few years, but at least there is a light at the end of my particular tunnel.

Roll on the end of your three years, blootooner, so you can feel the benefit of your hard work.

It would be good if there was a standard approach to overtime and bonuses and this appears to vary from firm to firm and sometimes, as shown above, a firm's own policy changes within the lifetime of a Trust Deed.

We are currently looking at doing something re this to avoid any confusion etc as it then standardises the process.

Mark

Wilson Andrews advises overtime and bonus are both 50/50

We are looking at something like the 1st 10% of your agreed net income is excluded and then 50% of anything over that. As an example, net income £2000. If overtime was £200, there's no interest, if it was £300 then the 1st £200 is excluded (10%) and the Trust Deed get 50% of the remainder - £50.

Seems fair to me.

Mark

Is this something that creditors are made aware of Mark or do they leave it to the discretion of an individual trustee?

Hi TDA

Its at the trustee's discretion. It's the formula they use in our Cardiff office with IVA's which as you know go under a lot more scrutiny with creditors than Trust Deeds, so it seems to be well accepted.

Mark