Hi Stace2988.

Hopefully someone with personal experience of this handover will be able to help you.

The expenditure allowances used to set up and review trust deeds are used throughout the industry rather than being firm-specific.

A trust deed payment is however based upon affordability. If some bills have been reduced then there is potential for a payment increase. You may of course be finding that other things are costing you more than they used to as well.

Hi TDA thanks for the quick reply!

So is it now the case that you are unable to cut back on certain areas of your expenditure in order to save for something else? Having read back through previous discussions in the forum I was under the impression that if you could cut back on things and save some money, that money was yours to do as you please ? Obviously within reason. For example if I was to be spending £150 per month on food bills and cut that down to £100 per month, would that £50 be mines to save or spend or should I really be informing my trustees of those savings here and there ?

Hi Stace2988.

It might be worth seeing this as two types of expenditure.

On the one hand you have bills which will be pretty much the same from month to month. An example might be rent or a phone bill. The allowance is made to cover the actual cost. These types of bills "are what they are".

On the other hand you have expenses which will vary more from month to month. For example, food and clothing. Allowances are made for you to budget around. If you spend less on some of these more variable allowances to use the money for something else then that would usually no issue.

So if you cut back your actual food expense by £50 per month it's unlikely to increase your payment. However, if your rent fell by £50 per month that might result in an increase in your payment.

Ahhhh right I understand now ! That makes sense. I'm expecting an increase in my payment when my review comes around then which is fair enough !

Thanks

Sorry one last question. Since I decreased my phone bill and gym membership within the last year in order to save some money is this likely to get me in bother now because I never made my trustee aware ?? I hope not !

I doubt you've much to worry about Stace2988.

An example of what might be more of a problem could be someone gets a large pay increase which isn't discovered for months until the review happens.

Remember that some of your expenses will have increased over the past year as a result of inflation.

Thanks TDA. The questions sound silly but I always get anxious when it comes round to review time for some reason.

Thanks for your help my mind is more at ease now.

Hi Stace2988,
I am under annual review. I got my unique link, sorted and categorized the spendings based on my 3 months of bank statements. I am waiting for the call from my trustee. I hope we can negotiate.

Hi questionmark,

I hope all goes okay wth your review. Let me know how you get on!

Did you only have to give 3 months? I was told it could be a years worth and p60 form. I still haven't signed up as I'm doubtful of things. I was told they'd always be looking to pay the creditors as much as possible so don't cut your bills like gym tv pension phone broadband etc in fact to max it a good few months before you sign as these would be protected. If they increased throughout then the trustee should look at a decrease in payment. If you cut back in variables like food,being social then they'd be asking for more as at the end of the day you still owe the money.

HI Rob8, welcome to the forum.

There is no set rule as to what evidence a trustee can ask for but I'd be surprised if many asked for a full 12 months of bank statements each year. 2 or three months would be much more likely.

In terms of your expenditure and how much you would be asked to contribute, yes the trustee does have an obligation to ask for whatever is reasonably affordable. However, all reasonable expenses should be allowed. What is reasonable is currently determined with reference to a set of standard guidelines called the Common Financial Statement. I wouldn't be asking anyone to cut back on what they spend if they are within these guideline allowances.

A trust deed has to be based on a realistic budget - if too tight then i will only be likely to fall apart at some point, which does nobody any favours.