Hi gresgow.

I can really appreciate that you must feel worried and frustrated.

ThinkMoney is the group of companies of which your trust deed provider is a member. Hopefully this, along with the message added here by Stephen from that company here yesterday, will be the start of getting a firm plan together that is acceptable to you, your creditors and your trustee.

Have left my details with a couple of mortgage brokers and was just cold called by someone who said they may be able to help. They were obviously not in posession of all of my information as when I mentioned my TD their enthusiasm about being able to help me suddenly disappeared.

I know the TD rules about accquiring assets but the irony did not fail to register. I entered a TD to deal with UNSECURED debt that I could not afford to pay. Now that I have inherited the asset (albeit it is the only home that I have ever known) my debt is now secured against my home it would seem.

I did mention to the guy who phoned that my TD company were pushing me down the road of secuiring finance against the property. His reply "the know that your'e not going to be able to do that",

I wonder if that is indeed true?

Surely there is little risk to a lender if the amount needed is a relatively low proportion of the property's value? Even in today's market I'd have thought that there would be lenders out there willing to take you on.

I've heard that there are mortgage providers that will consider applications in these circumstances where there is:

1 - Sufficient income to find the repayments.
2 - The loan is at a pretty low loan-to-value.
3 - The loan will bring the trust deed to an end.

I guess the point is that mortgage brokers are generally helping clients (of all types) to find much higher loan-to-value mortgages which I suspect will generally be unavailable in these circumstances. It's a really unique set of circumstances where someone in a trust deed might need to borrow a relatively low amount compared to the value of the security.

From memory the sum you'll need to raise isn't enormous in comparison to the value of the home?

I have just spoken to someone from my TD company (someone I have not spoken to before) and was advised that my original proposal to extend the TD and increase payments could be accepted. I have asked them to calculate the figures involved and get back to me. Securing finance against my property is a. unlikely b. would take longer to pay back and c. would cost more in the long run.

I just hope that the figures that they come back to me with are affordable. Hopefully the increase in fees and interest and be offset by the TD being extended to November 2015.

Fingers crossed!!

Sounds like a step in the right direction for you, gresgow - assuming the figures work out ok.

Let us know how it goes.

Spoke to my new Relationship Manager and have been advised that my proposal to increase my payments and extend my TD has been agreed.

This is what I wanted all along. It will mean that my payments are more than doubling, but it will mean that my home will not be sold to realise equity and pay debts in full.

People may ask how I can now afford to pay back more than double my existing contributions?. Since my Grandmother died my expenses and living costs have reduced considerably and I have adjusted my lifestyle to make savings too.

My RM has advised me that after another 36 payments my TD will be complete, but if I miss payments then they will have to look at selling the house as a solution - this if fair enough and I am determined that I am going to make this work.

Positive attitude going forward!!

Brilliant. It's good that it's been accepted. Not great that it's another 3 years but you've had 3 years practice at budgeting so you'll be ann expert now. Best of all you get to keep your home.

Well done gresgow.

I hope that the new arrangement remains sustainable and that you can get through to the end of your trust deed now in the way that you wanted to.