Hi SunnyM.

Your husband's credit score will not be affected if you enter a trust deed.

However, because you have a joint account it's highly likely that your credit files will be "linked".

That means if your husband were to apply for credit in the future, the potential lender might take an interest in your creditworthiness as well as his. This is because your finances will be viewed as being, to some extent, interdependent.

So no affect to his credit score, but it might (but certainly not always) affect his ability to secure new credit (or the terms upon which such credit is offered).

Sorry that this probably isn't the response you wanted to hear.

Nightmare coming true. Thanks for responding to me.

Hi SunnyM,

How far along the process are you setting up the Trust Deed? If they haven’t taken the time to properly explain the risk regarding your husbands credit rating then there could be other things that they have failed to properly explain.

Did they take the time to explain all of your options to you such as a Debt Arrangement Scheme or Sequestration?

Hi David, it is just in the process of being set up. I was advised that I could go down the debt management route but because of my age - 62 - it was explained to would take me 8 years to pay off. I don't even know if I will be fit to work for another 8 years so thought the trust deed was the way to go.

Excerpt of text received

Ultimately it’s your decision, however like you say the alternative would be repaying the debts in full which would cost in the region of £600 per month to clear in the same timescale, or you could pay less but you’d be paying it back even longer.

Your debts are not linked to your husband and they’re not linked to the household address, so it wouldn’t have any effect on him applying for credit in the future, unless you were looking at taking out a joint loan/credit card etc. which I’d advise against anyway.

Hi SunnyM,

Ah ok that make sense and it’s good that you’re thinking about the possible change in circumstances if you can’t continue to work that long.

Have you thought about your ability to continue working for the next 4 years? In a Trust Deed you need to maintain the agreed payment per month or else the Trust Deed could fail. If this happened you would lose all the money you have paid into it, you would be reunited with your debts and you would then need to consider Sequestration and start a new process with potentially another payment for 4 years.

Under a Sequestration you only pay what you can afford and therefore if there is a change in circumstances this can be taken into consideration and the payment reduced and it has no impact on the plan.

I’ve just given advice to someone who is 67 years old and was working to continue trying to pay their debts. They weren’t really fit to continue working full time but it was the debts which stopped them retiring or reducing their working hours. With Sequestration they could make a decision about semi retiring if they wished without the worry of having to sustain a payment to a plan etc.

Is this something you have thought about or discussed with an advisor?

Another excerpt

Please find attached correspondence dated 14 October 2016, confirming that you have entered into a Trust Deed in favour of Xxxxx. A copy of the Trust Deed document is enclosed with the correspondence.

Hi SunnyM.

In terms of,

"Your debts are not linked to your husband and they’re not linked to the household address, so it wouldn’t have any effect on him applying for credit in the future, unless you were looking at taking out a joint loan/credit card etc. which I’d advise against anyway."

I guess we can only hope this is adviser naivety rather than an attempt to misinform you.

Sequestration worries me. I don't know anything about it and I'm frightened. Would my husband find out? When would it finish? Is it now too late since I have entered in an agreement now?

Hi,

I’ve just seen the text.

Is that a person who is a qualified advisor that is giving you advice?

I would just be a little cautious and take your time with things if you think proceeding with a plan may impact on your marriage. Really there is no rush to do things.

As TDA has advised if you have a joint account such as a bank account then you are linked to you husband. On a credit report it has a section about financial connections. This is where it could link to your husband.

Ideally you need to be fully aware of things.

We are not credit rating experts so you could always give the likes of Experian, Equifax or Call Credit or even Noddle a call and ask them to be certain.

Sequestration isn’t something to be intimidated by. A good expert can explain this to you in a way which is nice and easy to understand.

Have you signed any paperwork for the Trust Deed?

Reading the text again:

“ultimately it’s your decision” suggests to me that you might not be tied to a Trust Deed just yet.

It may be a good idea to take a step back, look at things and discuss them again with a qualified Expert and then decide which option is best when you are in receipt of the full information and pros and cons.

Did they even take the time to try and discuss Sequestration with you? A good expert should cover all of the options in a way like I said is easy to understand.

I was going to ask the same SunnyM.

It seems as though you might have signed the trust deed documentation already?

Is your trust deed showing on the register of insolvencies? You can check this online quite easily.

I don't think sequestration was ever mentioned to me but I could be wrong as I was a bit distressed over the phone. Is it too late now to stop it and seek advice from yourselves?

We need to know whether you've formally gone ahead with a trust deed already SunnyM.

I just put some notes on your other thread about how to check that again.