I moved from a DMP to a trust deed. If your home has a reasonable amount of equity, you'll likely have to plan to pay this over in a trust deed. Your home isn't looked at in a DAS, I believe, so depending on your level of debt that may be another option. Personally, I found a DMP next to useless as most of my creditors weren't interested and kept charging interest. Legally, it's frozen with a DAS.

Meant to say, Trust Deeds aren't joint. You and your wife would enter one separately.

Thanks upstream
I suspect, although I do have a substantial amount of debt, there would be sufficient equity in our house to cover it. Perhaps the DAS would be a better option although I don't fully understand the ins and outs of the TD! In laymen terms I would basically be using the equity to repay the debts and paying the IP rather than a mortgage lender?
Sorry if I seem a bit thick lol.

All but one of our creditors has frozen the interest and charges but it is our biggest debt so it will have an impact on the plan. It is the time it will take to repay that's scary to be honest...I have no qualms about paying what I owe, it just seems I'll be doing it forever!

Its starting to get to me and I need to get it working better than it is at the moment......

Ty

Hi Tyvex

There is no issue moving from a DMP to a trust deed or DAS. The DMP does not legally stop legal action, interest etc.

From your post the best option would be to sit down and look at all options, with particular reference to the equity within the property if the trust deed was the option most appropriate. Ensure all matters are confirmed in writing in a way which gives you a clear defined plan with a start & end date which you can decide in your own time.

Mark

hi tyvex and welcome to the forum,

As others have said there is no problem in moving from your Debt Management Plan to a Trust Deed, Debt Arrangement Scheme or any other suitable option.

If you have sufficient equity in your house to cover your debts then it would be unlikely that a Trust Deed would be a suitable option as this could risk your property. For example, If you were to have debts of £50,000 and you had equity of £40,000 then if you entered into a Trust Deed, you would need to pay £40,000 of your equity into your Trust Deed. This could be by a third party paying this sum, re-mortgaging although this is pretty much impossible nowadays or by selling your house. It's for this reason it would be difficult to do a Trust Deed if you did have a large amount of equity.

If your equity is smaller and more manageable then it could be possible to consider a Trust Deed. As upstream said, it's not a joint Trust Deed but one in each person's name.

If there is too much equity in your property then an alternative could be the Debt Arrangement Scheme. This is like your DMP at the moment but legally has the power to freeze interest and charges and it also stops any diligence (legal action) being taken against you. You would effectively make one monthly payment per month until your debts are repaid in full. The benefit of this is your property won't be taken into consideration.

As Mark said, you want to sit down with an advisor in person and go through all of your options. By doing this you can then narrow down which ones are more suitable than others and take it from there. The most important thing is to get everything in writing regarding payments, equity, timescale etc.

The positive thing is that there are better alternatives to what you are currently on at the moment.

Thanks for the info
I have my current company looking into my situation and the possability of moving to a more secure plan.
Thanks again

Ty

Hi tyvex.

Good luck with that, it certainly sounds as though the Debt Arrangement Scheme might be a much more certain and secure option for you.

Remember that, irrespective of who you've used for your debt management plan, you have a range of options about how to start a DAS (for example, fee-paying or free).

Best to carefully research your options so that you can make an informed choice.

Hi tyvex,

I would ask the company you are with why they never discussed and put you onto the Debt Arrangement Scheme in the first place.

AS TDA has said, make sure you do your own research to ensure that you are aware of all of your available options. It sounds like you were only told about a DMP when there are a number of alternatives available and now you are questioning your current company they are now looking to put you on a more secure regulated plan.

Hi tyvex

It is also worth remembering that your options should be looked at individually as well as jointly.

For example, is your home jointly owned? Are the debts evenly spread between you or is one of you liable for a lot more than the other? Do you both work?

Depending upon the answers to these questions, you may find that the best way forward could be different for each of you, eg one of you entering a protected trust deed and the other to go for a DAS payment programme.