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Scottish Trust Deed Forum
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Topic starter
30/09/2019 9:45 pm
Please can you advise. Myself and my wife took out trust deeds 18 months ago. Since taking out the deed my wife due to ill health got a life insurance payout. When we signed the trust deed the total debt for us both was around £49k. We were quoted fees of around £10K total and the remainder of our debt would be written off. As we are settling early we have to settle our debts in full which we understand however the trustee is quoting us around £14k fees. I have questioned this and they have agreed to reduce them by around £2k. I am still questioning this as surely as we are settling after 18 months it should be pro rata in some form of what we were initially quoted? I understand some fees will be fixed however this appears really excessive. Can anyone advise on what is a fair fee for around this debt? Also if we challenge this who we take it too?
01/10/2019 9:04 am
Welcome to the forum Tommorrison555.
I suspect that the issue here will be that a large part of your trustee's fees will be percentage based. By this I mean that the original agreement (between you, the trustee, and your creditors) allowed them to charge a percentage of what they have collected in from you on behalf of your creditors.
It's worth checking your paperwork so that you can assess this for yourself.
In these circumstances any reduction in the fees might simply come down to what you can agree with your trustee. It seems like they've already acknowledged this issue, to some extent, by offering a £2,000 reduction.
Qualified Debt Adviser & Forum Administrator - Ask me anything about Trust Deeds 
01/10/2019 1:32 pm
is the £12k being offered the total between the two of you, Tom? ie £6k each?
Trust deed assistant makes a good point about the fact that fees in Trust Deeds are partly percentage based and agreed at the outset. Whilst it is possible to ask the AIB to review a Trustee's fees, if they are sticking to the original agreement then I think the chances of getting them down to a lower amount than what they have already said are probably remote.
Scottish Debt Solutions Expert - Ask me for help setting up a Scottish Trust Deed or Debt Arrangement Scheme plan.
Topic starter
02/10/2019 9:12 am
The fees are broken down in proportion to the debt we each have however for that total amount of £49k the fees they are charging is £12k. We have only been in the trust deed 18 months. We have paid back around £8k already. We are being asked to pay around £53k total to clear our debt and fees. Does this sound fair?
02/10/2019 9:25 am
Hi Tommorrison555.
The fees sound high to be honest. They're obviously higher than you or your trustee will initially have expected them to be.
That's not to judge whether they are fair or not though. If a basis for fees has been agreed between all of the parties, I can understand why a trustee would consider it fair to stick with that basis.
Qualified Debt Adviser & Forum Administrator - Ask me anything about Trust Deeds
02/10/2019 1:50 pm
I don't think the total amount looks too far from what I would expect to be honest. It will likely include interest on the debts at 8% per annum too, which is pretty sizeable on debts of £49k - not far off £6k over an 18-month period. I think a further £6k in fees split between 2 Trust Deeds would be seen by many as reasonable.
Scottish Debt Solutions Expert - Ask me for help setting up a Scottish Trust Deed or Debt Arrangement Scheme plan.
