Welcome to the forum 13David.

Your regular payment should be based upon a reliable level of income. If overtime is not guaranteed this should be taken into account.

In a trust deed you'd be asked to pay any additional income over to help repay your creditors. That might mean additional payments when you receive additional income. The extra earnings wouldn't necessarily be available for saving, though a modest allowance for saving may be built in from the start.

You should have allowances for vehicle repairs and other types of contingencies built into your regular payment. These can be put aside for when they are needed.

A trustee would be practical if you lost your job. It's in everyone's interests that you're given the opportunity to find new work so that the trust deed can be completed.

You will be required to complete reviews and submit documentation. Your payment will always be based upon an affordability calculation, so it could go up or down depending upon what happens in the future.

A trustee will look at any assets you own (like shares) to see whether they can be used to help repay your creditors.

How much do you think you'd be able to afford to pay into a trust deed or DAS each month? This will help us think about how long each of these debt solutions might run for and inform your thinking about the best way for you to go with this.

I'm also curious as to why you've decided against bankruptcy. Are there any particular aspects of that option that have put you off it?

Hi 13David

I'm glad this forum has been of help to you so far, and hopefully we can help you steer a course that suits you best. A Protected Trust Deed may well be a suitable route for you, or a DAS payment programme, however it is difficult to say without knowing the details of your monthly budget as what you can afford to pay can make a big difference as to what might be possible. Any of the experts from this site, myself included, would of course be happy to look at this more closely with you directly if you wish.

You shouldn't be asked for more than you can afford, so the situation regarding your overtime shouldn't be a problem, it is the trustee's role to assess what is likely to be affordable but then also to check it and amend the figure where necessary. Good communication is key.

Have you saved much in the shares scheme yet? How this would be treated will depend upon how much you are paying into it and when the shares become available to sell. It is certainly something that should be discussed and agreed upon prior to you signing up to any formal solution.

Hi 13David and welcome to the forum.

Well done on taking the hard step of reaching out for help and advice. That’s often the hardest step to take and it’s really positive to hear that your girlfriend is supportive. Having someone by you side to support you can really help.

I really wouldn’t beat yourself up about having the debt or feeling ashamed. It’s the way in which society works now with extremely easy access to credit when things are difficult financially. Everyone always has the intention to pay it back but sometimes it just becomes too much. The systems and plans we have in Scotland for dealing with debts I think are fantastic.

You have asked lots of really important and relevant questions and TDA and Kevin have answered these.

One of the most important things is to take your time when looking at your options and go over a very thorough income and expenditure as this is what will set the payment you make per month. Speaking with a good knowledgeable expert will help when doing this as they will be able to keep you right if they feel you might have forgotten about a bill which often happens. You are allowed to budget for things like car repairs and mot, Christmas and birthdays, hobbies, sports, getting your hair cut etc. All of these are things that you will pay out over the course of the year but might not automatically think of as a bill.

You also want to feel comfortable and confident with the company and advisor that you are dealing with to set up your plan if that’s a Trust Deed or a Debt Arrangement Scheme. Don’t feel rushed into signing anything and make sure all of your questions that you have are answered in writing. If you do that then later on down the line you shouldn’t run into problems. We do hear of people rushing into things and later on it creates problems.

If you have £28,000 of debt and after you complete a very thorough budget it shows you can afford £200 per month then if you used the free sector to set up a DAS (as they don’t charge a fee) it would take approximately 11.6 years. That could mean a Trust Deed could be a more suitable option over a 4 year period. If you could afford to pay more per month then the DAS timescale would come down.

A good expert should discuss your long term plans i.e. maybe buying a house, what’s the plans when your girlfriend graduates etc. Things like this are important as if you went ahead with a plan like the DAS over a longer period it could potentially have longer implications for buying a house etc.

Take your time, ask loads of questions and do a little research, maybe even speak with one or two companies/experts about your options as things can vary slightly from firm to firm. If you do that things should work out fine for you.