Hi Stephcmb89,

It does sound a little unusual that they are charging additional charges. It’s tricky to advise you on this without knowing what they actually mean in terms of these additional charges.

For example there are outlays in a Trust Deed that are not part of the fee that companies make. The Accountant in Bankruptcy charge a supervision fee for each year someone is in a Trust Deed. The longer the Trust Deed runs the more of a fee/outlay is to be paid to the AIB. These fees come from the money you pay in and therefore I can’t see it being something like this.

In terms of the actual fee that a Trust Deed company charges this is normally a set fee plus a % of the funds that they ingather.

I’d ask them to confirm in writing what additional fees they expect you to pay and we can then take it from there.

My firm would simply extend the term by 1 month to allow the arrears to be paid and then move to close off your Trust Deed, discharge you and make payment to the creditors.

When you enter a Protected Trust Deed your only obligation is to pay whatever you can afford for 4 years and allow the value of any significant assets to be gathered in by the Trustee. You aren't liable for any fees directly yourself - these should be taken out of the funds that the Trustee has gathered in.

However, I guess if the delay means that there is an extra £100 supervision fee they could argue that in order that the creditor position is not made worse then you should make up the difference if you wish to be successfully discharged. Not something we would normally do, but I suppose it is a justifiable position from your trustee if this is what it relates to.

Ok, so I just spoke to them again and asked for specifics. They said the charges would be for

- accounts + bankruptcy supervisory fee £100
- bond fee/insurance £12

Hi Steph,

This makes sense but not something that I’m familiar with as we don’t put these extra costs onto the debtor.

Those costs are direct costs of the case and don’t form part of the Trustees actual fees.

Could you pay the arrears of £87 rather than extend the Trust Deed? This could avoid the extra £112 that your Trustee is proposing to charge you.

Yes I'm going to have to find the £87 and pay it before December to avoid being charged this fee.

Hello, so just an update on these extra charges. I have now discovered this trust deed is not supposed to end until may 2020 which is 5 years after the start date. So going by this i'm not sure why Pinnacle told me I couldn't pay the extra £87 in january as my trust deed ends in december...I'm also confused by this end date. In december 2016 i asked for a 2 month break due to being on maternity leave and wanting to sort my finances out. Pinnacle (then knightsbridge) gave me a 6 month break from payments and told me my trust deed would extend by 6 months for this, this was fine as I knew i would need to pay these missing payments. Now i have realised they actually mean to charge me an extra 6 months of payments. At no point was this mentioned or explained to me as I would not have taken the break knowing it would cost me over £700. On top of that, Pinnacle have now sold off my trust deed to Carrington Dean! Please advise me on what to do. I thought the whole point of a trust deed was to get out of debt but these people have done nothing but harass and stress me out!

Hi Stephcmb89.

Has your trust deed payment reduced since the arrangement began?

Have there been any periods when the payment was reduced?

Yes it was reduced briefly which is what the £87 arrears is for.

I can only really advise you to request a full explanation of the basis for this extension Stephcmb89.

Hopefully this will shed some light on how/why this decision has been made and whether it is fair.

I'm a bit confused. Are you saying that due to a six-month payment break they have extended your trust deed term by 12 months??