Hi Carole

Gregory Pennington are not an insolvency firm although they will pass you on to a licenced firm.

In effect, you are taking advice from a middleman company who will the post out legal paperwork for you to sign and have witnessed.

Personally I think it's too big a step to take to do by phone & mail. You should sit with someone who will answer all your questions, confirm it in writing and then let you decide in your own time what is best.

Mark

Looking at their website, (link to Gregory Pennington website fees page removed)
it does seem as if their fees come out of the payment I would make each month. They did tell me that, I was just worried incase they suddenly said I had to pay up front, like I would in a debt management plan.

Seriously Carole, if you have signed nothing yet, DON'T.

I have no invested interest in this but from previous posts I have read I would recommend you contact the above Company Rep Mark McFadyen immediately and organise a face to face visit.

Trawl the posts from the last few weeks and see how many people have dealt with Mark and how well he is thought of. This does not detract from the other wonderful experts on this site who I am sure give an equally outstanding service.

Hi Carole,

I was very close to signing with Gregory Pennington but after finding this forum and reading reviews I arranged a meeting with Mark and decided to go with his company. I can't comment on the service of Gregory Pennington as I did not go ahead with them but I definitely felt a lot better after having a face to face meeting with Mark and having all my questions answered.

Hi, it is always better to have face to face meetings. Glad you feel better about it now.

Well done Carole, just make sure you're honest and upfront about everything and you'll receive the best of treatment.

Hi carole.

Gregory Pennington don't handle trust deeds themselves. They're part of the same group of companies as Wilson Andrews which does.

Wilson Andrews are a significant trust deed provider that have been discussed on the forum fairly frequently recently.

From years of experience of trying to help people on this forum I'd urge you to have a face to face meeting before signing a trust deed with any firm. It goes a long long way towards preventing misunderstandings and problems that might later arise.

Hi Carole

Thanks for the post. Let me try and explain a little!

TDA is spot on - Gregory Pennington and Wilson Andrews are both part of the Think Money Group ÔÇô so they are sister firms. Wilson Andrews is a Scottish Insolvency Practitioner (based in Glasgow) and offers clients access to a range of Scottish debt solutions including Trust Deeds, the Debt Arrangement Scheme and Sequestration. When you first called us the debt adviser that you spoke to, having gone through the process you described (a detailed income and expenditure as well as getting an understanding of you and your needs and expectations) identified that a Trust Deed may be the best advice for you. That's why, at this stage, he has referred you to his colleagues in Wilson Andrews for them to provide more detailed advice and, if it is appropriate, and you decide to go ahead, prepare your Trust Deed for you. Just to be clear this is an ÔÇ£internal transferÔÇØ your details have not been passed outside the business.

From now on you would have a single, dedicated point of contact in Wilson Andrews.

The choice of whether to deal with us on the phone and in writing or whether to have a face to face meeting is entirely up to you and what you feel comfortable with. As other posts have said some feel it is vital to meet face to face, but we also have many clients who were or are perfectly happy not to do so. If you want to meet up, you just need to let us know. Either way you won't need to sign anything until you've had several in depth and detailed conversations and as much time as you need to think things over.

Just to be absolutely clear we don't charge any upfront fees. If you decide to go ahead then the fees that are payable are taken from your monthly payment. Providing that your Trust Deed goes well and runs to term it is, in effect, the creditors that pay the fees as they have accepted the payments net (ie after we have taken the fees out). This is the same whichever Insolvency Practitioner you decide to use.

I hope this helps, but if you have any further question please do ask, either here on the forum or by giving us a call.

I cannot stress enough the benefits and comfort I received from a face to face session pre PTD. Your choice will be a company (and ideally an individual within it) who will be (hopefully) your Guardian Angel for the next three years as they negotisiate issues that will arise (and they will) between you and your creditors. The idea of doing everything up to that point online might seem hassle free and almost anonymous but you need to be satisfied that they are right for you.

sarahj1 has amde a good pitch and if a face to face gives you that same degree of comfort conveyed in her post, go for it!

Hi Charlie1958.

To be fair, Sarah and her colleagues asked very politely if they could join the forum and contribute when their firm is mentioned.

That seemed fair enough to us.

If I was offering these services, I would be delighted to have the opportunity to know where clients had concerns or felt unsure after contacting part of my company. It's good to see worries being cleared up by a little clarification being offered.

They called me today and explained things again. I am satisfied with what they said and hopefully will be able to go ahead with them.. Thanks for all the advice.

If any doubts exist about being able to work with a chosen firm for 36 months and sometimes more,then now is the only time to do something about it. Its a bit like test driving a car,if you arent happy then go find another,theres quite a choice out there,and I would always recommend speaking to at least 2 companies and get a feel for them before deciding where your future lies.

Paul