Welcome to the forum RC86.

I've read to the end! Well done for taking this important first step of assessing your options. Thank you also for providing all of this useful information.

How much do you believe you could afford to pay into a trust deed each month? This would be the amount left over after you have paid your fair share of the household bills and general expenses?

Hello RC86 and welcome to the forum.

Well done on taking the hard and brave step of reaching out for some help and advice. You will receive plenty of support and advice on the forum and I’m positive we will get you through this and out of debt in 4 years if you decide to proceed with a Trust Deed.

Thanks for a very good summary of your situation. You’ve covered all of the questions we normally ask people.

Really the main step from here is to go over a very thorough budget with an expert to establish how much you can comfortably afford to pay per month. Did you do this online with Stepchange?

RC, Well done on reaching out. Your income and debt issues are similar to my own circumstances, down to the childcare and 0% transfer game.

I reached out to David before Christmas after posting on here, I am so glad I did. Please reach out and have a chat with an advisor to look at a budget and get on your path to freeing yourself from the stress and get on with spending time with your family.

I found meeting David in person reassured me and my family haven't looked back since. Everything becomes much clearer when you have one payment to deal with and financial freedom in sight.

All the best with your journey and please let us know how you get on.

Thank you for welcoming me to the forum!

David- I did not do a thorough budget with the folk at step change, I used their online tool which pointed me in the direction of a trust deed. Getting a professional look at sorting a budget out and working back what I can reasonably afford is next on my list. I assume that both our incomes will be looked at to sort out an affordable repayment if a trust deed is put in place?

Igglepiggle - thanks for sharing your story. Do you have a trust deed in place yourself? Was it a fairly straightforward process once you sought out help?

Hi RC86,

When it comes to looking at your budget the easiest way to do this is for me to look at your household income and all of the household bills. That way we can ensure that we have covered everything with you and then whatever is left over is then split with your wife based on what percentage earns what in the household.

For example let’s say you have £1,000 left over after all of the bills are paid. As you earn approx 64% of the household income then you would take 64% of the household surplus ie £664. That tends to be the fairest way to do things but there are a couple of ways in which we can work it all out depending on how you and your wife work things. I’ve been doing budgets with clients for over 17 years now!

The budget is key as we want to ensure that any payment is affordable and sustainable. That’s why it’s important to go over it with an expert with knowledge and experience as there could be the small things that you don’t plan for like haircuts, birthdays and Christmas, kids clubs, school meals and just general funds to do things with the kids. Having 2 kids myself I know how expensive things can be.

In terms of the next steps you can reach out to me or one of the others experts for some specific advice if you want.. We will then work through the budget, agree a payment per month and then look at all the options and balance up the pros and cons.

Once you are happy to proceed with a plan it can all be sat up pretty quickly and at that point you would stop making payments to your creditors. It’s a really straightforward process and depending on how quickly you want to do things can be done within a couple of days.

The important thing is to take your time, ask lots of questions and do a little research. If you do that and it looks like you are then you will go ahead with the right plan and be debt free in 48 months if that’s a Trust Deed.

The positive thing to remember is you have solutions and we can help you deal with this and regain control of your finances.

Hi RC86,
Well done getting in touch with this forum, we were in a similar position to you, with the amount of debt we had. We set up a meeting with David and discussed our options, that was in November. We decided Sequestration was a better route for us to follow, but whatever you decide (trust deed, DAS, Sequestration etc), please have a chat with one of the advisors to enable your situation to go forward with positivity, and regaining your life back with your family.
I can't believe we did this 3 months ago, it only seems like yesterday.
Please let us know how you get on

Hi RC86! I know it’s a scary thought, but entering a trust deed was one of the best decisions I have made. I’ve only got 5 more payments to make and it’s amazing how quickly it goes in! Hope you find the help you need! Let us know how you get on.

Hi SD1991,

You are on the home straight now with 5 payments to go. Well done on reaching this point!

I'd touch base with your Trustee over the next couple of months to ensure that they process your discharge as quickly as possible and ensure that you don't make any over payments.

Have you thought about starting to look at and rebuild your credit file?

quote:

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Originally posted by David Tannock
[br]Hi RC86,

When it comes to looking at your budget the easiest way to do this is for me to look at your household income and all of the household bills. That way we can ensure that we have covered everything with you and then whatever is left over is then split with your wife based on what percentage earns what in the household.

For example let’s say you have £1,000 left over after all of the bills are paid. As you earn approx 64% of the household income then you would take 64% of the household surplus ie £664. That tends to be the fairest way to do things but there are a couple of ways in which we can work it all out depending on how you and your wife work things. I’ve been doing budgets with clients for over 17 years now!

The budget is key as we want to ensure that any payment is affordable and sustainable. That’s why it’s important to go over it with an expert with knowledge and experience as there could be the small things that you don’t plan for like haircuts, birthdays and Christmas, kids clubs, school meals and just general funds to do things with the kids. Having 2 kids myself I know how expensive things can be.

In terms of the next steps you can reach out to me or one of the others experts for some specific advice if you want.. We will then work through the budget, agree a payment per month and then look at all the options and balance up the pros and cons.

Once you are happy to proceed with a plan it can all be sat up pretty quickly and at that point you would stop making payments to your creditors. It’s a really straightforward process and depending on how quickly you want to do things can be done within a couple of days.

The important thing is to take your time, ask lots of questions and do a little research. If you do that and it looks like you are then you will go ahead with the right plan and be debt free in 48 months if that’s a Trust Deed.

The positive thing to remember is you have solutions and we can help you deal with this and regain control of your finances.

---

Thanks for the advice David, I will have a chat with my wife and be in touch soon. I know the rough budget I plugged into step change has probably missed1001 things that you just don’t think about when you are planning on what you are spending for the month!

It's really easy to miss some small but regular spending RC86. It's also easy to miss irregular but inevitable spending, like car repairs and maintenance for example.

A sustainable budget, that works for you and is fair to your creditors, is at the absolute heart of making a trust deed (and other debt solutions) work well for everyone involved.

When it comes to income/expenditure budgets, there is no substitute for an experienced adviser to guide you through it, such as the various experts on this site. Whilst online tools are helpful, the outcomes cannot really be relied upon. Someone who has many years of experience advising clients in your situation will be able to ensure a reasonable budget plan can be drawn up, as it needs to find that balance of being affordable for you but also acceptable to creditors.

Hi RC86,

Everyone always forgets things when it comes to doing a budget so don’t worry too much. Being put on the spot and trying to think of things like TDA has advised is tricky but that’s why we take our time and based on our experience can ensure we cover it all and keep you right.

If you’d like I can send you a blank budget sheet to work through with your wife that has every expense on it and that way when it comes to speaking to an expert you have already made a head start on things. Sometimes sitting down with a blank budget sheet once the kids are in bed is a little easier.

When it comes to narrowing down the options and proceeding with a plan we need the following information from you:

- X3 months payslips;
- X3 months bank statements;
- Evidence of your debts to confirm balances and also account numbers;
- ID;
- Tenancy agreement;

Have you reached the point that you are now struggling with the minimum payments? Once you are happy and proceed with a plan you can cancel all of the payments to the lenders which will immediately make things a little easier financially for you.

Hi David

Yes I spoke with them and they said as long as I keep making my payments everything will be settled in June.

No I haven’t given it much thought yet. Any advice?

Thanks!

Hi SD1991.

If improving your credit score after your trust deed is important to you, there's some information and guidance at the following page that you might find useful. It's quite a broad topic and different things will be more or less important to different people:

https://www.trust-deed.co.uk/repair-your-credit-rating.html