Hello LuckyWhiteHeather and welcome.

I'm sorry to hear that you're in this tricky position.

Do you agree with the £60,000 valuation?

How much do you owe on the mortgage still?

I should have asked also...

Are you the sole or joint owner of the home?

Sole owner, ~£39,000 left to pay. Seems a little low but I have no funds to do it up our sell it.

Thank you.

So there's £21,000 of equity in your home according to the valuation being used.

When you chose to sign your trust deed this equity "vested" in your trustee and they became obligated to use it to help to repay your creditors what you owe to them. They don't have any alternative other than to work to realise the value of the equity.

The most that you can be asked to pay in total is the sum of:
1 - Your debts.
2 - Interest on your debts (if enough money is available to pay it).
3 - The fees of your trustee.

You have already paid around £10,000. If the full amount of the equity were raised this would add a further £21,000. Also there will be one more year of monthly contributions, adding up to around £3500. In total that takes us to about £34,500 that might be paid in.

That £34,500 will almost certainly be less than the £29,000 you owe, plus interest, plus fees. As such, your trustee is probably correct that your creditors don't stand to be fully repaid (or receive any interest) even if you complete your monthly payment obligations and your home is sold.

I agree that £8,000 sounds a lot for fees, it is a lot. If you take a look at the documentation you signed at the start you'll find out what you agreed to in terms of fees (and what your creditors consented to) when the trust deed began.

In terms of your options, I really wish I could be more positive but I think that your position is very difficult. The usual ways to raise equity are:
1 - You find a 3rd party (often a relative) to come up with the sum.
2 - The sum is paid off in monthly instalments via an extension of the trust deed.

The problem with option 2 here is that it would probably have to be repaid within a certain period of time, perhaps two years for example. £285 for 24 months is £6840 which will fall short of the equity that your trustee is looking to raise.

There's is nothing to stop you proposing an extension of your trust deed and monthly payments to your trustee. The alternative for them, perhaps, is that they have to forcibly sell your home. If you resist this it will end up being expensive and time-consuming for your trustee and creditors. In those terms some kind of extension might allow you to retain the home and result in an extra sum being raised for your creditors.

Will your trustee and creditors accept this? You can only ask to find out.

That's probably my main suggestion to you, to try to negotiate an extension, if remaining in your home is your main priority. Our other experts may have other thoughts and ideas...

I thought the interest was FROZEN, was the only reason I agreed with starting the trust deed once I discovered that they had lied to me when they said it wouldn't cost me anything and when they came back to get me to sign it they had added an additional £6500 or so to my debts but by that time I was getting threatened by freezing my wages and court appearances so I had to sign it as I felt there was nothing else that I could do.

Hi.

Nothing was added to your debts specifically, but you did sign for there to be fees (something your creditors also agreed to). For most people the fees are taken from their contributions and you could make a case that the creditors are bearing the cost. When contributions reach a higher level though, sometimes because of a windfall for example, it is more clearly the debtor that bears the costs for sure.

Interest is frozen unless, under the rules of your trust deed, you become able to pay some interest. It seems fair enough that it's paid if it becomes affordable.