Any advice more than welcome. Reading other posts make me feel not alone!!

Hi trapped

Have you considered sequestration as an option? It may depend on your asset position.

In trust deeds you need to reach an agreed target for creditors to accept. In DAS you need to pay in full. Sequestration has none of these limitations and may be the option to suit your surplus.

Mark

Hello trapped.

In terms of Mark's point about assets, are you a homeowner or do you own a car worth more than £3000?

hi
I had not considered Sequestration I thought I was better trying another approaches first. I am worried about the limitation it might have on future employment possibly contracting.

hi, yes I am a homeowner and looks as though I have no equity and my car is not over the value of £3000

Hi trapped.

It doesn't sound as though your assets will be threatened by bankruptcy, and from a credit rating point of view there is little difference with a trust deed.

Will your tax credits now be reduced to get that money back? Is that factored into the £160 figure mentioned if so?

I am no longer eligable for tax credits, so they cannot recover the balance this way.

You could look to the debt arrangement scheme, but £19000 at £160 per month would be near enough a ten year arrangement.

At £160 a trust deed might also work with a firm with low fees but I think it likely that the term could be longer than the usual three years.

If you could afford a contribution that would last for three years in bankruptcy. The discharge would be after one year.

How tight is that £160 figure? How confident are you that you could stick to that budget?

I am not 100% confident about the budget, I do not have much room for emergencies. At work I have opportunities for overtime, so if I was able to get into a debt arrangement scheme, I would be more confident, but Trust Deed or bankruptcy would mean I have to pay all extra money into the pot, so would not be confident.

For the £160 I can look to see what outgoings I can reduce, I may be able to stretch it, but maybe by £20.

Hi trapped.

It's actually quite common to agree a split of overtime in a trust deed so that you and your creditors benefit if you work more hours. If overtime is regular that could be very helpful.

I know the firms that post here are happy to consider that and I'm sure other firms would as well. It does need sorting out before a trust deed starts though.

I wonder if our experts could tell us whether their firms might also do that if they took on a bankruptcy with a monthly contribution also...

On the details given I would be looking closely at sequestration as being the best route forward.

Paul

An agreement could be reached regarding overtime in a sequestration too, the same as in a trust deed.

To summarise your options from the info you have provided:

1) DAS payment programme. At £160pm it would take 10 years to repay the debts. This could be brought down by earning overtime and reducing the balance more quickly.

2) Protected trust deed. May need to be over longer than 3 years depending on how much you can afford. It should be possible to propose your trust deed over say 4 years and pay a little less in order that your budget is not too stretched

3) Sequestration. Payments for 3 years only.

The way I see it, you need to be realistic about your budget whatever you do, so if £160pm is going to be a struggle then a DAS would mean that you might be struggling for a long time before being clear of your debts. Not a very appealing prospect I'd have thought.

The other 2 options are both insolvency procedures so will both affect your credit rating. Sequestration is likely to be quicker and maybe cheaper. However, if you really don't relish the thought of bankruptcy and are worried about the possible effect on your employability (not normally an issue though except for certain professions - what is it that you do?) then a trust deed may well be manageable.

Also bear in mind that a DAS will affect your credit score as outlined on the DAS Website.

Thanks for all the advice. It helps a lot. I am struggling to see the difference in Trust Deed and Sequestion though. I am currently a Snr Business Analyst, permanent post, but was considering moving to contracting, being unable to become ltd company may be prohibitive and most opportunity is in finance sector.

I completed a CCCS income/expendidure who calculated DAS would take 10 yrs, but if I was to continue to pay priority debts at current rate, this could take just over 5 years.

I know I have a lot to consider.