Hi Jardi88.

I think the main purpose of this report is to keep your creditors informed about how your trust deed is going.

During the first year of your trust deed it's likely that most of your payments will be used to cover fees and costs. The main thing is that you have, and continue to, keep up with your payments. Tracking your payments versus the fees/costs and your debt level would only really have any value if you expected your trust deed to fail in the future.

Hi Jardi88 and welcome to the forum.

I’m assuming you have received the Form 4 report. Like TDA has advised this is a report on the fees and costs and also the funds received into the Trust Deed. This is sent to the AIB, creditors and you each year you are in the Trust Deed. If anything changes in terms of funds collected or fees then it’s noted down here.

The fees and costs of administering the Trust Deed are proposed to creditors at the outset and they have the option to accept or reject these along with the proposal. Nowadays the vast majority of Trust Deed fees and costs are fixed by the creditors and are done on the basis of a fixed fee and a % of the funds collected.

At the end of your Trust Deed once all your payments have been collected the remaining balance from this after the Trustee has taken their fees and costs will be paid out to the creditors in line with the original proposal that was made at the start of the Trust Deed.

From your perspective all you need to do is make sure you complete all of your payments and you will be debt free at the end.

Hope this helps to clarify it all for you.

The reason i asking this is beacuse my total debt is just over 9,000 l, currently i am paying £35.14 per week however after doing my latest expenditure form my payments need to be increased to £563 per month this meaning paying over double my original date, my wage have increased slightly but not to the sum of over £400 per month, the wage increase is around £100. I have raised my comcerns with the company amd they are actually no help at all. Could someone please advise me on my options, i would rather come out of my trust deed and peruse another repayment method

Many thanks again

Hi Jardi88
You need to ask your trustee for a breakdown as to how they have worked this new contribution amount out. Hopefully there will be a misunderstanding or an error somewhere in their calculation which can be rectified.

I'm afraid it isn't possible just to cancel your Trust Deed - only your Trustee can do this. So I would recommend you speak to them again and hopefuly iron out any problems.

How can the fees paid for trust deed exceed my debt? And can the trustee arrest wages for any unpaid payments?

Hi Jardi88.

I'd echo Kevin's point. Ask your trustee to provide the income/expenditure figures used to calculate your £35.14 per week payment, and the income/expenditure figures used to calculate the new £563 per month payment. If your income hasn't increased a lot, or your bills haven't gone down a lot, it seems likely that there has been a mistake or misunderstanding somewhere. Finding an error could get all of this sorted out pretty quickly.

I'm not quite sure what you mean by fees exceeding your debt. What happens when people's financial position improves during a trust deed is that the maximum they'll have to pay is the total of:

1 - Their debt total from the start of the trust deed.
2 - Interest on that debt.
3 - The fees/costs of the trustee.

If this total figure has been paid over, a trust deed can end early.

Seeking a wage arrestment is an option for a trustee if someone's failing to make their payment.

Thanks for all your help

My level debt was 9,000
Trustee fees around £5000
So at the increased paymnets total paid would be over 20,000 with an early end to trust dee, does this seem correct for interest rates?

Also i would like to add at the start my wifes ages etc were not considered so all expenses were done at 50% apart from my rent which i pay in full myself, the trustee is now saying i can only apply 50% of the rent in my expenditure

Hi Jardi88,

I would email your Trustee to request a copy of your original income and expenditure from the start of your Trust Deed and also for a copy of the review form you have just completed. You can then compare them both to try and work out the difference.

I’d also ask for clarification as to why at the start your wife’s circumstances were not taken into consideration but now are. Ask them how they calculated the payment at the start.

A Trust Deed payment should always be affordable, sustainable and strike a fair balance between you, your wife and creditors. Occasionally there can be crossed wires with things like this and once you get in touch in writing it can normally be resolved.

Once you have received a response let us know and we can help further.

Hi Jardi88.

Do you and your wife have a similar level of income?

Has your trustee split all of your household bills in half?

Trustee has split all household bills 50/50.

I totally feel i was misled upon signing up to the trust deed and no longer want to be in this i have contacted all the companies i owe money to and they are happy for me to set up repayment plans. I would also pay off my debts in a quicker time frame as i am not adding interest and trust deed fees onto my overall debt,

As for interest fees i was under the immediate on starting trust deed all interest on debt was frozen

Hi Jardi88.

Does your wife earn a similar amount to you? If it's much more or much less then a 50% share of the bills might not be appropriate.

For most people a trust deed will result in no further interest being added. It is added if someone later becomes able to afford to pay it though, which doesn't seem unfair to me given the borrower agreed to pay interest when they took out the credit.

Hi Jardi88,

When it comes to doing a household budget for a couple it can either done on a 50/50 split or the fairest way can be to do this on a % basis of who earns what in the household.

An example of the % split is that if you earn 60% of the household income then you should pay 60% of the household bills and then whatever is left over after all of this you get 60% of that. Let’s say after every single bill that you and your wife have there is £200 left then you would be entitled to receive £120.00 and this would be your payment to a plan.

I’d go over a household budget for both you and your wife taking into consideration all of her bills too as this could bring the payment back down again. Make sure nothing is missed.

If you feel that you have been misled then write to your Trustee with your concerns and then can look into this and respond in writing to you.

Unfortunately now you are in the Trust Deed you can’t get back out of it without the Trustee allowing this. If you were to pay your creditors the Trustee will write to them to request the funds and it only complicates things.

I would try to find a sensible way forward with your Trust Deed. I know that might be hard to accept especially the way you are feeling.

When doing a budget can u allow for saving money, just say u need a new household appliance or a new car how donthey expect u to buy such things if u have no surplus cash

Hi Jardi88,

A thorough budget should include provisions for thing like car MOT / Maintenance, home maintenance etc so things like this should fall under this. If there is a bigger purchase such as a car to replace a broken down car it’s possible for a payment break if it’s essential.

In terms of “savings” under a Trust Deed you are allowed to save a maximum of 10% of whatever your payment is per month to the Trust Deed but this is capped at £20 per month.

I’d have a right good look at your budget to ensure that you cover absolutely every thing you pay out per month for both you and your wife. Once you have done this discuss it all with your Trustee to see what they can do about your payments.