Hi nics07,

The overpayment of housing benefit, was this for a period before the Trust Deed was signed or after you signed the Trust Deed?

How much savings do you have in the account?

With any changes like this and a reduction in benefits and increase in expenditure it's best to discuss this with your Trustee. You want to ensure that any payment is still affordable going forward.

Hello David,

Thank you for a prompt reply. There is £690 in it. With a bonus to be paid In May. It would seem the period this covers
Is both before and after the trust deed was signed.

I was hoping to just cut back on certain things to make sure this is paid without it affecting my trust deed, wouldn’t want it to extend it or anything and when my review comes up if this is paid off then it would mean an increase in my rent of around £30/£40 a month. I don’t want it to mean I can’t afford to give a certain amount to my creditors and affecting my trust deed.

Such worrying times.

Thank you again for the reply. This is still all quite new to me.

I think the best thing to do is to run it past your Trustee first. Given you told them about the savings in the first place then it seems likely that they were comfortable with it. If it means your housing benefit doesn't have to be reduced then it is safeguarding your ability to pay your Trust Deed anyway.

Hi All,

I noticed this thread and thought i would get some advice. When on the phone today, i was advised i cannot have a help to save account whilst in a trust deed as this is counted as extra income that should go towards paying off my creditors. Can you advise given that there are some on here that do have a help to save account?

Hi hthomson16 and welcome to the forum.

Were you given this information by your trustee or by the help to save account administrators?

Hi there,

This information was given to me by my Trustee

Hi hthomason16,

People can and do save modestly during a trust deed. This makes sense to cover occasional but inevitable expenditure, like vehicle servicing for example. Putting these allowances aside for when they're needed makes sense.

A trustee may have a legitimate concern if someone can afford to save a significant amount regularly. This could be an indication that their monthly trust deed payment should be higher, because it's apparent they have spare cash left over after covering their bills and other expenses.

Help to Save is interesting in another way. My understanding is that a bonus is paid after two years based upon your level of accumulated saving. This bonus could be viewed as extra income by a trustee if you were still in a trust deed at that point.

Hi again,

The limit I am allowed to put away is £50.00 which is what I would use to save for 'contingency plans'. I may need to speak to them again and clarify this otherwise I will not have any savings at all.

I think speaking with them again makes sense hthomson16.

There's no point giving someone a contingency allowance and then not allowing them to set this money aside.

The maximum contingency allowance in a Trust Deed is actually only £20 per month according to the regulations. Having said that, you are also allowed to set money aside for some outgoings that are not regular (eg car repairs).

As long as you are only saving what is set out in your budget for these things then I don't see a particular reason why you shouldn't be able to use the Help to Save scheme to do it.