Hi Andrea73.

Trust deed payments are based upon affordability, so if your earnings have increased it wouldn't be unusual for the monthly payment to increase. Helping your son with his car insurance is something I can understand you'd want to do, but I'm not sure it's something that your trustee would be able to factor into an affordability calculation I'm afraid.

Has your income reduced as a result of being off work? Have you explained this and your current health concerns to your trustee?

These things should always be treated with sympathy and understanding, albeit your trustee has to also keep in mind the interests of your creditors when making determinations that will affect all of the parties involved.

By the way, many of the people at Apex were previously at RSM Tenon. The changeover hasn't been as substantial as it might appear at first sight.

Hi Andrea73,

AS TDA has advised the Trust Deed payment needs to be based on affordability and an accurate income and expenditure should be completed to ascertain the level of payment which you can both afford to pay.

Sometimes when one of my clients return their completed income and expenditure they have forgotten to add some bills in which can make it look like they can afford to increase their payments. I'll normally give them a call to work through it with them before considering an increase.

I would suggest speaking with your relationship manager about your situation and to make them aware that you feel you cannot afford an increase of £100 per month.

In situations like this communication can be key to resolving any issues.

Let us know how you get on.

I've just came home to a nasty surprise too. Apex want to increase my monthly payment to £650 from £425. I'm so distraught I could barely find this forum again. Last year with RS Tenon I felt hand held through the income and expenditure process. I was told what I could put down and what was excessive. When I submitted this years info I must have missed something out. I don't know how I'll get through this weekend.

Hi gaelforce.

Has anything significant changed with your income and/or your expenditure?

No it hasn't

It might well be a mistake of some sort in that case gaelforce.

You can ask to see the record of income and expenditure that has been used to calculate your new payment.

If there's an error in there you'll be able to point it out to your Apex contact and hopefully sort out a solution that works for everyone.

I can't find any of my figures either to compare.

They should be able to let you have a copy of what you sent through as well gaelforce. I'm sure it will be on your file.

Can I ask to see it compared to the previous years?

Of course.

I'm sure that your case manager will want to make sure that any payment they're asking you for is fair and sustainable.

Thank you for your replies TDA. I'm a bit worried that maybe Apex calculate differently from RS Tenon. I've been out with my dog a while to get some fresh air. I've kind of calmed down as absolutely nothing has changed since a year ago. Same job , same house, same bills. I must have made some kind of error in my figures.
This is the letter sent to me with anything identifying scrubbed out. (link removed by forum administrator).

Andrea73. I don't mean to hijack your thread. It's just in principle we are in the same boat with Apex.

Hi gaelforce,

As I said earlier on sometimes people can make mistakes when completing and returning the current status reports.

Every firm will handle this issue differently. I'm very hands on with my clients and will have an idea based on completing their financial assessment that in actual fact they have probably made a mistake and even although the CSR suggest that they can pay more they probably can't. A quick call and review of the CSR and there isn't any problems.

Some firms will review the CSR, go with the figures that you have put down and decide to increase your payments automatically without speaking with you and confirm this via letter. It looks like Apex have done this but they have said to call them if you have any questions.

Best thing to do is to contact your relationship manager and discuss your CSR. Ask them to work through one with you on the phone or in person at their office.

Ultimately if you can't afford the increase and your situation is the same as the pervious years and nothing has changed then I can't see how they can increase the payment.

Thanks David, Stacey my RM has always been very approachable. i will get in touch on Monday.