As David said earlier, these things can usually be straightened out pretty easily through communication. If you think they are asking for more than you can afford then the figures need to back that up. Ask them for a breakdown and try and identify where you have underbudgeted (I know - not a real word!).

Thanks Kevin. Budgeting hasn't been my strong point needless to say. When I was doing the initial I &E my RM was forever telling me I had forgotten something or was claiming far too much for something else. Since entering the TD I have happily given over the day to day running of the house to my husband so filling in this years form without help was silly on my part;

Hi gaelforce.

Nobody wins from asking you for an unaffordable contribution.

Identify the source of the problem with your relationship manager and I'm sure this will turn out fine.

I was switched over from RM to Apex and they tried to extend my payments from 36 months to 48 months.
I contacted them and they were adamant that there was a mistake made at the start of the Trust Deed and it should have been 48 and not 36 months.
When I told them I should probably come to their offices and discuss this face to face they called me up and said they were happy with 36 months.
I got the impression they were a bunch of chancers trying to squeeze more money out of people.
This thread just reinforces that suspicion.

In saying that though my Trust Deed finished last month and they had my discharge papers with me within a couple of weeks.

I'm not sure I'd draw that conclusion from the content of this thread Asmodi, but we all read and understand things in different ways.

I'm glad to hear that you were promptly and efficiently discharged at the end.

I have to say any contact with Apex has been cordial and my RM is very helpful. I really feel I have caused this myself by not taking enough time and care with my income & expenditure return.

I was also worried about things when I discovered I had been switches from RSM to Apex after the event had happened.

I think the lack of communication at the start (unsure if it was Apex or RSM's fault) managed to worry allot of people etc.

I have been dealing with Elaine (RM) at Apex and she has been excellent. We are in the process of completing our review and things have been fairly straight forward.

Fingers crossed you get everything sorted out.

Hi colski,

It's good to hear that things are on track with Apex and you have a good relationship manager.

I'm sure this post will give some confidence to people in a similar situation.

Stacey at Apex has been great and got back to me with my figures so I will look over them this evening. I'm a bit confused as RSN Tenon show the 2013 figures already altered as my half share , ie Mortgage 275 whereas Apex show it as 550 and then work out my share of diosposable income later in the procedure. Can I ask if I am doing a breakdown with my husband's income too, should things like the clothing and footwear figure be for both of us, just as gas and electricity are? Sorry if this is all a little obvious.

Hi gaelforce.

Yes, if it's a joint "income and expenditure" they're looking for please make sure all of your husband's regular expenditure is in there as well as yours.

Many thanks, and could I clarify one final thing, my husband and I half the expenses irrespective of our income, but the disposable income is split proportionately?

Hi gaelforce.

I think your trustee is likely to apportion the joint expenses according to how much each of you earn. So, if one of you earns a lot more they might consider it appropriate that more of the rent comes from that person's income for example.

Best to ask your contact exactly how they've calculated that once they come back to you with a revised payment amount.

There are different ways of doing the calculation, gaelforce. I'd have thought that whatever way it is done it would make most sense for it to remain consistent throughout though.

Just to give an incite to reviews... After completing my review with Apex they have agreed to suspend my wife's PTD payments for a few months while she is off on mat leave adding these payments on at the end they have dropped my payment down monthly for the remaining term of my PTD.

This was all a result of submitting clearly worked out expenditure for everything for both and supporting it all with wage slips and statements etc.

In all it took me three days to work out all our numbers (making sure to check, double check and triple check them) before submitting them. Nothing was missed and everything supported with evidence where appropriate.

I had actually didn't expect a reduction for myself. The RM has instead recommended it based on what our numbers are. This was in truth very helpful as it means we can continue to get buy with everything.

In short my experience of a review with APEX has been great. Elaine the RM was brilliant and made the process far more fluid than I had thought it would be.

Hi colski,

Thanks for sharing your experience regarding reviews. It's good to hear that your RM was flexible and understanding to your situation.

For anyone else reading , It's extremely important that time and attention is taken when completing a review form and posting this back as it's this information which the Trustee then decides if a payment will remain the same or change so it's not something that should be rushed.

It's when things are rushed or forgotten that there can be a problem and the threat of an increase in payments. When there is a problem or a threat of an increase in payment normally a phone call to a RM and work through things with them on the phone can help.

I would also suggest that if possible you take a copy of your review form for future reference when completing others. You can use this as a guidance.