Hi gibbo8907.

Congratulations on reaching the final stages of your trust deed.

It's possible that there could be a final review. This would usually just be to check that the amount you've paid is appropriate. If anything significant changes with your income and bills during the next year it would be a good idea to let your trustee know at the time. This could avoid delay and/or hassle later.

Beyond that I don't have much to add, but others may do. There's not really much point in working on your credit report until you've been officially discharged.

Hi Gibbo8907,

Well done on reaching this point in your Trust Deed journey and having only 12 months to go. The countdown is on!

Main thing is just to make sure you make all your payments and notify your Trustee if there are any change in details/circumstances. You will probably need to do another review between now and then but it’s nothing you should be worried about.

I’d also recommend getting in touch with your Trustee when you have 3 payments remaining to ask them about how long it will take for you to receive your Form 5 certificate of discharge once you complete your final payment. Ideally you should receive this within approx. 4-6 weeks from the final payment. Once you receive the Form 5 that is you completely debt free from the debts.

Also might be a good idea to think about looking at your credit file and also about rebuilding this once you approach the end of your Trust Deed. Some good advice on the forum about what to do here.

How have you found the Trust Deed, is it something that has helped you?

Hi Amy & David,

Thanks for the prompt replies!

I had a change of circumstance (for the better!) at the start of the year, which I notified the Trust Deed about, so all that is up to date at least! Pending any future changes of course.

I'll speak to the Trustee at the start of next year as you have advised David.

I've been looking at mine (and my wifes as she's also in a trust deed) on Clear Score and have noticed dates don't match up with the date we entered the Trust Deed.. I've raised disputed to correct these too so hopefully this is all prompt and sorted before the close of the deed so we can start improving our scores then!

Question I have, does the notice of the trust deed stay on the credit file for 2 years after you finish it (as the Trust Deed is on average 4 years long)? So I'd, in theory, have 2 years of building up as good a rating as I can before looking into getting a mortgage (outwith the saving for a deposit part)?

Also may I add,

The Trust Deed has been good for myself and my wife, as we were starting to get in over our heads due to my partner being made redundant! As much as we were still managing to pay each month, we were leaving ourselves with 0 flexible income, which wasn't very fair on us, but more importantly, our daughter. It's helped us be more organised with our finances. I have a spreadsheets every month for income and expenditure so we can see what our bottom line would be for the month ahead.. As stressful as it can be, I'd recommend it to anyone who is struggling!

That’s good that you notified your Trustee about the positive change in your circumstances rather than things being looked at retrospectively and causing a delay later on down the line.

It will take time to rebuild both your credit files but you will get there. My understanding of how it works is that any defaults from the lenders will remain on your credit file for 6 years from the date they go on. You want to get the default dates as close to the start of the Trust Deed as possible as that way 6 years from entering the Trust Deed all the negative information will fall off.

If you take out some credit at the end of year 4 and work on paying this back successfully then the positive information will be on your credit file which will help.

We do hear of people successfully going onto secure a mortgage within a couple of years of completing their Trust Deeds so that is something for you both to work towards and look forward to.

Glad to hear that entering into a Trust Deed was the right choice for you and it’s worked out for you both. For a lot of people it’s a big decision so reading peoples experiences of them does help. We also hear that it’s helped people to work with a budget and they are better at managing their finances.

Here’s to a quick final 12 months for you both!

In terms of the Trust Deed notice itself, it should disappear from your credit file 6 years after it went on too. So yes, it would normally disappear a couple of years after your discharge