Hi tompie1980.

You seem to have gathered a lot of information that challenges the valuation of your home that is being used to calculate your equity responsibilities.

I think that was the right thing to do and will be food for thought at your trust deed firm.

If you have demonstrated that there is now little or no equity and your Trustee agrees with this there is no real purpose served by selling your home or sequestrating you.

Please let us know what you hear back when you get a response.

Hi Tompie1980

You seeemed to have done all the right things. If your Trustee still insists on more equity, the you could always try going to the Accountant in Bankruptcy (who acts as supervisor to Trust Deeds) and put your case to her.

Thanks very much shona and TDA. I wasn't sure who else to contact if they did not accept it as I thought it would be the financial obudsman but you have just cleared up my question its the accountant in bankruptcy.
I have done everything that I can with the help of this site. I just hope that they do accept it as it would mean such a weight would be lifted. Fingers crossed and I'll keep you posted...

Hi just an up-date with whats been happening.
I sent the letter to my trust deed saying that I'd had a complete survey done on my house and it came back with no equity in the house at all. I put this in the letter and sent it back to them. They returned the letter saying that they have got back in touch with there person who done there drive buy valuation and they have now come back to say there is now only £5000 equity in the house which is a big jump from the £15000 they initialy said. So my trust deed now just demand the £5000 equity from me. I sent them another letter to ask why they would go with there drive buy rather than my valuation report that I had paid for that states there is no equity.
I soon got a phone call from them to say that they would come and go with me and only take £2500 from me for the equity.
I was initally happy with this even tho its still over the valuation I had completed. They have said that now when my trust deed comes to an end in February then if I make a payment of £2500 plus £3750 that i also have in arrears then the trust deed will be completed. I advised them that I just cant get this kind of money together and no chance of a loan from any bank. I have managed to get a loan for the full ammount of £6250 from my sister but she will only give me this in October and she wants me to pay her £100 per month from the end of my trust deed in February to show her that I can make payments, which I totally understand and agreed to this.
I got a letter from my tust deed to say that they would end the trust deed once this £6250 had been paid but until this has been paid they will continue to take payments from me and instead of the £150 now they are saying there going to take £200 from me. I don't understand this, why would they increase my payments.
I'm not sure what to do now. I can not make these payments of £200 and also the £100 to my sister. This would then leave me with £100 to survive for the rest of the month including buying food, petrol, caring for my child etc etc.
Should I take my case to the Bankruptcy Accountant like what was advised in the previous post.
Please help I have been most gratefull for the support I have already received from here and I thank you for this..

Hello tompie1980.

Has there been any improvement in your circumstances, for example a pay increase, that your trust deed firm could interpret to mean that you can afford to pay more each month (from £150 to £200)?

By the way, congratulations on making so much progress in terms of the equity in your home. Going from £15000 to £2500 sounds like a great piece of work by you.

Hi there has been no such improvement. I got a letter to say that they were increasing it to £200 and also increasing my trust deed for a further 3 years to pay back the arrears. I cant live on £100 per month as I was struggling to cope as it was..

Can I suggest that you request a copy of the "income and expenditure" record that they have used to calculate that you can afford £200 per month?

You'll then be able to review it and correct any errors that are in there.

If there are arrears then it's fair enough that they are paid; however it has to be done in a reasonable and affordable way.

I understand this and have never shyed away from paying these arrears and I will pay these. The problem I have is should I take the case of equity further as I have the valuation report that was completed and there just using a drive by. Or should I just be happy with the £2500 and pay that. I propably will just pay it as I was happy to pay it but the £200 per month has thrown me quite a bit..

The problem with valuations tompie1980 is that they are simply the educated professional opinion of an individual. You could get two highly qualified and respected surveyors to value the same property and it's highly likely that they would arrive at different figures.

Having said that, you could instruct another formal valuation of the property to add weight to your argument if you felt it was likely to be both helpful and worth the expense. One for you to weigh up I suppose.

I wonder how common it is for those entering a TD/PTD to deliver their own house valuation? When my Deed was being prepared, my IP (firm of CAs) commissioned the valuation from a firm of surveyors and this was submitted to my creditors, who, like me, accepted the value/level of equity etc. That seemed to ease the process. I still needed to find the equity but I knew at the early stage of the PTD what was expected of me not just a few months away from the 3 year period, as tompie1980 seems to be experiencing.

I was told at the begining that I had £6000 equity in my property and if I paid half of this now then that would clear up my equity. The problem I had was I had no way of getting £3000 there and then and advised them of this, I was continually told not to worry about anything and we'd deal with it at the end of the trust deed. I was contstantly told not to worry and in fact that is what I should have done. I feel that WA who my trust deed is with has constantly been like this and would not recommend them to anyone but that is my own opinion.
What I'd like to know is who has got a spare £3000 or £6250 anyway. We're in a trust deed because we were in trouble with money. I was told by WA to borrow from friends or family or get a loan. I thought that was what a trust deed was for. To come out the end of end debt free. That is not going to be the case for me..

It is clear that when an IP says "don't worry, it will work itself out" or "we'll deal with the issue at the end of the three years", alarm bells should ring out.

THe PTD process has some margins of flexibility and I was only able to make my equity contribution from borrowing from family members - but they had three years notice and that has allowed me to make my equity payment.

Yes it should have sent alarms ringing but I was at such a bad place that I would have agreed to anything at the time..

Did you advise your trustee that a lump sum may be available from your sister, tompie1980? Maybe they would be more flexible about the level fo your payments if they know that a lump sum will be coming before too long?