Welcome to the trust deed forum tallulah636.

Would you mind letting us know how the £50000 of debt is split between your husband and yourself?

Also, how much would you estimate that you are collectively in a position to pay towards the debts each month?

If you are the owner of an unmortgaged property it seems quite likely that a trust deed might not be appropriate for you. However it might still be for your husband depending upon the actual circumstances. Other options that might work for you, again depending upon the circumstances, could be the debt arrangement scheme or a debt management plan.

It actually isn't uncommon for a husband and wife to select different options. Please let us know a little more information and I'm sure the experts will be able to suggest some ideas to you.

the majority of the debt is joint, unsecured loans with northern rock, the biggest of which is part of our current together mortgage and the smaller from our previous together mortgage from ourold flat . my husband has a credit card with around £2500 on it and i have an unsecured finance for around £1700. we'd have around £400 to contribute between us each month

Hi there.

It's a shame that the house was put into your name as it does cause a big problem for you in respect of your options. I think you will need to stick with a non-insolvency route such as a debt payment plan and pay off the debts in full I'm afraid as otherwise the property would be jeopardised. At £400pm you are looking at around a 10-year period though.
When you work out the £400pm figure are you taking into account that your mortgage payment will be lower if the unsecured part is taken out?

Hi Kevin, the £400 is taking into account the lower mortgage payment. We were on a debt management plan a few years back but were unhappy with the company and it ended up being a lot of hassle because they couldn't seem to get northern rock to split the current together mortgage direct debit! Ended up in more of a mess to be honest, but would definitely consider this route via another company. Your advice is much appreciated, thanks

Hi tallulah636.

The Northern Rock Together product has caused many issues such as the one you had. Basically, the unsecured loan and the mortgage accounts use the same reference number. When a payment is received at their end (for your mortgage for example) their systems automatically divide it proportionately between the loan and mortgage.

The end result of this can be that they allege that the mortgage has not been paid in full, despite the fact that the unsecured loan should not have been credited with any of the mortgage payment.

To be fair, once an intermediary (such as a debt management company) raises this with the right people at Northern Rock it is fairly easily and quickly fixed. They are aware of the issue at their end.

If you go down the path of a debt management plan or the debt arrangement scheme I would hope that this issue would not come up again, or could at least be quickly fixed.