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Topic starter
25/03/2010 4:17 pm
Hi,
On Monday I received confirmation from my employer that my salary is to increase by 7%, and that I am to receive a performance-related personal bonus.
I promptly informed my trustee of these details (both by telephone and in writing), and asked how they wished to proceed. Specifically - whether they need to increase my monthly contribution in light of the payrise, and whether they require me to surrender a portion of the bonus.
I am very conscious that the bonus is due to be paid on 31st March, and for obvious reasons I would like to know what the trustee requires from me in advance of that date. Very little seems to be happening however, and whenever I contact my Trustee to chase up on the matter, I am told that the person dealing with it is not in the office.
This is a rather familiar theme as far as my trustee is concerned and I have found in the past that no matter how pro-active I am in fulfilling my obligations to the trust deed, it is extremely difficult to get my trustee to do anything.
What are my rights here? I know that this site does not encourage the raising of complaints against trustees, but I am now at a loss in terms of what to do next.
Any help or advice here would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
25/03/2010 5:57 pm
Hello imcville,
The slow response must be frustrating.
It seems very likely that your monthly contribution will increase unless your reasonable expenditure has increased by the same amount or more.
On a practical level it could be a good idea to set any extra pyament to one side ready to deal with any request for additional payment later.
If you feel that you are not being dealt with properly the first step would be to complain to the company.
The second would be to complain to the Trustee's professional body if unhappy with the response from the company.
Many people we have spoken with in the past, directly and via the forum, have seem their complaints resolved by the company concerned when they have clarified their complaints/frustrations in writing.
It is correct that we are not quick to encourage the making of complaints. Having said that you are paying fees and have a right to be dealt with professionally and with reasonable timeliness.
Qualified Debt Adviser & Forum Administrator - Ask me anything about Trust Deeds 
Topic starter
25/03/2010 7:01 pm
Hi TDA - many thanks for the response. It certainly is frustrating!
Since posting my original message, I have actually written to my trustee again to re-iterate the importance of confirming the required action asap, and ideally before 31st March. The letter was posted first-class today so they should receive it tomorrow. Hopefully this will encourage a bit more urgency on their part. If I still don't hear back from them then I guess I'll have no option but to lodge a formal complaint.
Putting aside the extra cash until I know how much they require is something I was going to do as a matter of course, but obviously I'd rather have avoided having to do so.
Topic starter
26/03/2010 3:58 pm
Well the good news is that my trustee received my letter and promptly got back to me today with confirmation on what they want to do.
The not so good news is that they will ultimately collect more than 90% of the personal bonus from me. In practical terms this means that they have already collected a large proportion of the bonus via what's accounted for in my monthly contribution, and they have also instructed me to surrender half of the bonus payment itself that I am due to receive on 31st March.
They have also confirmed that I need to complete a "current status" form, so that they can then ascertain whether or not my monthly contribution needs to increase.
Much harsher than I had hoped for but not much scope for haggling I imagine.
