Hi billbaillie.

One of the common reasons for problems that we hear on the forum can be traced back to someone believing they were told something which later turned out not to be the case. That's why I was a bit concerned by the "85%" suggestion.

If you are meeting with an intermediary, rather than an actual trust deed firm, I'd suggest that you run through all of your questions once again with the trust deed firm you are later directed to. Get the big things backed up in writing before you sign a trust deed as well as this is a great way to avoid misunderstandings later.

All great advice, thank you. I do have more questions and will not be signing anything tomorrow. I have been told to expect an insolvency practioner tomorrow, he would be from a trust deed firm? I think I will phone someone in the morning (I.e. an actual debt firm). I would like to clarify some other factors before seeing the practioner tomorrow as he had asked me to provide an awful lot of paperwork.

Hi billbaillie

Good thinking. I hope your meeting is with an IP firm directly.

Best idea is to draw up a huge list of questions and see how comfortable you are with the answers.

We should all pull together and draw up a list of questions to ask! They'll feel like its an exam.

Mark

Cancelled todays meeting!

I have contacted trust-deed and feel more confident that I will get somewhere.

It is looking more likely that I do not have much equity in my home and no other assets of real value. Would creditors still be willing to accept a PTD knowing that they may only get 3 years worth of payments and no more?

Hi billbaillie.

Maybe Kevin, Shona or Mark could confirm, but my impression is that the majority of trust deeds include only a fixed number of monthly contributions rather than any additional release of asset value.

Hi both

Yes, 90% of trust deeds are straight 36 x contributions.

If there was equity, it would require to be dealt with. It's the reason why the position re equity is fully clarified before doing anything.

Mark

As long as your 36 payments total enough to meet the minimum acceptance criteria that your creditors go by then there should be no problem whatsoever. Any decent insolvency practitioner should be able to tell you whether what you can afford is likely to be sufficient, billbaillie. Best of luck.

One more question please as the subject of equity is very important and especially establishing this at the beginning. Can a lower than average valuation be carried out, to establish equity, before signing into a trust deed? Thus establishing a figure that can be put in writing before signing into a trust deed.

Hi billbaillie.

It's not so much a case of instructing a below-average valuation, it's a case of conducting a valuation on the assumption that the property may need to be sold relatively quickly rather than being left on the market for many months or years.

The detail of exactly how this process you envisage could work would need to be agreed with any particular trust deed firm you were talking to.

In principle though there is no reason why you couldn't have certainty about your equity position before signing.

For example, one way would be to instruct a valuation with a valuer that the trust deed provider is happy to rely on. If you're happy with the valuation the trust deed could then go ahead on that basis. If you're unhappy about the equity position you haven't committed yourself and could withdraw.

Ok, thank you. So in order to define an equity amount before signing into a trust deed I would instruct a valuation to be carried out? Would a practioner want me to sign first before instructing their own valuation? Also have you any idea just how reliable an online valuation (i.e. zoopla) actually is?

Hi billbaillie

The ip should be able to do this before you sign anything and give to a figure to allow you to calculate if there was any equity or not.

Mark

I wouldn't rely too much on valuations from sites like Zoopla billbaillie.

When there are few properties selling their valuations can be based on a very small number of prior transactions.

Thanks Mark. Some companies I have been talking to have said they would carry out a valuation after signing but that they would clarify the equity position before committing me to a trust deed. I could not work out how this would be possible! I know a lot of my questions are self explanatory but this is a big step and I just want to be clear about everything.

Thanks TDA, I guessed that but was still curious. Property in my area has not been selling quickly, I am sure this is the case in most areas, with some been on the market for over a year and priced well under their valuations.

The firm I work for often instruct valuations prior to signing, billballie, so that people can have certainty about the equity position before they are committed.

Obviously there is a risk to us that the individual may not go ahead and we are left to pick up the cost of the valuation, so we tend to leave the valuation as the very last piece of the jigsaw to fit in before signing, after full discussions etc, so that we can be fairly sure that a trust deed is likely to go ahead as long as the valuation comes in as expected.

I think a lot of firms aren't willing to run the risk of being out of pocket and insist that somebody pays for the valuation themselves if they wish it to happen pre-signing, which is fair enough.