But you wouldnt under DAS. Mark suggested the correct ammount divide your debt by what you can afford for example you owe ?ú8000 you can afford say ?ú100 a month that would mean 80 payments of 100, 80 divided by 12 is 6.6 so about 6 and 1/2 years... a trust deed will wreck your credit for a lot longer than that... it would be 6 years before you could even apply for credit and as your paying 120 under a deed your still going to feel the pinch.... ok not as long, but with much, much more of an impact. Ive got a degree too and a Masters... and let me tell you when the student loans company catch up with you it makes things worse, anything you earn over 15000 is calculated by the inland revenue so you cant negotiate a lower amount and NEW scheme student loans cant be included in a trust deed, I pay 212 a month back to the student loans company whether I like it or not. At the end of the day its your decision, I intimated an intention to apply to DAS last week and like you hummed and hawed for weeks, the creditors cannot do dillegence now for a period of time until an acceptable debt management programme is put together , which payplan did for me for free. I will hopefully get an approved money advisor to agree to it and send it to the DAS Administrator for approval, then Im protected for any action, provided I stick to the agreement. It has reduced by outgoings to creditors from around ?ú1300 a month to ?ú825, Trust deed Asst, gave me adivce a way back and she was spot on, creditors (decent ones, want their money back and will negotiate to an extent). Im starting to sound like a sales person for DAS, sorry but Ive seen what a trust deed can do and it aint as straight forward as some debt companies lead you to believe. The experts on this site seem very ethical and if you read some of their advice, which I believe is unbiased and fair , and still decide to go for a deed then all best and I hope it works for you. Let me know how it goes.