Welcome to the forum Tea_Please.

Major creditors like RBS have very clear acceptance criteria which trust deed firms know, so an adviser really ought to be able to reassure you that you either meet them, or that there might be some challenges to overcome.

How much are you expecting to pay into the trust deed? How long is it expected to run for? Do you know how much your trustee is proposing to charge to handle your trust deed? These are all factors that might influence whether your trust deed becomes protected.

I personally haven't seen trust deeds stand in the way of entering a teaching career, but it's the policy of any particular prospective employer that is the key here.

Thanks for the response.

I will be paying £220 a month for 4 years for the majority of my debt (£16000) as one of my loans is a guarentor loan for £8000 and will be defaulted to and paid by my guarantor (with their consent).

I have no equity and they are all unsecured loans.

I believe they will charge an overall 10% which will be included in my monthly payments. I am going though trust deed Scotland who do appear to be quite reliable.

Hi Tea_Please and welcome to the forum.

Well done on reaching out for help and advice as from experience in helping client for close to 14 years I know this is often the hardest step to take.

An advisor should be able to answer all of your questions confidently and put your mind at ease from the first phone call. From what you say it doesn’t sound like you are feeling more reassured.

I deal with the RBS on a daily basis and know exactly what their criteria is for accepting/rejecting a Trust Deed proposal. An advisor that regularly deals with the majority of creditors will be able to tell you why creditors will object to a proposal. For most creditors it comes down to a couple of things:

1. The level of dividend / return that they receive at the end of the Trust Deed.
2. Your income and expenditure can’t be excessive and exceed the maximum spending categories.
3. The payment per month that you pay needs to be sufficient.
4. The fees that the company charge to administer the Trust Deed can’t be excessive.

When it comes to discussing your options and signing a Trust Deed you ideally want to do this with the advisor who will handle your Trust Deed from start to finish and be your main point of contact. Take Kevin and I, we handle cases from the first point of contact to the clients final payment. You want to check with the advisor that you are speaking with if they will be the advisor and also company who will handle your case or if they will pass you to someone else. My understanding regarding the company you are using is they may pass you to another company to actually administer your Trust Deed. Whilst there is nothing wrong with this, you need to ensure that when you come to actually sign the Trust Deed it’s exactly the same as what the first advisor told you.

A Trust Deed can be a very effective way of dealing with unmanageable debts but you need to feel confident with the person you are speaking with. There is no harm in seeking a second or even third opinion from a different advisor / firm. Kevin or I would be happy to help with this if you wanted. An alternative option could also be the Debt Arrangement Scheme. Was this option discussed with you?

If you own your own house then we need to confirm the equity in your property and to do this we need to obtain a valuation of your house and also obtain a settlement figure for your mortgage.

If you take your time, do a little research and make sure that everything is confirming in writing with regards to your payment, how your assets will be treated then you should be fine.

My advice is don't use Trust deed Scccotland. They are effectively a third party. Go direct to one of the guys here. I used Trust Deed Scotland and was passed to a Manchester company called Knightsbridge. I have completed my Trust deed in the last couple of months and it did go relatively smoothly to be fair. A year or so after signing my Trust Deed I found this forum and the regular contributors and experts. I always had that feeling I could have got a better deal and support going direct. In fact I'm sure I could have. Good luck

It will be Harper McDermot who are based in Glasgow and work closely with them already so I'm happy with the firm. I suppose its mainly because they cannot say 100% that it will be a yes, just wanted to know what other peoples success rates with RBS were, I think I should be okay though.

I guess nobody can give you a 100% assurance Tea_Please, because ultimately it's the decision of your creditors and their policies could change.

However it should be possible to seek reassurance that your proposal meets the current acceptance criteria of this bank as your proposed trustee currently understands them.

Hi Tea Please,

Have you looked into the firm that you will actually sign your Trust Deed with in terms of reviews/feedback from clients who have been through the full Trust Deed journey with them? You want to research the actual firm you will sign the Trust Deed with rather than the firm that will introduce you to them.

Like TDA has advised no one can give you a 100% on if your proposal will be accepted by the creditors but a good knowledgeable expert who deals with the RBS on a daily basis can give you an extremely good indication and reassure you. Based on my firm and my experience with the RBS we never have a problem with them as long as we meet their predetermined criteria.

In terms of your teacher training, will your income increase upon completion and when you move to a full time position and have you discussed this with your proposed Trustee? Should your financial circumstances change or your income change then this can have an impact on your payments and potentially mean you could increase these. Just make sure that absolutely everything is discussed Tea Please and covered off. If you do that then you shouldn’t run into any problems.

Black Knight – Thanks for the vote of confidence.