Hi all.

I have been thinking about this all weekend and trying to get my head around it.

I have decided to have the trustee's fees audited by the A in B.

There is no guarantee that my creditors will accept my offer of composition and if they don't I lose nothing. If they do accept it and there is money to come back to me then I will have to accept the hit for the A in B audit fees.

I cannot just sit back and accept these huge fees.

How do I ask for the audit? Do I tell my trustee I want it done or do I contact the A in B myself?

Wish me luck.

Tony

Hello tonyd.

There's a helpline number on the AIB website.

I'd call them and ask how best to go about this.

Good luck tonyd

Good luck Tonyd

Hi Tony

Sorry meant to respond earlier.

The normal audit of a trustees fee will be 5% of the fee in question. You however are looking for a review of all fees and it maybe more fruitful to ask the AIB to review under their supervisory powers.

Mark

as a courtesy i e.mailed my trustee yesterday afternoon telling them i was unhappy with the level of fees and could not understand where the additional £10,000 of fees had come from which have been added since November of last year. I also added that i would be contacting the a in b to seek their advice. When i get in from my night shift i shall be calling the a in b Tony

Hi all

Phone call and e-mail sent to Accountant in Bankruptcy asking for review. I am always nervous about phoning officials however the people on the phone were very friendly clear and helpful.

Awaiting there reply

Oh, nothing heard back from my trustee and still not received copy of trustee reports/ fee breakdown as requested.

Tony

Hi all.

The A in B have been back in touch and asked if I wanted specific accounting periods audited or all of them. I told them that I would like them all audited.

I figure that if my creditors accept my offer of composition then the fee for audit would be about £1,200 ( ie 5% of £23,000 ) and this would come off any money I may get back. If they don't accept my offer then I assume the fee comes off the money in the pot.

The A in B have said it could take several months but as I have been in this trust deed for over 7 1/2 years already I figure that a few more months is nothing to worry me about.

Still silence from trustee. Am I right in assuming that as I have asked them to make an offer of composition that they have to do it or can they decide not to make the offer. Although I do have an e-mail from them from last week saying they would write to creditors to make the offer. Just wondering because I have not had the letter from them confirming it.

Tony

Hi tonyd.

I think that's a discretionary matter for your trustee, but given that they have agreed to do so and that the AIB are becoming involved I would be surprised if they changed tack now.

Hi tony

You should certainly push for the offer of composition.

As mentioned earlier, if this is not successful, the the interest accrues daily. There would be nothing to stop the Trustee paying 100p in the £ just now and then making the offer as full and final settlement.

I know its a bit back to front, but it at least settles the increasing interest element. Although it should be quite straighforward to circularise creditors and give them 14 days to respond. All in all, the circular would take 20 mins.

Mark

Hi all

Received letter from trustee this morning saying they have sent letters to creditors with offer of composition.

As expected by JintyMcSkinty though in their post on page 2 of this thread, it's gonna cost me to have the question asked.....

Last week I received a distribution schedule without the offer of composition and the estimated fees to close was £500

Today's distribution schedule with the composition offer and estimated fees to close of..... £2000.

Just been looking back as they have also sent all my annual reports ( which don't do anything really to answer my question about what fees have gone on ) and it appears to be getting more and more expensive to enter a trust deed..

When I started mine in November 2005 the hourly rate was £88.02

The last report states fee is now £324.44 per hour.

I know all the experts on here are very good with their help and I would expect their fees to be nowhere near these amounts, but these fees I am being charged make the whole thing look bad..

I can state that my trust deed is not being handled by any of the experts on here or any of their firms. I only wish they were.

I also wish I could name my trustee on here..

Tony

Hello tonyd.

It's up to you whether you name your trustee here. However it may make it more difficult for the experts that post here to offer their thoughts if that were to happen.

Hi

I understand that TDA that's why I would like to but wont be naming them.
The expert's and your own thoughts and comments are too invaluable. I just wish your site had been open when I entered my trust deed. It is very helpful to us ' ordinary ' people

Tony

This site came into existence about a year after your trust deed started tonyd.

It was a quiet little place back then though, quite unlike it is now.

I'm sure Mark remembers answering the monthly question that used to appear here!

hi all.

Well a little good news. My creditors have accepted my offer of composition. ie no interest to pay on the debts so according to the last letter from my trustee there will be some money left in the pot to come back to me.

Now then, they tell me that the case cannot be closed as of now as the A in B have requested the account details for audit ( as requested by myself). So I understand there will be a few months waiting now as explained to me by the A in B.

Can anyone now tell me exactly what the A in B can actually do?

Can they decide the fees charged are too high? and if so can they have them reduced?

Or will they simply check the figures all add up and have no regards to the fact that the trustees fees have increased from £88/hour when it started to £ 324/ hour at the end or that their estimated fees given at the start of the trust deed were so far out.

Tony