Welcome to the forum Stuh88.

As you entered into your trust deed in 2012 a settlement is possible. Unfortunately that's no longer the case for new trust deeds - they need to run for at least four years unless the debts and costs are fully repaid sometime beforehand.

How much do you offer? It's hard to see why your trustee or creditors would object to an amount that's equal to what they stand to receive if you continue with your payments instead. You could try your luck and offer less, but that might be rejected and might further delay bringing everything to a conclusion. You'll really just need to use your judgment on this - no right or wrong answers.

You don't have a general right for your trust deed to be settled early. It's at the discretion of your trustee. It sounds from what you've written that your trustee has an open mind about this though.

Will you be discharged when you make the settlement payment? Another question to ask your trustee. Some will do so, others might keep the trust deed open until it was previously expected to end (without monthly payments being made) in case you come into some money that your creditors would otherwise have benefited from.

In terms of getting credit, there's no straightforward answer. It depends upon your financial circumstances, your credit record, and the value and types of credit that you apply for.

It's definitely the case that the longer you've been discharged, and the more you've done to rebuild a positive record of credit usage, the better access to mainstream credit you'll have.

Mortgage lenders continue to be sensitive about any applicant with an imperfect credit history, previous trust deed or not. We're not mortgage brokers so don't know all of the facts, but we're only currently aware of one mortgage lender that will lend to someone who has been discharged for a year. Other lenders might have criteria of considering applicants that have been discharged for two years, three years etc.

So my girlfriend and I are now looking at getting a mortgage. Her credit rating is excellent and obv mine is non existent. How will this work? Can she get the credit check done on her and I can still be named on the mortgage or is this not possible while I'm in the trust deed?

I wouldn't have thought that you can both go on the mortgage but only credit check one of you. You might be best speaking to a mortgage broker as they are likely to know what your options are.

Hi Stuh88.

I agree with Kevin that it will be best to speak to a mortgage broker.

It seems very likely that you will not be able to go on any mortgage at this time. This issue with this may be that it's not possible to factor your income into the amount that a mortgage lender will be prepared to lend to your girlfriend.

So tomorrow I am sending over a letter with proof of funds from a family member to hopefully get this trust deed behind me. Can there be complications with being discharged if the trust deed hasn't ran smoothly, such as late payments, payments breaks or extentions?

At the moment, knightsbridge are saying my trust deed is referred to failure but everytime I speak to them they basically say it's ok it's just because I'm paying back arrears at the moment. Can anyone shed some light on this?

Hi Stuh88.

If you're offering a settlement to bring your trust deed to an end I wouldn't have thought prior payment issues would affect the speed at which this will now be dealt with.

I cannot shed any light on the second part of your post. You'd really need to clarify with your trust deed provider directly exactly what your current position is.

You may want to clarify exactly how long it will take to receive your formal discharge after any settlement has been approved and has been paid. It's not necessarily automatic that this will happen very quickly.