Thank you

I completed a 42 month trust deed with RSM Tenon earlier this year. Everything was carefully explained up front,I knew exactly what was happening equity wise and was able to get a reply to any queries I emailed to my case manager very quickly(was on 1st name terms with a lovely lady),usually within a couple of hours(during office hours).

I cannot under-state you how big a difference this trust deed has made to our lives. We had £70k plus of credit card and loan debt and are now well on the road to recovery.

Please speak to more than company,and choose the one you feel most comfortable chatting to,dont pick the one that says you will pay the smallest amount.

Do ask lots of questions and get important things like equity figures confirmed in writing before you sign up.

Keep firing the questions to the forum as together we offer one hell of a free array of both professional and personal knowledge.

PAUL

As Paul/plasticdaft says, ask away. You are quite right not to rush into anything.

Whilst you cannot know what fate is likely to throw your way over the next few years, there is no reason why you should not be able to expect some definite answers as to what would happen within your chosen solution if your circumstances change.

Thank you. Paul, can I ask you, were you able to skip a month here or there in case of an emergency? The thought of funding christmas next year terrifies me ! Have you been able to get any sort of credit since? I'm hoping that I'll learn to save money, something I've never done because I ALWAYS had debt to pay. Also Paul, were you able to keep it confidential ?

Thank you

Hi stephanie, give me am email and i can give you all my experiences in my trust deed for the past 3 years and a great guy to contact for all the information you require, and of course kkep posting for all the great information you recieve from the brilliant staff here.

I did have a break in payments for 3 months to fund a replacement car after mine blew up(turbo exploded totally ruining the engine). It was fairly early on so I was able to add a little bit onto the remaining payments but rsm tenon said if that wasn't affordable I could tag the missed payments onto the end.

Paul

We didn't tell anyone family wise and nobody else knows about it so yes I have kept it quiet. I have recently got credit(high Apr credit card from vanquis) which is reporting nice green ticks on my credit files. The trust deed will come off my file in June 2014 so I have a while yet before I expect mainstream lenders to want my business.

Paul

Meant to add that once you decide a trust deed is the way forward and stop paying creditors put any spare cash aside as an emergency kitty. Some people make token payments while waiting to set up the trust deed but I didn't see the point as it doesn't make any difference to whether or not creditors accept the trust deed.

Paul

From my own point of view do not touch Begbies Traynor , you are just a number to them and a golden goose for milking fees .[:(]

Thank you everyone

It's an interesting point that Paul has made as it's now becoming a common question at meetings whether people should stop paying creditors when thinking about a Trust Deed.

I think people are afraid that creditors will see the historical payments and somehow assume that they were able to pay, so why look at a Trust Deed, DAS etc. It doesn't work like that and I've never had a creditor discuss historical payments or assume that they were/are in a position to maintain payments. In the majority of cases, people are juggling money from one card to another to maintain minimum payments.

Mark

I know you probably can't recommend this Mark but are you saying then that if I decided to go down this route, if I stopped paying all creditors for say 2 months before then it wouldn't make the slightest bit of difference ?

Does the trustee take over your bank, do you still have a debit card and a cheque book ? If my account was in credit and not in overdraft when the trust deed was signed would my bank know about it ?

Hi Stephanie.

I think the point is that creditors will review trust deeds based upon the overall circumstances, not on whether the payments are currently up to date.

Failing to pay your creditors for two months without taking any other action to deal with the debts isn't without risks and problems. You're likely to be bombarded with debt collection activity, interest and penalty charges might mount up, and you're exposed to legal action.

The advice to stop paying creditors directly normally comes at the point that you have looked into your options and committed to going ahead with one of them.

You should be able to have a bank account. Most basic accounts come with a debit card but I don't think most have a chequebook.

Your trust deed will be "advertised" in the Edinburgh Gazette, a publication that some banks will monitor. If your account is not of a sort that they are prepared to offer to people that are in trust deeds it may be frozen or closed. If you have other debts to the same bank the account is likely to be frozen or closed. Most people need to get a new bank account as part of going ahead with trust deeds.

Thank you

I have to agree, as I dont think there is a right or wrong answer.

Best advice I can give is if you've looked at you options and decide you need to proceed along a formal route ie DAS, Trust Deed or Sequestration then once the arrangement has been made to proceed, you should consider stopping payments.

In my experience, there is little chance all creditors are being paid equally and therefore one may gain a preference over the other.

Mark