Senior member of staff at Halifax, or BDO?

And again, any reason why BDO returned the earlier cheque?

We'd just be guessing why this firm has chosen to return the payment tinsoldier. Their own policies and procedures will apply - and these can change over time.

I think David is referring to speaking with a senior figure at your former trustee's office.

Cheers TDA.

Unless their policies and procedures change on a weekly basis I can't see how it can be different - the first cheque was returned on 30th November.

I agree that this is an unlikely scenario tinsoldier.

We do know however that firms are monitoring the situation regarding the reopening of trust deeds to capture such assets for creditors. David has just written as much about his own firm.

It seems likely that some firms will change their position from not doing this, to actively doing this, as time moves forwards.

Are you aware of any firms doing so TDA, as this seems a somewhat dangerous route to go down legally.

It's not uncommon for banks to note a Trust Deed as a Bankruptcy order on their system and mix both up.

It really comes down to your previous Trustee whether they will try to take the PPI funds. If BDO returned the earlier cheque it could be because it was a smaller amount and perhaps too low to justify applying to court to have the Trustee reappointed. Now there is another cheque for an increased amount this could be enough for BDO to take action now. How much are each or the cheques for?

First was for £496, second £17,500 - but these are several amounts lumped together as one cheque. Surely the same rules should apply whether a pound or a million?

Hi tinsoldier,

I wouldn't say it's a dangerous route to go down legally. An application needs to be made to a sheriff to be re-appointed and it's their decision on if this can happen or not. An individual can make their own representations on why this shouldn't happen and the sheriff will take this into consideration.

Looking at it from a Trustees point of view in terms of representing the general body of creditors, if a potential PPI claim was denied and it turns out this was wrongly denied and the bank now have to pay it then this should have been ingathered into the Trust Deed so the funds should be ingathered.

As I said my firm isn't doing this today but tomorrow we could change our view on this depending on guidance from our authorising body and also on what the sector in general is doing.

At a recent event where John Cook, Deputy Accountant in Bankruptcy spoke about PPI, he advised that they would reapply to court to recover PPI where the amount was for more than £2,500 or could pay 1p in the £ to creditors. It wouldn't be in the interests of creditors for BDO to do this for £496 as the costs of doing so outweigh the benefit but now there is a possible £17,500 they have to consider this and it will change their approach.

Unfortunately you need to be prepared for BDO to have themselves reappointed and to try and ingather the funds.

I hear what you are saying David - but as it stands at the moment, they have no more right to the cheque they are now holding than my next door neighbour.

How can I find out if they are re-appointed?

It would have to go to court tinsoldier.

As an interested party you'd be notified and would have the chance to go along and put forward your position there as far as I understand.

Just spoke to BDO. They haven't made any moves to be re-appointed, but say they haven't received a cheque either.

Hi tinsoldier,

Ah ok, I thought BDO had kept the funds and advised you they were applying to have the Trustee reappointed.

It's something for BDO to take a view on once they receive the cheque. They will do 1 of 2 things. Send the cheque to you to keep the funds and apply to be reappointed.

I've just spoken with our Insolvency Practitioner about this. He has advised that there have been a number of cases where the Trustee has been reappointed. A senior partner at a firm of solicitors who specialise dealing with Insolvency issues have dealt with them. He (the solicitor) has advised that as of yet this hasn't been debated or challenged at court and as a result the sheriff has found in the favour of the Trustee. The solicitor advised that he believes this will be put to the test in a debate at court with both parties putting their arguments forward for a sheriff to make a decision on.

You will need to wait and see how it unfolds with BDO and their view on it.

The chap I spoke to at BDO was next to useless to be honest, and was quite rude. He did say that in exceptional cases the trust deed could be re-opened, but said he was unaware of moves to do it in my case. The cheque was sent to them by the Halifax on 2nd December; strange that they haven't received it yet....

Also, debt advisory service told me today that BDO cannot hold onto the cheque as they have not made any moves to be re-appointed.