The best bet is to put down what you spend and that way you keep yourself right. You will have regular reviews of your income and expenditure throughout the trust deed to ensure you are still paying what you can afford.

Make sure you read everything 3 times at least before signing anything and ask as many questions as you can. You dont normally need proof of all spending but anything that seems excessive you may have to prove.

Make sure you get in writing off the company you using that they wont touch the £200 that goes for child maintenance.

Which company are you meeting with?

Paul

Thanks for that Paul

I'm using RSM Tenon that's the company that trust deed Scotland advised me to go with and emailed all my details to them

Just coming to the end of a trust deed through them,cant praise them enough so you have got off to a good start by choosing them.

Paul(no I dont get paid anything for saying they are good,a spade is a spade with me,I tell it like it is!!)

That's great news! Cheers for that.

I'm glad I registered with this forum and I'm pleased such a thing exists.

I'm sure throughout my 3yrs I'll be logging on for updates!

Hi Paisley1
I'm 3 months into my TD and I also went through Trust Deed Scotland who put me in touch with RSM Tenon in Glasgow. My best advice to you is to be honest and up front on Tuesday, don't worry about your meeting it certainly won't be the interrogation you are fearing. Between now and then write down any questions you think of, the more the better. They are not there to trick you, all I had to provide was proof of rent, council tax, income (payslips) and debts (statements).

Good luck for Tuesday, let us know how it goes but you'll be fine.

Cheers AlphaB

Agree with Alpha,theres no tricks to catch you out and its far from an interrogation,our meeting turned into us interrogating the tenon rep!!!

The fact the meeting was carried out in my own house made it much more relaxed,but before hand I considered hiding the 32in flat screen telly and laptop in case they werent allowed!!!!

Paul

Hi Paisley1. Well done for seeking help with your situation, I often think this is the hardest bit and you should find it gets easier. As the others have said above, it is far from an interrogation. Also please remember that you are under no obligation to rush into anything, the meeting is to talk through all of your options and give you more information as to how they would apply to your own situation.

In terms of what evidence you need, the usual stuff like utilities etc are accepted as long as they don't seem to be significantly higher than expected.

Also expenditure relating to youre daughter should certainly be taken account of, even though she is only with your part-time. And it is expected that you should be paying child maintenance (though the level may be checked against CSA figures to ensure that it is not unreasonably high).

Try not to worry, I'm certain you will come out of your meeting feeling a lot better than when you go in.

Thank You all for posting so quick and also for putting my mind at ease!

I worked out based on my minimum payments and at the end of the month I'm due to pay out £770 over 12 creditors. If I were to add this figure to my TD expenditure list I would be minus £570!!

**obviously this is why a protected trust deed is for me!**

SIGH OF RELIEF!

Yup it comes down to very simple maths,if whats going out is more than whats coming in(without cheating and using credit cards and payday loans to boost the income),then you are up a creek without a paddle. Realising this is the 1st step in finding a paddle and getting out of the creek with the correct guidance and the correct solution.

I juggled £80k of debt around for quite a few years before taking action,if I had acted when I first knew things were bad the debt was only £55k(haha only!!).

Paul

Hi Paisley1

I just wanted to wish you all best for your trust deed meeting, once it is over you will feel a lot better and can go into the new year knowing you will be on the road to being debt free.

Thanks again all.

What is the turnaround time between my meeting on Tuesday to actually signing on the dotted line? The same week type thing?

I've cancelled all my direct debits and I've applied for a new bank account as instructed by trust deed Scotland.

Does anyone know the answer to this question..I've recently moved home(downsized)and I set up a direct debit for gas and electric. Now Scottish gas gave me a monthly figure of £30pm for gas and £25pm for electric so it's £55 a month for "duel fuel" now I'm no brain surgeon but i Know this is pretty cheap considering the energy market just now. Also it was a single pensioner that lived in the house before me and i'm presuming they based this figure on the previous tenant who I imagine wont use as much gas and electric as me and my little girl.

Rather than declare the £55pm in my expendutire on Tuesday, Is there an allowance as such for gas and electric? I dont want to declare £55 then in 3 months time Scottish gas send me a review and it's went up to like £90 if you all know what i mean?

All your help is really helpful and appreciated!!

I would be tempted to contact your gas and electric co and ask them to up the electric dd certainly by £15 and see where you go from there. The allowance as such is what it actually costs you,so let them know at the meeting that its a new account and so may jump in costs quite quickly.
If it does go up after you have started the trust deed just let your case manager know.

Paul

From experience when you change providers the monthly amount usually starts off quite low and 3 months later goes up! sometimes quite considerably.

If you take metre readings every week for a few weeks your new provider can work out the estimate from there, you dont want any hefty increases in a few months time.