Hello Mk0605 and welcome.

So your utility bills have increased by £200 per month since your trust deed began? If your trust deed payment is set at £175 I can see why you're struggling to manage everything.

I'm afraid you will struggle to find a new mortgage lender. Being in a trust deed will have very seriously affected your credit rating and mortgage lenders don't generally offer products until you're discharged. I should add that getting an interest only mortgage these days is very difficult in general, unless you can evidence that there is an effective plan in place to pay off the balance at the end of the mortgage term.

I think you need to speak to your trustee, explain the increase in your utility bills, and see what they advise will be best to do.

If you're contemplating selling your home you should also discuss this with your trustee. You will not be able to do this without their consent.

Hi MK0605 and welcome to the forum,

Sorry to hear that you find yourself struggling again after only recently entering into a Trust Deed.

One of the most important things to do at the beginning is to though a very thorough income and expenditure to see what you can afford to pay after you have paid all of your living costs.

Before you entered into your Trust Deed did you sit down with an advisor in person and go over a full financial review to determine what your options were?

Is there a particular reason that your gas and electricity has increased by £200 per month?

How much equity does your property have and how much debt do you have?

If you can share a little more information we can try and help.

thanks for this help best advice I've been given , Electricity/ gas up due to wrong reading I'm told ? Equity in property is around 30k debt total was just over £30k

Hi MK, sorry to hear you are struggling.

If the gas/electric is up due to wrong readings, do you have arrears and that's why your payments have gone up? If so, if those arrears were built up before you signed your trust deed, then I would imagine that they should be debts included in your trust deed and your shouldn't have to pay the arrears anymore. Definitely worth checking with the gas/elec provider and if that's the case, tell your trust deed company about it. Hope that's the case and that helps you.

On a more difficult subject - you say you've around 30k of debt and you have around 30k of equity in your property. What did your trust deed company say will happen with the 30k equity in your house?

I was thinking the same as GayleC - if there are arrears that are attributable to before your trust deed was signed then they should be included along with your other debts.