Hi lilone,

I think you’re a right to focus on the future and becoming debt free. Acknowledging that your struggling financially with debts and that you need help is the hardest thing to do and something which is a very brave and positive step to take.

In terms of the protection of your Trust Deed, an advert needs to be placed onto the Register of Insolvencies and this starts a 5 week period for the lenders to consider the proposal and decide if they are going to accept / reject the offer. A good knowledgeable advisor will be able to give you an indication on the lenders accepting the proposal or not. I would say that from the point you sign your Trust Deed it should take approximately 7-8 weeks for you to know if the Trust Deed has been accepted and become protected.

I always tell my clients to try and speak with the lenders as much as possible and take their calls. Communication is key and if you speak with a lender inform them you have entered into a Trust Deed, that you cannot make any further payments to them and that paperwork will be sent to them shortly. Ask them to place a hold on the account for 30 days for them to receive paperwork. The lenders may ask you for a reference number for your Trust Deed which is allocated to your Trust Deed by the Accountant in Bankruptcy. Your Trustee will be able to provide you with this once your case is advertised on the Register of Insolvencies. The phone calls and letters will gradually start to reduce and if anyone in particular is giving you a lot of hassle please let your Trustee know and they can deal with it.

In terms of checking accounts, what do you mean by that? We do run an Experian report for all of our clients to ensure that we have found out about all of a client’s debts and to try and make sure no one is missed when we make the proposal.

I try to reassure all of my clients and tell them not to worry too much and over think things. If your Trust Deed has been set up correctly then it should be fairly straight forward and be accepted by the creditors.

Hi David many thanks for your response!

I signed the trust deed last week, i can see you can check online for the Edinburgh gazette but nothing on there as off yet about the advert.

I have called some lenders will do the rest also to try and get a rest period before the calls start after the payment dates are due!I am dealing with KPMG who seem to be very good so far I received a letter confirmed date of signing and next steps with all there contacts numbers for each department. Am due the first payment in January, having more than one lender is more daunting as several to deal with is more of a worry on the letters and calls side of things.

I mean can a trust deed go into your personal accounts at anytime to check everything is in order?

Hi lilone,

It’s not the Edinburgh Gazette that the Trust Deed is advertised in, it’s now the Register of Insolvencies which can be found on the Accountant in Bankruptcy website. If you only signed last week I would think the advert will go onto the ROI in the next couple of days.

We don’t go into someone’s personal accounts whenever we want to check everything is in order. We simply review your income and expenditure on an annual basis and ask you to send back 3 months bank statements and payslips and review it then. The only time in which we would request bank statements out of that sequence is if we suspected you had received a large sum of money or an asset or someone had notified us of something which we needed to investigate.

oh good to know i can check this going forward.[:I]

what happens to inheritance for example? am not due anything but i do have grandparents still with us but 4 years is a long time is it best to tell them not to give me anything?they also love abroad not from Scotland. worst case of course am hoping still here but i didn't think about this until i read something on the forum with someone asking the question/.

If you were to receive an inheritance during the next 4 years then it would need to go towards your Trust Deed first I'm afraid. Only if there was enough to clear your debts plus interest plus the costs of the Trust Deed would you get any of it back.

Of course it is entirely up to your grandparents whether they choose to leave money to you or not.

Hi Lilone,

Just wanted to say I had exactly the same reaction after I signed mine almost 4 years ago. I think you're doing the right thing focusing on the future. Now for the first time I budget 100% for the things that I want/need and don't depend on credit cards etc. I'm still embarrassed by the mess that I got into and have used this as a process to learn from and will never let myself go back to that way of spending again.
Good Luck for the coming weeks

Aww thank you Nel good to know you have come out ok the other end of the scale!
I feel am ages away right now but maybe i will feel different a while down the line!

Thanks for the advice![;)]