Hi. Welcome to the forum. I used rsm tenon for my trust deed and found them professional and courteous throughout. Make sure they run through all your options before you decide which path to take. Be realistic with your budget, dont adapt what you spend to fit a certain criteria or you will be on a hiding to nothing.

Feel free to ask as many questions as you can think of. Its a bumpy journey at times but so very worthwhile in the end.

Paul

Thanks Paul. That all makes sense....I have become used to hiding my financial situation and I feel liberated now.... I feel prepared to explain the truth and move on properly instead of pretending everything is ok.

Hi and Good luck to you and the kids,and as Paul rightly says, make sure you have all the questions ready, leave nothing to chance, and make sure it is the best option for you and your family. You have came to the right place, don't feel any question is stupid,as we all started where you are,and ask away, with the experts here and good people like Paul you will get the advice you need.

Hello Thinkingofthefuture and welcome.

Best wishes to you for your meeting today.

I'm sure it will be the start of something very positive for you.

Hi Thinkingofthefuture,

I'm sure your will feel much better following your meeting.

Keep us up to date with progress and best of luck.

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Originally posted by Thinkingofthefuture

Thanks Paul. That all makes sense....I have become used to hiding my financial situation and I feel liberated now.... I feel prepared to explain the truth and move on properly instead of pretending everything is ok.

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This feeling of liberation is something I can definitely relate to. My contact at my firm was the first person I EVER told about my problems. As I left the office after the first meeting I left with a tear of relief in my eye.

Hi Thinking of the future,
I am at the early stages of trying to sort out my financial mess. I am so glad that I found this forum as I had spoken o a company a few weeks ago re Trust Deeds and I was under the impression it was more of a sales call than an advisory one! I had an initial meeting with Mark last friday and felt a lot better afterwards . Good luck with your meeting today. Its good to see that you are not alone and having this forum certainly shows that !!

Hi Thinkingofthefuture,

Both my wife and I have just recently signed with RSM Tenon. We effectively interviewed several companies and in discussed all our options with them all to work out what the best way forward would be for us DAS, PTD etc.

In the end we personally felt most comfortable with RSM Tenon. Euan was great and our appointed account manager Nicola is proving great also (We signed on the 5th and I have almost daily been asking questions of her which she responds to within a matter of hours!)

In advance of the meeting make sure you have realistically worked out all your expenditure and incomes. Take everything into account (food, clothes, sporting activities, kids activities etc) so they can make an honest assessment of things for you. Be prepared to deal with having to give some things up, cutting back on other etc as part of the process.

Banking is an area to make a move on quickly. It can take several weeks to have an account opened and running. You should open a bank account with a company that is not associated to any of your debt. There is a great list on this site of ones to consider thanks to TDA. IMO I would open One and have a second one also opened with another supplier as a backup! (check through some of my posts to see why I think this is a good idea).

Remember this is not the begging of the end for you. This is about getting things manageable and getting out of a financial black hole. which you will do.! It may take around 3 years but will happen. Then you will be back to a place when money did not control your world and constantly get you down

This site is also excellent for asking even the simplest trivial questions and the experts from it are always quick to help!

Best of luck with this all.

Thanks for all the kind words and support. First meeting went well. Everything in order and Trust Deed is the way forward. Need to review docs now and prepare myself for the signing!. Got clarification on Mortgage, Bonus, monthly payments etc so all good there too. Will sign up later this week once new bank account is established. Will keep you posted!.

All pretty positive stuff Thinking. Good luck.

Paul

Hi again. Got new bank card through today and moved all Direct Debits across to new account. Took 2 hours and numerous phone calls but all sorted now!. Ready to take the leap of faith and sign the docs tomorrow. It really is a daunting task thinking of putting pen to paper.... I keep running all the scenarios through in my mind and every time I conclude that this is the best way forward
Goodness knows how I'm going to cope with the next 6 weeks or so of waiting to find out if its protected. Ive even been looking at the calendar and trying to work out the date. Looking at Good Friday so that sounds positive!!!. Anyone got any good tips on how to get through this period without freaking out? 🙂

Credit has always been a safety blanket. I keep thinking the worst....what happens if the car breaks down.... the washing machine....the fridge... I am ready to embrace the future and Im sure itll all be ok. I long for the day that i have savings. A wee nest egg for a rainy day. I just need to stop thinking the worst I suppose. Anyone had any experience of stuff breaking and how did it all get fixed on a fixed budget?

Remember to switch across child benefit and tax credits if you get them. I nearly forgot those.

Thanks Gillian. Child benefit is switching as I type :-\ and no tax credits for me unfortunately.