I started a trust deed June 2013. Agreement was to pay £128 odds every month for 41 months. I have made those payments faithfully and pay over £6000 in the 41 months. I received a letter stating that I owed over £2000 in arrears. I asked for a breakdown on these arrears. The breakdown showed a list of my weekly wages against an average wage which was worked out including when I was of sick. So the average worked out at £302 per week but my wages varied from week to week. They are claiming this as overtime (something I don't do is overtime). So they want 100% of the difference. I have tried to explain to them that I work different amount of hours every week ie 38 hrs min.too 42 hrs max. These hours are my scheduled work hours on the particular cycle I'm on. I am now on long term sick so unable to give them a repayment plan as I don't know whether I will be still employed as I have also had my license revoked which I need to do my job. I feel they are treating me unfairly and everything I say is falling on deaf ears. Their way or no way kind of attitude. They have now decided to fail my trust deed. Any advice would be welcome. Allan Gray.
Allan gray
Welcome to the forum Allan. This must be a worrying time for you.
The way trust deeds work now, your trustee has no option than to gather in all of your disposable income. If your average income was higher than that used to work out your payment, they’re obligated to deal with that somehow.
In your current situation, I’d hope that some flexibility could be found. I’m assuming that your income will have reduced? Are you in a position to offer any kind of payment currently to chip away at what’s stated to be due? Would anybody be able to help you chip away at this, or offer some kind of a lump sum to try to bring things to a close?
Trying to find a way to avoid your trust deed failing (if at all possible) makes sense. Much of the money you’ve paid over will get consumed by fees and costs rather than clearing the debts.
I have just offered them £10 per month until I am in a better position with health and job security. Guess what they refused it. I have had it with them who do I make an official complaint to and don't tell me the company as I ha already went down that road with nothing.
Allan gray
Hi Allan,
If you're unhappy with the way a firm handles your complaint, you can take the matter to the regulatory professional body of which your trustee is a member.
The RPB of which your trustee is a member will probably be mentioned on letters you've received from them.
Here's the Complaints Gateway:
Did you keep them fully informed throughout the Trust Deed, Allan? Providing payslips whenever required etc? Or has this dispute only come to light now because you hadn't provided the necessary information previously?
If it is the former then your complaint would certainly seem to be on stronger ground - they should really be varying your contributions during the course of your trust Deed if there are changes in your income, not hitting you with a lump sum to pay at the end.
Unfortunately my company charge for copies of my wage slips so we came to an agreement that my bank account would suffice to show my wages every week.
Allan gray
Yes every 6 months
Allan gray
Hi Allan,
As Kevin mentioned, I think this gives you an argument to push back with. The payment really should have been adjusted at the time if the information was in their possession.
For example, you could ask them to justify why this wasn't done when they had the information they needed to ascertain that your income had been underestimated.
Recent reply by email.
you look at the the so called average, which I have advised you is not a true reflection of my weekly wage, it always showed that any money I earned was always above your estimated average. I have tried to explain this on almost every email I have sent. The fact is you still didn't adjust figures at every interim point which you are obliged to do. As it's not just a one way street. I still haven't seen any justification for this not being adjusted. You also keep referring to the fact if income average was adjusted then my payments would be adjusted, which I have also said cost of living had risen and that was the most I could afford to pay back. My rent had risen by around 150 a month my house hold bills rose by a substantial amount and general food shopping had risen by about 15 a week. As I have said already I'm not in a position to make substantial offer due to recent health issues. I have now got an appointment with a specialist next month and hopefully I will be further forward with regards to health and employment issue. All I'm asking for is for you to adjust these figures to show the true reflection of my average wage at the time. This obviously is my bain of contention. Your figures are wrong and I would like them adjusted to proper level and adjusted annually as to the way it should be . So my offer of £10 per month still stands with a substantial increase once I'm back working. I am being fair and hope that you would act in a professional manner and be fair with me and enable me to reduce stress levels as much as possible through this difficult and mentally draining time
Allan gray
Hi Allan,
Your payment should always be based upon affordability. This is worked out by creating a record of your income and expenditure.
Maybe you could ask them to provide the updated record after each occasion that you provided bank statements? This could confirm whether or not they took into account the increased household bills (like your rent) that you mention.
Sorry that was an email I sent to them.
Allan gray
This is email I was meant to post ,the one above was my reply.
Thank you for your email.
I have checked through your reviews and can see that we did note that in your first year, your income appears to have reduced, however we are unable to make adjustments to contributions due to income reduction as you are expected to maintain your original repayment amount. This would mean that your expected income would have reduced, so if you earned more than this you would accrue income arrears.
In your review completed in 2017, it appears that your average income has increased, resulting in income arrears being accrued as we were not made aware of your increase in income until the review had been issued.
As previously advised, if you are unable to make a reasonable proposal to clear your remaining balance, which I appreciate is difficult for you due to illness, then we have no option but to fail your Trust Deed.
Allan gray
According to the letters they are members of IPA and also only licensed to do work in England and Wales not Scotland where I am based.
Allan gray