Welcome to the forum Clarko1965.

I suspect if you look back at the original paperwork that this will be a fee arrangement that you and your creditors agreed to. Having said that, it is of course a lot of money.

Perhaps the starting point might be to ask them to produce a breakdown of the work they've done on your case to justify this level of fees. This should be something they can provide to you.

Hi TDA
Thanks for getting back to me

see the break down they have proved as part of the F&F I asked for. I cannot see where they can justify this level of fee on top what is detailed below. This feels like a money grab and I feel I am being victimised here and I certainly was not informed that I would pay this 20% as detailed below. I would never have agreed to this. The TD was originally set to be over 6 years based on a contribution of £419.

Approval Date 15/11/2016
Proposed completion date 24/05/2018
Day for which interest is payable 555.00
Months Active 19

Trustee Fee Type % Realisations
Fixed monthly amount 0.00

AIB Fees 171.00
Bond 36.00
Fixed Trustee fee 2,500.00
Search Fee 60.00
My insolvency 36.00
Agents fee 58.74
Case Management monthly Fee 36.00
Registers of scotland 30.00
Postage and Stationary 50.00
Storage 300.00
Case Management Fee 240.00
VB migration Fee 75.00
VB Management fee 150.00
Total outstanding costs 3,742.74

Unsecured Creditors 48,646.96

Statutory Interest 5,917.60

Funds required prior to Trustees Fee 58,307.30

Total funds Required to pay in full 72,884.12

Trustees Fee 14,576.82

Trustees Fee plus Funds required prior to Trustees Fee 72,884.12

Funds received to date 47,695.00

Additional funds required 25,189.12

Hi Clarko1965

I can understand why this has annoyed you so greatly, it certainly is a lot of money and I've no doubt that the actual costs of administering your trust Deed won't have accrued to anything like £17k.

Of course, situations like this are bound to happen when a fee is largely based on a percentage of funds gathered in. To be fair to your trustee firm though, they didn't make the rules. The legislation states that this is how trustee's fees must be structured - a fixed fee plus a percentage of realisations.

There is a process for requesting that the Accountant in Bankruptcy audit a trustee's fees and they do have the power to fix the fees at a suitable level. I'm really not sure whether they would force your trustee to reduce their fee given that your trustee is merely sticking to the structure that was agreed in the first place, though.

Your trustee does have the discretionary power to reduce their fees if they wish. Perhaps your letter to them will have the desired effect.

Hi Kevin,

I understand regarding the structure of the fees at the outset of the TD, however my circumstances changed dramatically and therefore I feel that this should be taken into account and the structure of the fees addressed.
I will wait and see what comes back from my Trustee regarding these fees and if they will not voluntarily reduce the Fees I will approach the AIB for their input

Just an update on this

My trustee has came back and reduced the fees to £12500 in tiotal so a reduction of over £4500

I realise this is a significant fall in fees but I’m still angry #128545; at the amount they were willing to charge if I hadn’t challenged them

Do I accept this or push for more I am undecid d on this and any impartial views are welcome

A judgment call for you Clarko1965.

This is still a lot of money. On the other hand it's also a big discount on the fee structure that you (probably unwittingly) will have agreed to when the trust deed began. I think they'd have been entitled to expect the full amount contractually so have acknowledged your position to some extent.

Clarko
I can understand and appreciate your frustration at the situation.
As Kevin stated, there is a process to appeal the trustees’ fees to the Accountant in Bankruptcy.

In my experience, the Accountant in Bankruptcy would review the proposal and would in my view and based on experience based their decision on what was outlined to creditors at the start of the process.
Arguable, if someone won the lottery then based on price structure of the trustee, they would claim 20% of the winnings.

I do not believe this was the intention when legislation was drafted and approved and a trustee should take a moral view on the appropriateness of the fee.

In practice this does happen and a trustee would negotiate on the level of fee and this seems to be happening with your case.

Please keep in touch and let us know the outcome.