Welcome to Trust-Deed.co.uk Willow3.

Could you confirm whether your trust deed ended last summer or whether it will end this coming summer?

If the trust deed hasn't yet ended could you confirm whether you are both in a trust deed or just yourself?

These confirmations may make it a little easier to help you.

Hi TDA
Sorry was waffling. Both of us had a trust deed and our last payments were this June 2012. We have receiveed our discharges already which we were pleased about as I see some people are waiting a long tine for this.

Our joint payments to the trust deed were £430 per month and the last three months we paid just over £600 due to the increase in income as we had a big reduction in mortgage payments due to applying for interest only. We did not gain any reduction in our outgoings by entering into a trust deed and found the whole thing really difficult especially as we had children so you have school uniforms each year to buy Christmas etc. Had we been on our own it would have been easier to cope with.

Hope I dont sound blaze about the whole thing infact I am very embarrassed that we have been in this mess for some time now. No one knows about us being in a trust deed as its still very taboo.
I recently had some training at work re debts etc and colleagues were shocked when trust deeds were explained.

Hi Willow3.

I think that it's very important that you sit down and go through a budgeting exercise again (if you haven't already).

You need to list out all of your income and all of your expenditure to see if you can manage as things stand. You also need to do the same exercise based upon a higher mortgage payment to see if that will be manageable or not.

I presume staying in your home is a priority? If so paying the mortgage and secured loan will be your priority. This needs to be done before you make payments for unsecured credit such as credit cards.

If you cannot afford to pay for your house, your other expenses, and the credit cards as well, I'm afraid to say that you'll probably need to seek out debt advice again.

Knowing exactly where you stand and what your options are will probably be better than worrying about the situation as you are currently.

Hi Willow3

Have you sat down and worked through your budget lately? Is there any money available to pay towards these credit cards once you have covered your living expenses? How old are your children?

It may be that the Debt Arrangement Scheme might be a useful way of getting these card debts under control, however this really depends upon what might be available to pay to them.

Hi Amy and Kevin

House a priority as no alternative except private let which is last resort as no security and can't get a GHA house for love nor money. As no equity can't apply for mortgage to rent scheme either as secured loan means negative equity on house.

My kids are 14 and 12 Kevin. Is there a minimum payment for this scheme and how does it work i take it it freezes the interest?

Yes, interest is frozen. There isn't a minimum payment as such, though you have to be able to afford enough to get the proposals agreed. If debts are just a few thousand then it shouldn't take much to get a DAS plan in place.

As I said, the first step is to work out how much is affordable and then look at your options from there.

Thanks Kevin
I will need to contact Northern Rock to get an estimate of what the mortgage payment will be once it returns to repayment.

Have read the info on DAS which was very informative.

Good luck with that Willow3.

Let us know if you need any more information or help after you've spoken to Northern Rock.

Have an estimate from Northern Rock and had a look at my budget. I had started to make extra payments to the credit cards on top of the minimum payment which is taken by direct debit.

Now that the mortgage is increasing well over four hundred pounds I wont be able to make extra payments which means on minimum payments only the cards will take forever to pay.

To be honest it will be a struggle to make the minimum payments.

Hello Willow3.

In that case I think you may wish to take direct personal advice on the situation.

After going through everything in detail and adviser should be able to propose some options to you.

Yes i think you are right Amy I will contact Michael McGowan for further advice.

Thanks