If you’re a Scottish resident and you have a significant amount of unsecured debt you can’t afford to repay, a Trust Deed could give you a realistic route out of debt – with lower monthly payments over an agreed period of time (in most cases, three years).
Let’s look at how you could set up a Scottish Trust Deed.
What is a Trust Deed?
A Trust Deed is a legally binding insolvency solution exclusively available to Scottish residents. It’s designed to help people who can’t afford to repay their unsecured debts within a reasonable time, but who can commit to reduced payments over an agreed period.
On successful completion of a Trust Deed, any remaining unsecured debt included in your Trust Deed will be written off, giving you the opportunity to start anew with your finances.
Setting up a Trust Deed
There are several steps you must follow in order to successfully set up a Trust Deed.
- Get advice to find out if a Trust Deed really is the best approach for your circumstances. There are many debt solutions out there for people struggling to afford their debts, and a Trust Deed won’t necessarily be the only (or most suitable) course of action for your situation. A debt adviser will be able to talk you through your finances, and discuss how much you owe and can afford to repay your lenders.
- If a Trust Deed is the best approach, you’ll be appointed an Insolvency Practitioner (IP) – a qualified professional who can represent people in insolvency cases. The IP will draw up a Trust Deed proposal with you, which sets out your case for an IVA and tells your lenders what you can afford to repay each month. They’ll also be able to answer any questions you have and guide you through the whole process.
- Your Trust Deed proposal will then be sent to your unsecured lenders for review. The details of it will also be published in the Edinburgh Gazette.
- 5 weeks later, your Trust Deed will become a Protected Trust Deed – which means both you and your lenders are legally obliged to stick to its agreed terms – as long as there are no objections from more than half of your lenders, or those who ‘own’ more than a third of your debt. Then, as long as you keep up with your repayments, the unsecured debt you haven’t repaid will be written off on completion of the Trust Deed – usually 3 years from the time it begins.
If you’re a homeowner, you may have to release some of the equity in your home as part of a Trust Deed, and it’ll remain on your credit file for six years – which could give you problems if you decide to apply for further credit within that time.