Someone in Scotland whose unsecured debts have piled past the point where monthly payments will never clear them faces a very specific legal landscape. Debt Solution, the trading name of Harper McDermott Ltd, deals with that landscape and nothing else. It is a Glasgow firm, FCA-regulated under reference 820851 and registered in Scotland as SC538101, and it works only within the legal mechanisms available north of the border. Scottish debt law differs substantially from the rest of the UK, and advice built around English law can steer someone toward options that simply do not exist in Scotland. A firm that restricts itself to one jurisdiction saves the visitor that confusion before a word is spoken.
Scottish debt options explained
The headline product at Debt Solution is the Protected Trust Deed. It is a formal legal arrangement where someone agrees to repay what they can toward unsecured debts across roughly 48 to 60 months, after which any remaining balance can be written off. The site is upfront that this is a binding legal step. The threshold it states is both honest and useful: it works for individuals carrying unsecured debts of 5,000 pounds or more who cannot keep up with monthly repayments. If the debt is smaller or the problem is short-term, this is not the right door, and the wording does not pretend otherwise.
Protected Trust Deed for unsecured debts
Two other Scottish options sit alongside the trust deed. The Debt Arrangement Scheme is a statutory repayment plan, government-backed, that freezes interest and lets someone pay debts in full over a longer period without the partial write-off. Then there is Sequestration and the Minimal Asset Process, the Scottish bankruptcy routes, described as the path for people with very little to protect. Having all three explained in one place is useful, because the right answer depends heavily on income, assets and total debt, and Debt Solution at least presents them as alternatives to weigh instead of pushing one product for everyone.
Debt Arrangement Scheme and bankruptcy routes
The framing helps here. A trust deed suits someone with a steady income who cannot realistically clear the full balance; the Debt Arrangement Scheme keeps a person out of insolvency entirely and protects assets like a home; the bankruptcy routes apply where there is almost nothing left to give. A visitor can begin to place their own situation before picking up the phone, which is more useful than a single calculator that funnels everyone toward one outcome. The free initial consultation then exists to turn that rough self-assessment into a firm recommendation, and Debt Solution is clear that the first conversation costs nothing.
How to assess your situation
More reassuring than the sales copy is the practical content alongside the main services. There are guides on handling debt collectors and on dealing with sheriff officers. Sheriff officers are a peculiarly Scottish source of anxiety for people in arrears, and content that demystifies what they can and cannot do provides real value even for a reader who never becomes a client. Putting that information on the site rather than holding it back behind a phone call is a reasonable way to operate.
Guides on debt collectors and sheriff officers
Debt Solution also points people toward MoneyHelper, the free government-backed money guidance service. A commercial debt firm directing visitors to a free alternative does not earn itself a referral fee, so its presence on the site says something about how the company positions itself. Not every operator in this sector makes that kind of gesture.
One specific claim deserves scrutiny. Debt Solution states a 98.5 percent trust deed protection rate for 2023. It is a strong number if accurate, but as a single self-reported figure it is worth treating as a marketing statistic and confirming directly during the free consultation, alongside the fee structure, which formal debt solutions always carry. Neither point is a reason to walk away, but both are worth pinning down in writing.
Contact methods and independent ratings
On reaching the firm, there is little friction. The contact options include a phone number, a WhatsApp line and live chat, plus a physical Glasgow address at The Reel House on West Regent Street. For a debt firm, a published street address separates a regulated local company from the anonymous lead-generation outfits that crowd this sector.
From Trustpilot scores to FCA regulation
The external picture is more mixed, and glossing over it would not serve anyone. On Trustpilot, Debt Solution holds a TrustScore of 3.3 out of 5 across 102 reviews, middling and far from glowing. Traders Union rates it lower still, "Fair" at 2.6 out of 5. There is a testimonials page on the site itself, but the independent review volume is modest compared with larger Scottish debt companies, which means a prospective client has less third-party evidence to draw on. None of that points to anything alarming. The FCA authorisation counts for more here anyway: a regulated firm answers to a regulator regardless of its star count, and that accountability is what separates it from unregulated referral operations.
Weighing all of this, Debt Solution is a focused, properly regulated Scottish operator that lays out the real options clearly. The middling review scores and the unverified protection rate are reasons to ask questions rather than to walk away. Take the free initial consultation and use it to pin down the fees, the realistic write-off figure for your specific debts, and how that 2023 protection rate was measured.
