Help please with Capital One

dmbaxt

Hi all,

I really need a bit of advice...... I'll try and keep it brief.
Basically I've been on reduced payments with everyone I owe money to. I've not gone through the official DMP route just used the templates from National Debt Line and wrote to all my creditors myself.
I've been happily paying all these off and managed to pay a couple of the lower ones off now and obviously upped payments on the others from the extra money.

I've received a letter today from Capital One regarding my account. I knew I was due to renew my agreement with them - they ask for an update every 6 months.

The letter I've received worries me a little for a couple of reasons:

1) they say my agreement is due to end on 28 Aug 08 and that if they don't hear from me before my agreeement ends they'll assume I no longer need their specialist help - only problem is it's now the 6th Sept and the letter is dated the 2nd September so after the date the agreement was due to end :mad:

2) They're asking me to complete the enclosed income / expenditure form - I have no problems with this as nothing's changed since the last one in Feb 08, but there's no income / expenditure form in there

3) they're offering me three options - a short term repayment plan of six months, a long term repayment plan of over six months although I'll get issued with a default notice, or the chance to pay a reduced amount and they will settle the account.

Only problem is I don't know how much I still owe them - the letter doesn't say, but I think it's about £941 or there about. It doesn't give any indication of how much they will accept as full and final payment either. I've tried to phone them this morning but they don't open weekends. :rolleyes:

I'd like to obviously do the full and final payment but how much should I be looking at to offer? My payments up until now have been £100 per month so if I were to offer say £200 at the end of September, when I get paid (£100 Septembers payment and the other £100 would be what I would have paid in October) do you think they will accept this or should I go in with a higher offer of £250? The other £50 coming from the tax rebate we should get this month?

Sorry this is a long thread, but any advice would help put me at ease until I can phone them Monday.

Leixlip1

I've had a similar letter from Cap One - and like you no income/expenditure form or pre-paid envelope!
You should only pay them what you can reasonable afford. Send them your own income/expenditure form plus details of your pro-rata offer of repayment (assumes you have other debts, apologies if I'm wrong!). You can get templates for this on the National Debtline web-site.
I had a similar letter last year and sent details but not all the supporting evidence they asked for (i.e. I didn't send bank statement copies) and they renewed my agreemnt by return of post.
Suggest you do everything by recorded delivery letter.
Good luck.

Jules

This must be a standard letter as I had one too. No income / expen either. They did issue a default to me but they are still accepting my reduced payments.
I wouldn't contact them by phone, use special delivery. I tried for a full and final with Cap one but they wouldn't do it. They did offer a partial settlement but I didn't accept this. Their loss!

dmbaxt

thanks guys,
the letter came accross as being a lot more serious than the usual renewal letter they sent out especially with the threat of default notices. but then again I think they said before that have logged that I am on a reduced payment plan with the credit agencies anyway . I think I panicked when I saw it - it is 3 pages long instead of the normal couple of lines.

I'm still going to phone them to let them know I've received the letter and there's no income / expenditure sheet or prepaid envelope to reply with and see what type of figure they would accept as full and final settlement as I could muster up about £320 (obviously I'll ask for any agreement in writing before I pay it) - oh and while I'm at it I'm going to ask them for a list of charges or statements for the last 6 years so I can start the ball rolling to claim them back! :rotfl:

GeorgeUK

Most people on the board when offerring full and final settlements offer DCA's 30%-50% and the original creditor 50%-70%.

If they talk about charging you for the statements etc, you can send a subject access request for £10 which they must reply to within 40 days. There are templates on the forum for this.

dmbaxt

well I called them tonight and spoke to a really nice lady.

As soon as I said I'd received the letter she said "and there was no income / expenditure form in there". She said it was a system problem and she's sending me one out.

She went through every part of the letter and explained the various options in detail even going as far to say that if I opt for the 6 month term I'll get my card back once I've cleared the balance - I did have to stop myself from laughing at that bit :rotfl:

I asked about the full & final settlement to which she said it wasn't worth going for because I'd been paying £100 per month and keeping to this they would want 95% of the amount I owed (I found out I owe £941.96) and that it would show on my credit file as settled but flagged to say I hadn't paid the full amount.

Thanks to everyone for all the advice - I'm off to write the letter for my statements!

GeorgeUK

The fact that it would show as settled partially rather than fully is neither here or there. Your credit is already shot because you have been on a self managed DMP. These late payments and any defaults will be on your credit file for 6 years, although they will ahve less impact as time goes on. Having a debt marked as partially settled will not make much difference to this.

Also they say that if the debt is not paid off in full within 6 months they will put a default on your file - have they said this is not going to happen? And would they put this in writing?

dmbaxt

yes the letter they sent said that on the 6 month plan they would not issue a default but on the long term plan a default notice will be issued.

But you're right, my credit rating is all to pot anyway so the default wouldn't make a fat lot of difference and I wouldn't have been bothered about it a few months ago, so I don't know why it bothers me now.

Maybe it's because I'm starting to see light at the end of the tunnel that wasn't there before. So far this year I've paid off 2 debts and I'm hoping to have another one paid off by Christmas. That will then just leave Capital One and Northern Rock - although I know NR will be another 18 months at least before that's paid.

GeorgeUK

You've only got the price of a stamp to lose if they don't accept. Might also mean not getting this default. Either way, good luck and let us know how it turns out.