Is this too good to be true?

maxriz

Hi,

I received a letter today from one of my many creditors, Aktiv Kapital saying that my debt with them is £1,508.56, but if I act within the next 10 days they will accept £150 in full and final setlement.

I phoned them and it turns out that they are part of a larger debt recovery agency called Thames Credit. I have 3 accounts with Thames and they told me that if I want/can afford, I have until the end of the month in order to pay £150 for each account to be settled in full. The total outstanding on the 4 accounts is just below 14k.

In order for me to do this I would have to use the very last of my rainy day money and I am currently unemployed and surviving on very little. It makes me very nervous but the offer does seem to be a good one if not too good to be true. Do any of you have experience of this and is it what they claim to be offering or is there a hidden agenda?

I would be grateful for your thoughts etc.

kind regards,

Mark

Yargo1

hiya mark, sounds too good to be true..but as you called them ,then i guess it is true.... i would try to pay them the fees asap! how much would you normally pay on each one a month anyhow? you lucky thing if its genuine!! brill!

maxriz

My my you are quick off the mark! Thank you.

I am currently paying £1.00 per month on each account because I am on Jobseekers allowance so the debt would go on for years. That is of course if they would allow that to happen which is unlikely.

LilacPixie

Before you pay anything make them confirm the offer in writing. Also make sure they confirm that this amount is full and final settlement for these debts and they and no other DCA or company will come lookngi for the remaining amount ever.

That being said the more cynical part of me thinks the reason they are offering such a small F&F offer is because the debt is either statue barred or the y don't have the correct paperwork to enforce the debt.

maxriz

They have said that they will be issuing formal offer letters tomorrow stating that the £150 is for the full and final payment for each account.

Based on what you say I guess I need them to confirm no one else will come knocking!

heatherks

once you get the formal letters could always seek advice from CAB before you pay ...but would be a weight of your mind if it went through ok

maxriz

Yes I must admit that even though I do not like the thought of handing over my last savings the longer term view would be much better.

pop-tart

i got one of these letters today as well, I have a couple of accounts with them and assumed it was just for the one, but will phone them tomorrow and see what's covered.

I'm also scared that its too good to be true, but then it does make sense, they basically said so many folk talk about the credit crunch and they want to help anyway they can. i guess they see that people are either going to pay the 25% now or face going bust, and them getting nothing.

But looking at your figures they are only asking for 10%???

maxriz

pop-tart wrote: »

i got one of these letters today as well, I have a couple of accounts with them and assumed it was just for the one, but will phone them tomorrow and see what's covered.

I'm also scared that its too good to be true, but then it does make sense, they basically said so many folk talk about the credit crunch and they want to help anyway they can. i guess they see that people are either going to pay the 25% now or face going bust, and them getting nothing.

But looking at your figures they are only asking for 10%???

Hi pop-tart, Lets not fool ourselves, these organisations couldn't care less about you and the credit crunch -they are there to make money. This is clearly part of a clever marketing project that is designed to get money coming into them.

If it genuinely means that as part of te process you, I and others can ditch some debt then I am OK with that, but for me it is less than 5% to pay off nearly 14k and just seems a little too good to be true.

I would be really interested to hear how you get on with them. I spoke to a geyser called Peter who assumed the role of "manager" and was in all sense of the word a good sales person! There was lots of patter about how they had sent out too many letters in error but would now have to stand by the offers and that staff were no longer on commision and yarda yarda yarda.....

Can you ask them the point introduced by LilacPixie (nice name!), about how we can be assured that no other company or interest will come after the currently outstanding amount in the future. If you or I agree to these payments we must ensure this is water tight!

Please will you let us know how you get on?

dn2004

My father also received this letter for over £8,000, after speaking to someone on the phone and reading the forum I am 90% sure it is genuine. I have paid the £150 for him and he should receive confirmation about the debt being written off within 14 days. I am hoping this is genuine as its going to be a pain to get the money back - surely I would be able to get my bank to refund me due to fraud being worst case scenario?

RAS

Hi guys

AK buy statute barred debt and debt that is not legally documented. The only reason I can see for these offers is that AK know they have no legal basis for enforcing the debt.

Before you give them anything you need to check the following

1,. If you have not paid anything towards the debt in the last 6 years (sorry maxriz), or ackowledged it in writing, then it is statute barred. Once you tell them that you are not paying, then they cannot pursue you for the debt, unless there is a CCJ on the debt. This applies if there was a 6 year period at any time, even if you are now paying.

2. You need to demand the signed CCA for any debt that relates to credit cards, catalogues or loans. If they do not produce the CCA, they cannot enfoce the debt in the courts and you do not have to continue paying.

Please note that if you have not been defaulted on the debt, they might register a default, but if your credit record is shot already, there is nothing to stop you.

So do not pay until you know your legal rights and have used them.