Full and final settlement help thread

Debfro

Hi I am trying to pay off my last three debts with full and final settlement. I asked how much each debt company had paid for the debt but they say they do not have to tell me that as it is a private arrangement between them and the original company. I thought they had to tell me with the Freedom of information act? Am I wrong? Thank you for your help.

sourcrates

Debfro wrote: »

Hi I am trying to pay off my last three debts with full and final settlement. I asked how much each debt company had paid for the debt but they say they do not have to tell me that as it is a private arrangement between them and the original company. I thought they had to tell me with the Freedom of information act? Am I wrong? Thank you for your help.

Yes completely wrong unfortunately.


The FOIA only applies to official bodies, not to private companies.


Those kind of debt purchase deals are the companies own private business, but you can safely say each account was bought for a pittance, so make your initial offers low.

January2015

Debfro wrote: »

Hi I am trying to pay off my last three debts with full and final settlement. I asked how much each debt company had paid for the debt but they say they do not have to tell me that as it is a private arrangement between them and the original company. I thought they had to tell me with the Freedom of information act? Am I wrong? Thank you for your help.

As Sourcrates rightly says Freedom of Information Act (FOI)does not apply to debt collectors (DCAs) and banks.

FOI only applies to public sector organisations, such as government, local government (e.g. councils), police authorities, NHS etc.

I've seen some people mention sending a subject access request (SAR) which is sent under the Data Protection Act - which does apply to any organisation holding data on living, identifiable people. But for clarity - that will definitely apply to DCAs and banks. However, I don't think many have the success they would hope for in finding out what was paid for a debt from a bank.

To avoid having to disclose what a debt was sold for, the bank only has to sell it to the DCA with documentation referring to the account number, total debt value, total sale price to DCA. That way there is no identifying personal data of any living individual included in the sale documentation. They can then send the DCA details of the total debt owed, which obviously does include identifying personal data. The DCA can link it to the purchase from the bank by the account number.

Mind you, I am only guessing how things work - no real clue, but it would make sense to me to operate in this way to avoid debtors having any rights to find out what debts were purchased for under the Data Protection Act.

lynns3cookies

Hi all,

Just wondering if anyone has had any success recently with a F&F settlement on a cabot account? I am currently paying £5 per month on a 15k debt and am trying to work out a way of gathering some monies to make an offer so that I can get this out of the way as it is my one major debt now.

Thanks in advance.

groovy_chick

Edited by OP

dod929

Hi, appreciate some help if I could pick your brains please!

I owe 560 on over draft from 2011 been passed from DCA to DCA since and have ignored them all, now trying to deal with it. I phoned them up and offered £300 to settle the account and she said it would not show as F&F on my credit file... They have sent off my £300 offer to be assessed and time will tell what they will come back with. If they accept it should I sent a letter or email saying I will only pay this if it shows as F&F on the credit file, have I done this the wrong way round and would it damage my chances? Wish I read through this thread before I offered such a high amount for first offer!

I also have a £680 OD in similar circumstances but I don't believe I owe the amount. I never used the card as never got a pin through and never made the swap from previous current account.
As am in a roll of dealing with life's bad decisions I have phoned them and asked for a breakdown of what the debts are for, should it show just bank charges built up over god knows how many years does anyone know where I would stand?

I am a full time student and work full time so have the advantages of being able to use my student loan to pay off these as have the funds to live but would I be able to just tell them about being a student and offer a £1 per month token payment without being asked to do an expenses/expenditures breakdown?

Many Thanks, your all fab and reading through all your stories has made me remove my head from the sand!

sourcrates

dod929 wrote: »

Hi, appreciate some help if I could pick your brains please!

I owe 560 on over draft from 2011 been passed from DCA to DCA since and have ignored them all, now trying to deal with it. I phoned them up and offered £300 to settle the account and she said it would not show as F&F on my credit file... They have sent off my £300 offer to be assessed and time will tell what they will come back with. If they accept it should I sent a letter or email saying I will only pay this if it shows as F&F on the credit file, have I done this the wrong way round and would it damage my chances? Wish I read through this thread before I offered such a high amount for first offer!

I also have a £680 OD in similar circumstances but I don't believe I owe the amount. I never used the card as never got a pin through and never made the swap from previous current account.
As am in a roll of dealing with life's bad decisions I have phoned them and asked for a breakdown of what the debts are for, should it show just bank charges built up over god knows how many years does anyone know where I would stand?

I am a full time student and work full time so have the advantages of being able to use my student loan to pay off these as have the funds to live but would I be able to just tell them about being a student and offer a £1 per month token payment without being asked to do an expenses/expenditures breakdown?

Many Thanks, your all fab and reading through all your stories has made me remove my head from the sand!

Hi,

You should make all offers of settlement in writing, using the template letter available from the National Debtline website.
That way, once settled, any unpaid outstanding balance will not be chased.
Link here :

https://www.nationaldebtline.org/EW/sampleletters/Pages/Full-and-final-settlement-offers-%28sole-name%29.aspx

Your credit file will show as partially settled, which is the norm, it would only be fully settled if you paid in full.

dod929

Thank you ! Will send them off tomorrow , What does it mean by saying 'without prejudice'?

sourcrates

dod929 wrote: »

Thank you ! Will send them off tomorrow , What does it mean by saying 'without prejudice'?

It's a legal term which means anything you say in the letter cannot be used against you in a court of law.

fatbelly

So it's a way of making an offer to settle without acknowledging the debt.

The statute barred clock keeps ticking and that's another good reason why they should accept your offer.