Full and final settlement help thread

cakehole

I've been on a debt management programme with the CCCS for about 3 years now for debts of £30,000 on credit cards and loans. I have manage to get the debt down to £18,000 (should be 14,000 but interest is back on most of them now).

I've managed to find myself in the position where I have access to a lump sum of just under half this figure. I have written to all my creditors offering them a Full and Final Settlement. Hopefully they will accept!!!!

Being bogged down in debt is no fun!!!!!! and I am looking forward to being debt free.......hopefully!!!

Useless_with_wonga

margetti wrote: »

Hi all

Sent off my letters last week, offering a 30% !!!!!! payment top get things started. Got the first reply already, which has caught me off-guard somewhat...

They have written back to ask "my third party" to contact them as soon as possible, and that I need to send them a letter authorising "my third party"
to act on my behalf. Well, there is no third party - the truth of the matter is that the money I have come in to came from my gran, and little does she know it's being used to pay off debt!

Do I go along with a charade and get a friend to "act" as a third party, or do I just write back and just tell them there is no third party involved and they need to deal with me directly?

Hi,
They are not stupid they know the game. My advise is play it better. Tell them the truth your elderly Gran has given you the money as a gift and rather than blow it you are offering it to them in order to clear your debt.
Tell them your family are unaware of your financial situation and you intend to keep it that way besides it would upset your Gran blah blah should she know/be contacted etc etc you don't authorise or permit them to breach data protection by disclosing your circumstances to anyone etc etc lay it on thick.
Intimate they either want the money or they don't ensure you tell them it is not regular income but a one off unexpected gift that you are trying to be responsible with namely clearing debt.
They really want the money but they are exploring the option of squeezing more out of you by spouting this nonsense. Basically they are saying we don't beleive you and we think you have more so we will try to get more. Don't give in just play smart you don't even have to lie to acheive it. Good Luck.

sanmarco5

I have been reading this thread with great interest. My self & hubby have combined debts of £42k, it is getting increasingly difficult to meet minimum payments each month as by the time interest is added on, the debts seem to be going up instead of down. We have looked at IVA's & DMP's, but DH isnt keen ( not sure why) but there is a chance we can get a lump sum (borrow from friends) but obviously nowhere near the total amount owed, we had considered borrowing about £15k from them & just paying off some of the debt, but then of course we have to pay them back so wouldne be a lot better off, but if we could greatly reduce our debt by offering ff's this would really help our situation.

So how do we go about doing this, and also do we offer the same to all our creditors, or is it possible to do it just to my husbands (as mine are only a fraction of the total debt, and I can manage to keep up with mine if we dont have his to worry about)

Thanks

maria1987

Hi,

Hopefully someone can help.

I owe to two companies:

£18,000 to Northern Rock, and £5,500 to Welcome Finance. I have paid roughly three payments of £100 to Northern Rock over the past 18 months (monthly payment should be £185) and no payments to Welcome Finance (who have not even chased me....although they do send updates, ie rate changes/charges etc)

Both debts are joint with my ex partner, they are now in an IVA, is there any point of me offering f & f settlement for my debts and if so would proportion would be people suggest?

Thanks in advance

Desperate_Partner

Hi
My partner has being negioating full and final settlements with his creditors, and has received a letter from MBNA quoting "MBNA will not expect any further payment and no external debt companies will contact you in relation to this balance. The account will register as a partial settlement on your Credit File."
Do you think this will ok, it is in writing and he will keep this on file hopefully forever!
Many thanks

fatbelly

Desperate_Partner wrote: »

Hi
My partner has being negioating full and final settlements with his creditors, and has received a letter from MBNA quoting "MBNA will not expect any further payment and no external debt companies will contact you in relation to this balance. The account will register as a partial settlement on your Credit File."
Do you think this will ok, it is in writing and he will keep this on file hopefully forever!
Many thanks

Nice to see this thread again!

Yes, I think it's OK provided it's a f&f at around 35% or lower. MBNA are keen on these deals and I've not had any bad experience with them (yet!).

jmorrissey290

I would appreciate some advice from any helpful comrade:

Have had letter from Barclaycard/Mercers saying :


We write to confirm that we will accept a full and final settlement figure of £xxxx that must be received by 26th March 20009.

But nothing else bar standard greeting and sign-off. Is this enough to confirm final settlement?

To be honest, I don’t care about what goes on the credit file, as if my dad never gets credit again it will be a good thing. More concerned about:
a) No mention of no further action being taken by them or associates
b) Letter only arrived today (27th), although extended yesterday on phone to 31st (and can pay electronically which I know arrives same day

They actually claim they normally only send letters after payment, and I am tempted to believe this is a genuine offer, but thought I’d check first.

Anyone had any experience with Mercers?. Any advice much appreciated

Useless_with_wonga

IMHO could just do with the addition of "We nor any third party will pursue the balance." The account will be closed" "Credit file will be marked settled"

bobdauilda

Given that a lot of the problems with consumer debt have been created by the irresponsible lending of the banks, why don't the government review the current methods of tackling debt in the UK?

Informal offers of payment to creditors by the debtor or DMP through companies like Payplan are not guaranteed to be accepted by the creditors and its at their discretion to freeze interest payment or not during this time. This can still subject people to court action and a huge amount of stress.

The alternative is an IVA where they have to freeze interest payments and the total debt remains static, but then tie people in for 5 years with a major effect on their future credit ratings. I suspect most of the takers of these are people unlikely to have a major change of financial status within that time period and is ideal for them. But what about those people who have had a blip in life where they've been excluded from work through injury but are likely to return to high paid work within a year or two, or are expecting a large lump sum from a pending court case in that timeframe? They aren't catered for at all.

What we need is an additional plan similar to a DMP but which guaranteed that the interest would be frozen so that repayments actually make a dent in the total owed. Making DMPs exempt from legal action would be a bonus too. This would essentially make it a formalised agreement but at least it would be a halfway house between that of an IVA and informal dmp.

Any thoughts Gordon Brown?

TapasKing

cakehole wrote: »

I've been on a debt management programme with the CCCS for about 3 years now for debts of £30,000 on credit cards and loans. I have manage to get the debt down to £18,000 (should be 14,000 but interest is back on most of them now).

I've managed to find myself in the position where I have access to a lump sum of just under half this figure. I have written to all my creditors offering them a Full and Final Settlement. Hopefully they will accept!!!!

Being bogged down in debt is no fun!!!!!! and I am looking forward to being debt free.......hopefully!!!

I'm in almost the same position, with closer to 70% of the debt as a lump sum, but I haven't sent my F&F letters yet - I'm awaiting some timing/offer advice off here - let us know how you get on!