Full and final settlement help thread

fatbelly

Philip624 wrote: »

I am 4 years into a DMP. Halifax are the only creditor who have never defaulted me, just marked the account as arrangement to pay. They have said they will settle for 75% minimum as mark the account as partially settled.

Does the fact its not been defaulted have any affect here credit record wise? By that I mean I have settled other accounts that had already defaulted. The sum needed to settle now will be the total amount owed on the account by about May next year so would it make much difference to wait until then and settle for the full amount?

Your credit history is going to be a bit of a mess and records stay until six years after they are defaulted or settled, whichever happens sooner. Arrangements to pay are a pain as they delay this process. But if you can settle now, at a discount, I think you should do that.

fatbelly

Daisypop wrote: »

Hi all
Any advice please? Trying to settle a couple of my lower debts. Cabot have declined my offer of 30% saying it will be paid off anyway within 2 years . They have however offered me a 10% discount as a gesture of goodwill which is rubbish.
I only owe them 578 just wanted it paid off.
Would you leave it or go in higher?
Thanks

It's a small debt and only two years left on your payment plan so you're not going to get a spectacular deal. But it's worth a phone call to see how much they'll move from 90%.

If they are still stubborn, and this is a consumer credit debt, try a formal cca request, which might loosen them up a bit.

fatbelly

aneb123 wrote: »

Hi Everyone,

Just looking for some advice on the above please?

I have not worked since April due to illness and it doesnt look like ill be back at work anytime soon.

I have quite a few debts as i had a good job and good salary when i was working. I havent paid any of my debts since May so i have now hit 6 months with no payments. I have sold my house as managing the mortgage was also a hindrence due to my current situation, i have some money that i have from the sale of the house, its probably about 70% of what i owe out.

I just want some advice on how i should approach the above. Some of my debts havent defaulted yet, should i wait til they have, should i offer the companies now, should i wait tlonger, im currently at a loss as i dont think my situation will change soon but i also feel a lot of stress due to the situation as its a situation i have never been in before and want to try and remove it as soon as possible.

I havent communicated anything to any of my creditors yet which i know is wrong but i just havent known how to face this situation or where to start.

Thanks in advance for your replies and help

Debts are currently 40K and are all unsecured credit card debts.

OK, first thing is that you need to keep your cash pot somewhere completely separate from your debts. Check that it's not got a family relationship to any of them like Halifax-Lloyds or Nat west-RBS.

I would not make an offer until the debt is defaulted as you then have an end point, and they should be more receptive to a deal. You can pick them off one by one.

Start low with your offers ( say 30%) and use the National Debtline standard letter

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

aneb123

Thanks Fatbelly. I have completely moved my money somewhere else thats not connected to anyone.

Just went through a few letters and my lloyds ones are now with westcot so maybe they have been defaulted already, im still getting texts from capital one saying it will be defaulted soon and barclaycard are still coming from them so i guess thats not defaulted yet.

Is it worth CCA'ing any of these?

Thanks again

Philip624

am 4 years into a DMP. Halifax are the only creditor who have never defaulted me, just marked the account as arrangement to pay. They have said they will settle for 75% minimum as mark the account as partially settled.

Does the fact its not been defaulted have any affect here credit record wise? By that I mean I have settled other accounts that had already defaulted. The sum needed to settle now will be the total amount owed on the account by about May next year so would it make much difference to wait until then and settle for the full amount?

I guess in essence the question is, is it better to settle in full a debt that has not defaulted but has ap markers?

fatbelly

aneb123 wrote: »

Thanks Fatbelly. I have completely moved my money somewhere else thats not connected to anyone.

Just went through a few letters and my lloyds ones are now with westcot so maybe they have been defaulted already, im still getting texts from capital one saying it will be defaulted soon and barclaycard are still coming from them so i guess thats not defaulted yet.

Is it worth CCA'ing any of these?

Thanks again

They should send you a formal default notice but it's possible to miss that if you are getting an avalanche of mail. You could check a credit reference agency report and that should tell you if you've been defaulted.

On the cca thing, there is a school of thought that you should always do one before making an offer, but your agreements sound quite recent, are still with the original lenders and are credit cards. It's likely they would be able to comply. That's why I didn't suggest it earlier, but it's your right under the CCA and doesn't cost much.

fatbelly

Philip624 wrote: »

I guess in essence the question is, is it better to settle in full a debt that has not defaulted but has ap markers?

Yes, it will just show as settled rather than partially settled. But it's not as if you have an otherwise clean file.. I'd still push for a discount.

aneb123

I’m all honesty I haven’t had any new credit in quite a few years all of these I’ve had a very long time I’d say the newest credit card was 2010 but yes they are all cards.

It’s a reall quandary now as to whether I offer to make token payments for a while or I go in with offers.

It’s a place I never thought I’d be so I’m not sure of the best road right now.

Thanks again.

sourcrates

aneb123 wrote: »

I’m all honesty I haven’t had any new credit in quite a few years all of these I’ve had a very long time I’d say the newest credit card was 2010 but yes they are all cards.

It’s a reall quandary now as to whether I offer to make token payments for a while or I go in with offers.

It’s a place I never thought I’d be so I’m not sure of the best road right now.

Thanks again.

Take your time, think it through, debt collection takes time, wescot only manage debts, they don’t buy them, you will know they are defaulted when you get letters from Lowell, or Cabot, or the like, who are debt purchasers.

But that could be a way off yet.

arc2014

Hi all,

Just finished reading the last few pages of this thread, and I've seen that I should send off CCA requests before making any offers. Sorry if this has been asked before but how do I do this?

Thanks!