Full and final settlement help thread

yellowpinky

Hi everyone,

I've just started negotiating with Cabot (was Egg card account), which is one of my DMP creditors. I've offered 25%, they have come back with 80% but have said it can be reviewed and they await my counter offer. I think I will go to 30% next, but my question is how does this work timewise with counter offers? Do people counter offer straightaway or just say no thank you then wait a few weeks? I gave them till 6th May to reply to my original offer which was by letter. We are corresponding via e-mail at the moment but if there is an offer we can agree on I will ask for it in writing and as per the NDL template letter.

Any advice much appreciated! YP

TheLostSheep

I guess with any process of negotiation, you could re-iterate that 25% is the maximum that you can afford. I expect they have come back with 80% possibly thinking you have much more to give. Would imagine it all depends on circumstances as to what they might settle on. Your 30% idea does show some negotiation I guess on your part.

Just say that you don't want the process to drag on. At least you are in negotiation with them and they are showing willingness to settle.

petemacs4430

shanef81 wrote: »

Here's one for you - I took out a couple of small loand from one Welcome Financial Services for £2,250.

I told them last september that I was having problems paying them as I had moved to the City to work, costing me more money initially - so they offered to 'reschedule' the debt with lower interest payments - meaning I could pay £80 per month and keep my head above water - great!

They sent me the paperwork to sign and return, but as I wasn't sure about the figures on it I kept hold of it (I don't know where it is now, but they dont have a signed copy) - they kept calling me for a copy to be signed and returned.

I recently called them to find out what the current balance was, to which they replied £3,700, as I had been doing nothing but basically covering the interest each month on this amount.

Given that I never borrowed this amount in the first place, I believe that the so-called 'rescheduling' was to arrange to consolidate the loan PLUS original interest amount into another loan with a lower APR, therefore making me pay interest ON INTEREST!

I believe that this is wrong, but I would love some professional advice on this.

I have just now cancelled the DD for paying it, and am quite prepared to let it go to collectionso I don;t pay this stupid interest charge.


Thank you all for your time - opinions most 'welcome' (I had to say it!)

Shane :-)

hi shane
no you wrote this some time back and most prob have sorted your problem with welcome finance out. but to let you know welcome finance was part of cattle group which i believe is bust now. was told by one of there debt managers that welcome do not have any budget for debt recovery

buzz_man

Hi I am considering offering a full & final settlement to my creditors. i have a considerable debt spread across five creditors, three of the debts have been passed onto DCA's and the remaining two are credit card company's. Firstly i am not sure where to start, offer wise should i try really low then work my way up, or should i just go straight in with my maximum and stick with it. Also what is the situation if one or a couple agree and the others don't can i pay them without making the prefferential creditors?. I have been paying all my creditors pro-rata for about two years so i am worried that if one agrees to a settlment and i pay them the others might take me to court.

Pott5y

Hi Buzz Man

F & F template letters can be found here:
http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/en...ebt_advice.php

make sure you get all offers in writing and they must include the terms
1. in full and final settlement.
2. release you from all liability for the debt
3. you will no longer be pursued by them or any other for the outstanding amount
4. that your credit file will be marked as satisfied

Keep all corespondance for 6 years. If you are not sure about any wording in the replies post here or call national Debt Line for advice.

I would start my offers lower and do them all pro-rata (ie show what you are offering all.)

You never know they may accept, if not you can then negotiate upwards.

Say the money is coming from a third party (it is not yours!!)

As you are offering to all credits a pro-rata F&F then don't worry if 1 or 2 accept and the others don't. All that will happen is you monthly repayment will be split amongst your remaining creditors so they will be getting a little more each month.


good luck

buzz_man

Thanks for the advise the letter i am drafting at the moment.

[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Without Prejudice[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]I write with reference to the money which you are claiming on the above account.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]I can confirm that I am unable to offer to pay the money which I owe in full as you are aware I was made redundant in 2009 and have been unable to make the required payments. However, I can raise £XXXXX and I want to offer this as an ex-gratia payment in full and final settlement of the account. This offer is made on the clear understanding that, if accepted, neither you nor any associate company will take any other action to enforce or pursue this debt in any way whatsoever and that I will be released from any liability. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Please note that this money is coming from a third party and is only available to me on the understanding that my debts will be cleared in full and if the offer is rejected these funds will no longer be available.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]I also request that, if accepted, you will make an entry on a credit reference agency file relating to the above account as having been paid and the account closed and marked as satisfied.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Payment can be made within fourteen days of receiving your written agreement of this offer which states “neither you nor any associate company will take any other action to enforce or pursue this debt in any way whatsoever and that I will be released from any liability” or words to that effect and method of payment.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]As advised no lump sum will be available until I have received written confirmation of all points in the above offer.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]However if you are unable to accept my offer then I will regrettably have to withdraw the offer and continue paying my monthly re-payments[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]I look forward to receiving your reply.[/FONT]


[FONT=&quot]Yours faithfully[/FONT]

I have included the phrase "without prejudice" i understand that this means that either party can not use the letter in court, if they give me an offer letter i would presume that the phrase should not be included so if any court action arises i can then use it as proof of agreement. I was also going to include a gird shoeing the pro-rata offers to my other creditors. And can i confirm if one accepts at on rate then another negotiates a higher rate i do not need to go back to the first one and re-offer the higher rate. does this make sense?

Pott5y

Letter looks good, though it might be worth putting in a date when you expect a reply by.

Also would be worth adding underlined:

[FONT=&quot]Payment can be made within fourteen days of receiving your written agreement of this being a offer for full and final settlement which states “neither you nor any associate company will take any other action to enforce or pursue this debt in any way whatsoever and that I will be released from any liability” or words to that effect and method of payment.[/FONT]


When I did my full and finals I did exactly that. I sent the letters to all creditors with a pro-rata table. If they accepted I just put accepted in the table and sent the money etc. I then re-sent the same letter with the same offer to all those that had refused showing that 1 had accepted and low and behold another accepted. I then raised my offer to the remaining and sent them a letter showing 2 had accepted etc. etc until all where paid. Hope that make sense.

yellowpinky

Hi everyone,

Firstly thank you cg81 for your helpful reply earlier.

I have been in the process of negotiating F & F's with two of my creditors and am almost at the point of reaching an agreement with both. I'm about to settle at about 66% for one and 40% for the other. One is a DCA who are still acting on behalf of the original creditor - I think the OC still own the debt as they are referred to as "our client" on the top of the letters. How can I ensure that the DCA wouldn't take my payment then hand the debt back to the original creditor who will then chase me for the rest? I'm asking them to put various points in writing and for this point I was going to use this wording in my acceptance letter -

Please could you confirm in writing . . .That neither you, *original creditor* nor any associate company will take any other action to enforce or pursue this debt in any way whatsoever and that I will be released for any liability.

Do I need to add anything to this part? Should I really be dealing with the original creditor directly? Head is spinning a bit at this point!

Many thanks once again! YP

jadex

Only owner can settle the debt with you.
DCA can't decide as long as they do not own it.
You send the offer to DCA starting with: Please pass it to your client.
Do NOT accept F&F from anyone but owner - it means nothing.

yellowpinky

Hi all,

Just an update - I sent my acceptance letter including "please could you inform your client" for each point I asked for in writing (thanks Jadex for your reply).

I have a had reply in writing comforming to all the points I've asked for, including file marked as "satisfied", except it doesn't mention full and final settlement anywhere! In the previous letter I had from them they did say they would be willing to accept xxx amount "in full and final settlement", so I phoned NDL tonight and read both letters to them and they said between the two letters I was covered, as long I made sure to keep them both. This is the text of the letter I received today -

We can confirm that upon receipt of £xxx in cleared funds, you will be released from any further liability and neither we nor any associate company will take any other action to enforce or pursue the debt. Upon receipt of £xxx in cleared finds our client will make an entry on your credit file to show this account as "satisfied".

Our client has however made it quite clear that the funds are to be received within 14 days of their acceptance, and as such that date we require your payment by is 30/6/11, as per our letter of 16/6/11. Please ensure your payment is received no later than this date.


NDL also mentioned that if I really wanted to dot the I's and cross the T's, to check with the original creditor, so I'll have to try and phone them tomorrow (9-5, Mon to Fri only, grrr), and then hopefuly if that's ok, get the thing paid. Will give more details when the thing's all done!