Full and final settlement help thread

January2015

Lifeisforliving19 wrote: »

Thanks CBC. Need to have a think and decide what to do next. We have 6 debts with them, between us and only been paying £1 a month for the last 10 months now, so you would have thought they would have the sense to realise that the offers we have made on these 2 are very good offers, as at £1 per month, they will never get paid.

I've been paying £1 pm for over two and half years now to our debts. Had a couple of successes with F&Fs but otherwise creditors happy to keep accepting token payments in the hope something in our lives will change and they can get either the full balance or a higher percentage settlement at a later date. They don't seem to care how long it will take. Our debts are currently forecast at almost 50 years to clear at £1 pm. They really don't seem bothered - so, to be fair, neither am I :rotfl:

Lifeisforliving19

January2015 wrote: »

I've been paying £1 pm for over two and half years now to our debts. Had a couple of successes with F&Fs but otherwise creditors happy to keep accepting token payments in the hope something in our lives will change and they can get either the full balance or a higher percentage settlement at a later date. They don't seem to care how long it will take. Our debts are currently forecast at almost 50 years to clear at £1 pm. They really don't seem bothered - so, to be fair, neither am I :rotfl:

Well at the rate we are paying, ours will be a lot longer than that....:rotfl: My worry is that as we are getting older, we could be left with all these debts and even though I am sure the DCA's will be happy to let us carry on paying well into our retirement, I always worry that if/when anything happens to us, our family will discover our debts.

[Deleted User]

Lifeisforliving19 wrote: »

Well at the rate we are paying, ours will be a lot longer than that....:rotfl: My worry is that as we are getting older, we could be left with all these debts and even though I am sure the DCA's will be happy to let us carry on paying well into our retirement, I always worry that if/when anything happens to us, our family will discover our debts.

I know exactly what you mean and much of what you say echoes my own feelings.


I was already retired when I started my DMP in 2013 and was very aware of my age and time flying fast:eek:. Luckily, I was receiving both a reasonable employment pension and my state pension by then and was able to go at my debts at a furious pace. It was a mistake actually as I was so strict with my budget catagories and threw every available penny (and some!) at my DMP payments. For the first year I felt more stifled by my debt than in the pre-DMP days when I was having to rob Peter to pay Paul in order to get through the week:o. Once I'd come to my senses and cut myself a bit of slack by renegotiating my payments when my SC review came up I was much more relaxed about things. I still felt I needed to pay off my debts and come to the end of my DMP before I was too ancient though.


Even my OH (we've been together for almost 50 years) knows nothing of my debts and the thought of him or family ever finding out was the main spur in my mission to be debt-free as soon as possible:o. I know of so many people who have died and left an unholy financial mess behind:eek:. After nearly 5 years on a DMP, when the debt balance was looking less scary, I decided to self-manage and drop to token payments so I could build up a fund to make F&Fs with:j. I'm still not totally debt-free yet but it shouldn't be much longer:j.


The DCAs who wouldn't play ball and have declined my F&F offers seem totally unfazed by the fact that at this rate I'd be well over 200 years old before my debt would be cleared:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:. I mention my age when I make my offers but they don't care at all. They must be bonkers! I know from what others on here have said that they often come back with an improved offer after a few months so I'm sitting it out for now. I sometimes feel almost tempted to settle at the figure they want just to be debt-free at last but it seems exorbitant given the thousands I've already paid off and I'm very stubborn:eek:

Lifeisforliving19

carbootcrazy wrote: »

I know exactly what you mean and much of what you say echoes my own feelings.


I was already retired when I started my DMP in 2013 and was very aware of my age and time flying fast:eek:. Luckily, I was receiving both a reasonable employment pension and my state pension by then and was able to go at my debts at a furious pace. It was a mistake actually as I was so strict with my budget catagories and threw every available penny (and some!) at my DMP payments. For the first year I felt more stifled by my debt than in the pre-DMP days when I was having to rob Peter to pay Paul in order to get through the week:o. Once I'd come to my senses and cut myself a bit of slack by renegotiating my payments when my SC review came up I was much more relaxed about things. I still felt I needed to pay off my debts and come to the end of my DMP before I was too ancient though.


Even my OH (we've been together for almost 50 years) knows nothing of my debts and the thought of him or family ever finding out was the main spur in my mission to be debt-free as soon as possible:o. I know of so many people who have died and left an unholy financial mess behind:eek:. After nearly 5 years on a DMP, when the debt balance was looking less scary, I decided to self-manage and drop to token payments so I could build up a fund to make F&Fs with:j. I'm still not totally debt-free yet but it shouldn't be much longer:j.


The DCAs who wouldn't play ball and have declined my F&F offers seem totally unfazed by the fact that at this rate I'd be well over 200 years old before my debt would be cleared:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:. I mention my age when I make my offers but they don't care at all. They must be bonkers! I know from what others on here have said that they often come back with an improved offer after a few months so I'm sitting it out for now. I sometimes feel almost tempted to settle at the figure they want just to be debt-free at last but it seems exorbitant given the thousands I've already paid off and I'm very stubborn:eek:

I agree CBC,


The DCA's don't seem to realise how long it is going to take us. I think there are people sat opening the post and answering the phones and they have some sort of check list that they work from, that shows the lowest they are allowed to accept. I don't think they are allowed to think outside the box and use their initiative. If only they realised that accepting £1000 now as a F&F, is actually preferable to me carrying on paying £1 per month....£12 per year x 30years maybe...if I live to 92. That would mean in 30 years they will only recover £360 from me.....Their thinking really does baffle me

sourcrates

You have to remember these companies buy debts in bulk, literally for pennies in the pound, not knowing what they have bought until they try to collect on them.

A typical £1000 debt may be bought for less than £100 quid, so what they lose on one customer, they will undoubtedly make it back from another.

nextyeartina

I have 3 remaining debts which have been transferred to PRA Group. Are there any PRA success stories?


TIA

NeverendingDMP

I had two with pra. Settled one by paying 60 % owing. The other they asked for 80% so i said no thanks. I could only afford a settlement on one so picked the offer that would save me the most. I was worried offering on one would make then query the five pounds i pay on the other but they treat them completely seperate. They had owned it about 18 months when i settled. I know others have settled for less than 60% of the balance owed but it worked for me an was a huge boost to get below my 30k mark. I think i started about 45% of balance owed then negotiated from there.

Lifeisforliving19

nextyeartina wrote: »

I have 3 remaining debts which have been transferred to PRA Group. Are there any PRA success stories?


TIA

We offered at about 25% on PRA and they turned us down. Came back with about a 90% offer, so we just decided to leave it. That was on 3 small debts. That was almost a year ago and since they have told us debts are UE as they are unable to find the paperwork, so all the accounts have been put on hold and we haven't paid anything since. Just waiting to see what happens

sh01

Hi, I stopped payments to the remaining creditors that I had last year when I was made redundant (they’ve been slow chasing me so now trying to get organised and negotiate some settlements). I’ve not updated my status with any or given my income and expenditure figures (I am now employed again and don’t want to if possible). Will I need to give them my I &E details in order to get a settlement agreed or will they usually agree without? I have debts with Zinc, Cabot and 2 unenforceable ones with Link (which ultimately i’d Pay a small settlement for as I just want them all gone so it’s worth it, however i’m Not rushing nor moving on the low offer i’ve given them). I have approx £4K available and a total of £14k debts so not expecting to clear them all but hoping to get a chunk removed if I can negotiate well so any tips welcome! At the moment i’m Just trying to be patient and wait for them to come back to me and make offers.

F19FOX

Lifeisforliving19 wrote: »

I agree CBC,


The DCA's don't seem to realise how long it is going to take us. I think there are people sat opening the post and answering the phones and they have some sort of check list that they work from, that shows the lowest they are allowed to accept. I don't think they are allowed to think outside the box and use their initiative. If only they realised that accepting £1000 now as a F&F, is actually preferable to me carrying on paying £1 per month....£12 per year x 30years maybe...if I live to 92. That would mean in 30 years they will only recover £360 from me.....Their thinking really does baffle me

I don't know but I would think the DCA's will also take into consideration your age when deciding whether or not to accept a settlement offer. Not only if you are young and likely to be able to pay off your debt through earning potential but also if you are more mature. it's worth remembering that any outstanding debts are paid from the proceeds of your estate when you die. It's only if you die insolvent do the debts not get paid. :eek: