Full and final settlement help thread

fatbelly

pammer said:

Hi All,

I'm looking to make a F&F settlement to Cabot (they own the debt). Is now a good time, or should I wait for the world to go back to 'normal'?

I'd obviously like them to accept as little as possible! But I was wondering if the current situation would help or hinder my offer?

Anyone have any pearls of wisdom they could offer???

The current situation can only help. All businesses are desperate for cash.

DrWatson1

pammer said:

Hi All,

I'm looking to make a F&F settlement to Cabot (they own the debt). Is now a good time, or should I wait for the world to go back to 'normal'?

I'd obviously like them to accept as little as possible! But I was wondering if the current situation would help or hinder my offer?

Anyone have any pearls of wisdom they could offer???

I tried recently with Cabot, and they were not prepared to offer any deal. Please let me know if you have any more luck than I did!

bennyhill_2

DrWatson1 said:

pammer said:

Hi All,

I'm looking to make a F&F settlement to Cabot (they own the debt). Is now a good time, or should I wait for the world to go back to 'normal'?

I'd obviously like them to accept as little as possible! But I was wondering if the current situation would help or hinder my offer?

Anyone have any pearls of wisdom they could offer???

I tried recently with Cabot, and they were not prepared to offer any deal. Please let me know if you have any more luck than I did!

Cabot have consistently - and I mean 15+ years consistent - been absolutely crud.
In other news I managed to settle and old Tesco's CC today for £850, the original amount circa £3300.
Down to three remaining a/c's now, Lloyds Loan, Lloyds overdraft, Lloyds CC. All others were unable to produce acceptable CCA's so are not being paid and hopefully will go past statute towards end of next year.

calum555_2

Hi pammer and all,

I have been going down the route of stashing cash while blaming Covid. Whether that’s right or wrong is another debate that I don’t really want to go into...

but as a result I have started looking at F&Fs. I called Cabot today about an 1100 balance. I have sent a CCA request about a month ago and asked why I haven’t received anything. They said that so far they have received a statement and an original contract but are not sure if it’s enough and will need to check. I Took this as an opportunity to low ball them and offered 350 to clear the account. I was on hold for a while and then they had lots of questions!
I told them that I am furloughed and my job is at risk, and that I am up to date with priority bills. They wanted to know who the money came from, and how quickly I could get it. I said my dad and then they asked if I would be expected to pay him back. I said within a week and that yes I would pay him back.
then I was on hold for a while. They came back and offered 670 as a full and final. 

I’ve said I will need to ask my dad. They are keen for a reply and asked if they can call me back on Monday!
all sounds a bit desperate to me! I will tell them on Monday that my dad stuck at 350. Worst case scenario I will Try and meet them in the middle at 510!
So I hope this helps you.
i also tried this with another couple of creditors, went in low at 10% and both times they came back with a 90% counter!
my history is that I owed 60k 5 years ago. Now down to 20K total. I had been making steady payments that would see me clear in 2 years. So I have not exactly been a difficult customer for them, but seems that at least with Cabot a good offer is available.
i really hope this helps you. Good luck.

DrWatson1

For most people in debt, I'd advise reducing their payments to £5 per month and blame covid. As Sun-Tzu put it “In the midst of chaos, there is also opportunity”! I take the view that once the original lender sells the debt, for pennies in the pound, your aim is always get out of debt as cheaply as possible. 

I think £670 is decent in the circumstances, and I'd consider accepting. I owe £2k to Cabot, and last year they offered settlement around £600. I would have been happy with that, but tried to get it down lower, their original offer expired, and they then refused to consider going back to their original £600 offer.

wannapintobeer

Hi all. First post, be gentle. I’ve read in this thread that people negotiate f&f directly with the creditors. My situation is that I have a DMP through Stepchange, but will soon be in a position to settle my 7k debt. I genuinely would feel aggrieved if I couldn’t negotiate f&f with my creditors as I feel that many of them actively encouraged my getting in to debt (increasing credit limits etc when clear that I was struggling as I was only making minimum payments). 

My question is; should I negotiate directly with creditors, or go through Stepchange?
answers, and any other advice gratefully received. 

fatbelly

wannapintobeer said:

Hi all. First post, be gentle. I’ve read in this thread that people negotiate f&f directly with the creditors. My situation is that I have a DMP through Stepchange, but will soon be in a position to settle my 7k debt. I genuinely would feel aggrieved if I couldn’t negotiate f&f with my creditors as I feel that many of them actively encouraged my getting in to debt (increasing credit limits etc when clear that I was struggling as I was only making minimum payments). 

My question is; should I negotiate directly with creditors, or go through Stepchange?
answers, and any other advice gratefully received. 

I think if you read back a bit in this thread you'll see that the advice is always to do it yourself and let sc know the outcome.

adamp87

calum555_2 said:

Hi pammer and all,

I have been going down the route of stashing cash while blaming Covid. Whether that’s right or wrong is another debate that I don’t really want to go into...

but as a result I have started looking at F&Fs. I called Cabot today about an 1100 balance. I have sent a CCA request about a month ago and asked why I haven’t received anything. They said that so far they have received a statement and an original contract but are not sure if it’s enough and will need to check. I Took this as an opportunity to low ball them and offered 350 to clear the account. I was on hold for a while and then they had lots of questions!
I told them that I am furloughed and my job is at risk, and that I am up to date with priority bills. They wanted to know who the money came from, and how quickly I could get it. I said my dad and then they asked if I would be expected to pay him back. I said within a week and that yes I would pay him back.
then I was on hold for a while. They came back and offered 670 as a full and final. 

I’ve said I will need to ask my dad. They are keen for a reply and asked if they can call me back on Monday!
all sounds a bit desperate to me! I will tell them on Monday that my dad stuck at 350. Worst case scenario I will Try and meet them in the middle at 510!
So I hope this helps you.
i also tried this with another couple of creditors, went in low at 10% and both times they came back with a 90% counter!
my history is that I owed 60k 5 years ago. Now down to 20K total. I had been making steady payments that would see me clear in 2 years. So I have not exactly been a difficult customer for them, but seems that at least with Cabot a good offer is available.
i really hope this helps you. Good luck.

You made a minor mistake telling them you’d pay him back. Because they might as well continue taking the money from you if you have enough or plan to pay him back.

The offer needs to come across as a one off, a gift from your Dad to clear you debt. Not a loan to pay it off if you see what I mean?

I’d advise doing anything over the phone you need proof. If they agree on Monday to a reduced figure then ensure they send this in writing and confirm this will write off the debt and they won’t sell it on or try and claim the remaining amount again. 

https://debtcamel.co.uk/debt-options/less-common/full-final/

If they don’t have a CCA agreement then your debts unenforceable too. So realistically until they produce it I wouldn’t even make an offer. But see why you want too to get it gone. 

Halfwaythere

Got a response from Link re my settlement offer of approx £2090 for £8152 and offered me 

£6,525.32 

20% discount

calum555_2

Hmmm 20 per cent isn’t great, hope you can knock them down.
i had an interesting week. Offered Cabot 520 in the end, which was slap bang in the middle of my original offer and their offer. They declined this on the telephone yesterday. They want to set up a plan. I said I will do so when I receive my CCA documents from them.
she then looked into it and said that she could see they were sent in the mail yesterday, she was able to read the letter and stated that the original terms and conditions were included and that the debt is ‘enforceable’, any non payment may result in court action.
with that I agreed to 13 pounds a month. She suggested a direct debit, which is what most customers prefer. I advised her that this one would not! And that I will use a standing order, so that in the event of the CCA not being valid, it will be cancelled!
Fast forward 24 hours to today, and imagine my surprise when I open a letter to them that states we cannot Obtain your CCA documents and the debt is not enforceable!’
unbelievable! It’s all smoke and mirrors by the looks of things.
i left step change this week to self manage, and this was my first real negotiation, I think this will be an interesting journey!
so not sure what to do with this one now. I know I should ignore it and not pay, but I have an outstanding complaint with them to move the default date back from 2018 to 2016. So may play along until this is resolved and then just ignore them??