Full and final settlement help thread

zeroms2024

sourcrates said:

zeroms2024 said:

Good morning guys, I wondered if you could give me some advice please? I have had a letter from Cabot, offering me 75% off of a debt that is not enforceable. I am still paying it on my DMP, but wondered if I should be cheeky and low ball them, as I would like the debt gone, albeit it is not enforceable.

Any advice on how I should tackle this would be greatly appreciated! especially the do's and don'ts of signing things etc.

Have a great bank holiday weekend everyone! thanks 

Best advice I can give you is to stop paying it, ignore their "cheeky" offer, and remove the debt from your stepchange plan.

It will drop off your file 6 years from the date of default, and you will be done with it.

Why pay when you don`t have too??

Thanks very much, I will advise stepchange to remove it 

tigergambit

zeroms2024 said:

Good morning guys, I wondered if you could give me some advice please? I have had a letter from Cabot, offering me 75% off of a debt that is not enforceable. I am still paying it on my DMP, but wondered if I should be cheeky and low ball them, as I would like the debt gone, albeit it is not enforceable.

Any advice on how I should tackle this would be greatly appreciated! especially the do's and don'ts of signing things etc.

Have a great bank holiday weekend everyone! thanks 

Write to them and inform them that you will be making no further payments and not to contact you further unless the status changes.

Remove it from your DMP and find something better to do with your money. 

bcs7

Moneysaver1234567890 said:

Winkflower said:

H @Moneysaver1234567890 please can I ask re the above,  - did link offer for you to pay 65-75% or offer 65-75% off? Just wondering as have accounts with Link. Thanks and good luck

@Winkflower, Link have at best offered for me to pay the account at 65/75% of the total balance remaining. If they offered me 65-75% off, I would have just paid. 

If I can get them to close to 50%, I think I would have settled. Not that I’ve ever offered closed to that amount as know Link are the most difficult to deal with! Sure there will be some in here who have had success. 

This is disappointing to hear as I have 6 separate debts and 5 of them are with Link. Also the smallest debt which is about £780 is the one that isn't with them. The other 5 which range from £1100 to £16800 are all with Link.

The smallest which is with Intrum, I have managed to barter them down to about 40% off which has taken about 11 months. I'm hoping to get them to 60%+ off. Bear in mind I still owe £768 and am only paying £4 per month so thats about 16 years of payments if they don't accept offers. 

With Link I've only just started putting in offers which I've started with the smallest debt of around £1200. I just offered them £300 to see what the reaction would be and they've countered with a 10% discount which is obviously way too much so I think I'll spend the next year or two trying to barter them down. Unfortunately, I think with F&F offers it can depend on who you're dealing with and it may take some time.

Rob5342

I offered link 30% of the outstanding balance and they came bsck wanting 90% so I've reduced my payments to £1 a month and will try again every 6 months or so.it suits me fine if they don't want my money. 

Settlement offers are a long game, at some point they will get fed up and want to clear you off the books. Have you made CCA requests for your debts? 

bcs7

Rob5342 said:

I offered link 30% of the outstanding balance and they came bsck wanting 90% so I've reduced my payments to £1 a month and will try again every 6 months or so.it suits me fine if they don't want my money. 

Settlement offers are a long game, at some point they will get fed up and want to clear you off the books. Have you made CCA requests for your debts? 

I suspect countering with 90% is their default as soon as they receive an offer.
I'd already reduced my monthly payments with them but may need to reduce a bit further. With the cost of living crisis bills have been going up so not a lot I can do, eh?

I have made CCA requests but after a few months they came back with the paperwork.
All of my Link debts were transferred from the original debtors to them between 18-24 months ago so hadn't gone through several companies, so probably a bit easier for them to get hold of.
The lowest Link debt is originally from an overdraft so couldn't do a CCA for that anyway, which is why I was using that to gauge how they react to offers.

bcs7

A couple of days ago I tried an offer online of 25% to pay for another Link debt (£1536) and they've countered with 55%, so maybe countering with 90% isn't a default. 

flamingo747

Where is the best place to start with making an offer please?

Debt of £6.5k originally to NewDay, now with Lowell/Overdales Solicitors. Default date end of March 2020, CCA was requested in April 2025 and just received evidence. 

I am a full time carer for my autistic son, also recently diagnosed adhd/autism myself as well as being epileptic.  My personal income is only UC and Carers allowance. I notified them at the time of CCA about my health and lack of employment now or in near future.

I want to offer them 10%, but I'm not sure how to phrase it. I have no other debts. My husband works full time, we rent, I don't have my own car. I don't think I would have any disposable income at all on an SOA as I get so little myself. So I think DRO might be the other option. Do I tell Lowell that I can manage 10% gifted from family, but that is as much as I can do when DRO would actually be much cheaper for me and leave them with nothing?

Thank you

fatbelly

flamingo747 said:

Where is the best place to start with making an offer please?

Debt of £6.5k originally to NewDay, now with Lowell/Overdales Solicitors. Default date end of March 2020, CCA was requested in April 2025 and just received evidence. 

I am a full time carer for my autistic son, also recently diagnosed adhd/autism myself as well as being epileptic.  My personal income is only UC and Carers allowance. I notified them at the time of CCA about my health and lack of employment now or in near future.

I want to offer them 10%, but I'm not sure how to phrase it. I have no other debts. My husband works full time, we rent, I don't have my own car. I don't think I would have any disposable income at all on an SOA as I get so little myself. So I think DRO might be the other option. Do I tell Lowell that I can manage 10% gifted from family, but that is as much as I can do when DRO would actually be much cheaper for me and leave them with nothing?

Thank you

Defaulted March 2020

Apart from the cca request, have you made a payment or explicitly acknowledged the debt since then?

Grumpelstiltskin

Flamingo I guess you live in England or Wales as Scotland would already be out of time.

Why not pay them nothing and see what they do, if anything.

flamingo747

fatbelly said:

flamingo747 said:

Where is the best place to start with making an offer please?

Debt of £6.5k originally to NewDay, now with Lowell/Overdales Solicitors. Default date end of March 2020, CCA was requested in April 2025 and just received evidence. 

I am a full time carer for my autistic son, also recently diagnosed adhd/autism myself as well as being epileptic.  My personal income is only UC and Carers allowance. I notified them at the time of CCA about my health and lack of employment now or in near future.

I want to offer them 10%, but I'm not sure how to phrase it. I have no other debts. My husband works full time, we rent, I don't have my own car. I don't think I would have any disposable income at all on an SOA as I get so little myself. So I think DRO might be the other option. Do I tell Lowell that I can manage 10% gifted from family, but that is as much as I can do when DRO would actually be much cheaper for me and leave them with nothing?

Thank you

Defaulted March 2020

Apart from the cca request, have you made a payment or explicitly acknowledged the debt since then?

No payments. I sent them the debt camel "disability letter", and have been contacted by Lowell today asking for income and expenditure so they can "assess how to help me". So I'm not sure if that counts?