Full and final settlement help thread

Biffy64

KeepFighting wrote: »

Biffy
You do not say if you are in arrears or not this is an i,portant part of the answer as companies are not going to accept a f and f if you are not in arrears. If this is the case I would say that you repay your most expensive borrowings and then increase your payments on the others so they are paid off quicker or at least you reduce your monthly outgoings. I personally would not use all of these savings to pay off these debts if you are not in arrears because my experience says you should have rainy day money, because when it rains thats when you find no one will help you.

Im in arrears more than 9 months but have kept them informed during this time. Im on a DMP and have approx £9 per month spare to share equaly between them all.
I cant see how i can offer say 4k F+F on a loan and it be refused, then offer more without them asking why offer so low first time? Nationaldebtline said test the waters with them which has been NO help really!!

GibbsRule_No3

Biffy64 wrote: »

I cant see how i can offer say 4k F+F on a loan and it be refused, then offer more without them asking why offer so low first time? Nationaldebtline said test the waters with them which has been NO help really!!

If they ask and I don't see why they should. Just say you are using the money towards their debt, that other companies had been offered pro rata. BC turned me down M&S offered me something, so I used the BC money to pay M&S. One debt gone being better than none. I'm sure they are used to getting low offers to start.

Stuh

After receiving solid advice from Fermi (thanks again!) i am pushing full steam ahead with clearing what i can in 2013. Cap One has gone, next its moorcroft who settled for 43%, then NCO Europe who settled for 49.5% others pending, like others i went in at low offer initally and it has taken months and a few more offers (i normally leave it 2-3 months!) but eventually they cave in! When i talk to them and they wont budge i simply say its all i have to offer i will move along to the next creditor and back to my DMP thanks!! Cheers Stuh

Newtimesahead

What a great thread.

I've just been offered 50% on a Natwest loan, been in arrears for years but paying the regular monthly amount-it is with solicitors though. Really pleased with this

I have a NW credit card,in arrears for 3 years plus,paying £5 pm and offered them 50%.They wrote back saying they wanted 100%:eek: Has anyone had success with NW credit cards?

Has anyone had experience of Barclaycard through Robinson Way. Original debt was £260 now with charges etc its £480. Do you think they'd take 25%?

rainydayfund

Evening all, not a newbie and usually post under another name but need some advice and know some people know my usual user name.

Long story short, my OH had an HSBC debt for a credit card and when he lost his job (years before I knew him) he agreed to pay £10pm to clear. Anyway, debt was sold to a DCA (think it was Mackenzie something) and he continued to pay £10pcm until he moved in with me (I knew nothing about this debt). Debt was then sold to Marlin. We have been together 10 years and I knew nothing of this until we got threatening letters from Marlin at our old address about 3 years ago. Sent the usual prove it letters and they responded (he knows the debt is his but you have to see what they've got on you). Anyway we thought the debt was statute barred but it would appear that after he left his ex continued making the £10 payments for quite some time so that was that.

Anyway, after a bit of toing and froing with Marlin and Mortimer Clarke sending threatening letters it all went quiet so we thought good, they've given up. No such luck!!

We've subsequently moved (been here 2 years now) and are looking to rent another property and on the credit check it came up with a CCJ for him (we have no knowledge of it as had received no paperwork - maybe because we moved and didn't tell them - as if we would :rotfl:). Now he has started receiving letters again, firstly from Mortimer and Clarke and 2 days ago a letter from Marston Enforcement Agents.

I'm fed up with him getting the hump everytime he gets a letter and would rather offer a F+F to get them off his back. I've read the whole thread and think on a debt of £4,800 I should offer £1100 which leaves us room to go up a bit (I know it's a game). Spoke to my sister about it and she thinks the opening amount is too high. OH is still not working so if they don't accept a F+F will only be able to pay a small amount each month (say £10) out of my wages as I support the family and pay for everything so not much spare at the end of each month.

As the debt is nothing to do with me and all the bills and everything are in my name will I have to do an Income and Expenditure form? I don't see why I should as it is nothng to do with me but as I have no exeprience of these things I thought I would ask you wise people.

I know if they agree a lesser amount it will remain on his file for 6 years but to be honest he's not likely to apply for credit again so that's not an issue.

Have downloaded and typed the following letter:

Without Prejudice
Account No: ******

I write with reference to the money which you are claiming on the above account.

I can confirm that I am unable to offer to pay the money which I owe in full as I am unemployed and claim no benefits nor have any assets. However, I can raise £1100.00 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.

Please note that this money is coming from a third party and is only available to me on the understanding that my debt will be cleared in full and if the offer is rejected these funds will no longer be available.

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.

Payment can be made within fourteen days of receiving your written agreement of this 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.

As advised no lump sum will be available until I have received written confirmation of all points in the above offer.

However if you are unable to accept my offer then I will regrettably have to withdraw the offer and make minimum monthly repayments to you.

I look forward to receiving your reply.


I didn't want to say in this letter that if they don't accept we will only be able to pay a nominal amount each month as I thought that will be a threat and may not go down well.

Any thoughts on this? I know it won't get sorted overnight but I need to get the ball rolling. If I had my way I would have sorted it years ago but he wouldn't listen.

Thanks in advance for any replies.

fatbelly

Give it a go. The letter comes from him, not you.

The complication here is that there is already a ccj on it. But as your letter points out there is no effective way of enforcing it ('am unemployed and claim no benefits nor have any assets')

On a side issue Marstons may sound like they are acting as bailiffs but they will not be - if the creditor wants to use bailiffs he must apply to the court for a warrant and would use the court bailiff.

On his credit file, the ccj stays there for 6 years. The original account should have been defaulted and dropped off by now.

It'll be interesting to see the wording of the reply about how they are prepared to mark his file.

laineygirl

Hiya
we owed Lloyds £4715 and agreed to pay them back at £10 a month when my husband had to leave work to look after me. Everything was fine and up until November last year everything ran very smoothly.
We then got a letter from a collection company,CABOT, who said that they had bought our debt and to help us 'clear the debt quicker' they were happy to accept £100 per month, which we couldn't pay. After numerous phone calls and letters all with people who only wanted us to 'clear our debt quicker' we got them back to the Original £10 per month.
Now on my calculations it would take us 39 years to clear this and so wrote to them with an offer of a full and final settlement of £1000 a take or leave it option. (My son was giving us the money to help).
Well that opened the flood gates for a barrage of phone calls at all times day and night, all wanting to help again.
Their opening sum was £4015. No way could we pay that, but didn't we realise that we were loosing £500 off our original debt it would, in their
eyes, be foolish to miss this offer. Foolish or not we hadn't the money
£1000 or £10 per month.
We went down 5 other times in settlement figures and each time we said we had £1000, nothing else.Eventually we were offered a special one off offer, £1650. it was only another £650 to find, easy. Yes it might be to them but when you are in debt trying to get £10 extra from anywhere is nigh on impossible Again we said we had £1000 nothing else.We were then told we were being awkward and unco-operative!!!!!
Again we said £1000 or £10 per month, we had nothing else. I was told it was not possible and they slammed the phone down.
So OK we stay with the monthly payment.
Saturday we had a letter from them to say they are willing to accept the £1000 in full and final settlement but it has to be paid by the 31st January.
Great. We have to pay our son back but hes not in a hurry for it so everything looks great for paying this.
This morning I phoned them to pay the money and up to now I have a recorded message which tells me they are doing important restructuring work and that the office will open for business on Monday morning at 8.00am. Seeing as its now 2.00 on Monday and they still aren't answering the phones I cant pay them but hopefully by tomorrow morning it will be done.
The moral of this story is stick to your guns, say what you can afford and don't be brow beaten into paying anything else, if they don't accept it you haven't lost anything. They could have had a lump sum, instead they are stuck with money coming in in drips and drops. Not a way to run a business.
They wanted 85% of our debt. Their final play was for 35%. We ended up paying 21 % of our debt so I think we did well.
So 1 down only 2 more to go but they will have to wait until we've repaid my son. Th future is looking brighter.

actressscandals

Weggy wrote: »

Have just managed to negotiate a 55% F&F with Link Financial on a total of nearly £3k........

Thats great to hear from you

Stewart_78

Thanks Laineygirl, that's a very valuable post. Much appreciated. Thanks for sharing.

rainydayfund

Fatbelly - thanks for your reply. I did think having a CCJ might make it more complicated (we've never seen any court paperwork so have no idea what the terms are) but I am going to give it a go anyway, it's either that or £15pm as OH has no income and it is me who will have to pay it. I'm hoping they might take the lump sum, may go up a bit but not a lot as I need some rainy day money for emergencies.

I was worried about the bailiffs (never been in that much debt in my life) as the letter says they are High Court Enforcement Officers and Certified Bailiffs. The only thing my OH has is an old (S Reg) Audi as we need 2 cars where we live as it is rural and if one breaks down we've got the other. I was a bit worried whether they could take that and should I transfer it into my name? I did buy it (but so long ago I don't know where the receipt is - it was second hand) but he is registered keeper. What do you think? Other than that he has absolutely nothing.

Hoopeer - thanks for your reply. Got nothing to lose by trying and Marlin aka Mortimer Clarke are not what I would call a reputable company :rotfl:. They try and pretend they are different people but I remember watching a programme on the TV about this particular company years ago and was not impressed with how they operate.

Laineygirl - thanks for your input. Your story gives me hope. I just want to get rid of this debt so it will free him of the stress as it will never go away and you can't hide forever. You had an amazing result.

Thanks all for your input, I'm a bit scared by it all (although I tell OH not to worry and I'll sort it - bravado speaking) so it's good to hear what other people do and have done. I don't feel so alone!

Thanks again, posting letter tomorrow second class recorded so will let you know how we get on. I'm expecting a no but looks like if I stick to my guns we might just get there in the end. If I do increase the amount (once I get the initial no) what do you suggest I go to. Can probably do £1500 max but after reading all the posts on here thought best to start low to give room to mamoeuvre. Also how long do you wait before making another offer? Don't want to keep upping the amount and they realise there is more on offer iyswim.

Cheers