Full and final settlement help thread

Jason_Bourne_2

Typically how long does it take for a response?

1 week since posting letters off, only one company has got in touch.

fatbelly

I generally wait three weeks before chasing.

Jason_Bourne_2

First response I've had. They say they posted letter out but haven't received it yet. Is an email worth the paper I print it on???

Offer worded as below......

Thank you for your recent correspondence regarding the above account, the contents of which have been duly noted.

In response to your letter, we would like to take this opportunity to confirm we are able to accept your settlement offer of £**** as a full and final settlement on the above account.

Please be advised this payment will need to reach your account no later than 06 December 2013.

We can confirm that once this payment has been received, you will not be pursued for the remaining balance and ********** will advise our client in order for them to update their records and your credit file to partially settled accordingly.

However, we must advised that in the event your payment is either returned, cancelled or referred to payer ********** and its client reserves their rights to reinstate the full outstanding balance and revoke any previous settlement offers extended to you.

We look forward to hearing from you in due course.

Is it safe to pay this on the wording above ??

Ok to pay by debit card and will this class as being reached my account in time?


Thanks

fatbelly

I'm happy with the wording (credit to them for using the F&F phrase) but as you say I'm not happy that an email is reliable enough evidence as proof. I would prefer something on their letterheaded paper. Is this a debt collector? Makes me slightly nervous.

I'm also not happy with a debit card payment to a DCA. That also makes me nervous. Any chance of a cheque, maybe through a third party account?

Jason_Bourne_2

Timescales won't allow for cheque?

It is a debt collector, they say the letter was posted yesterday, trouble is I'm away for a couple if days so won't get to see it for myself. They said they could speak to their client (Halifax) to see if they were happy to forward an email of the offer. Claimed that some of their clients do allow this.

The email has all account details, my account number, name address, creditor details, ref number etc.

Will they extend the timescale for me if I'm not happy with te email format as legally binding?

Thanks for all your advice.

Jason_Bourne_2

3 companies settled now. All companies seem reluctant to budge below the 25% mark which is what I expected based on my monthly payments.


Still happy at achieving this though, can start to look forward now after 4 tough years....

Jason_Bourne_2

Anyone had any experience of this with Barclaycard and how did it turn out?

I have 2 accounts with them. One they failed to reply to my letter so I called them. They accepted my full & final offer but refuse to send a letter out or even email the offer. Said they don't do this due to timescales etc, Barclays refuse to post them.

The person gave me his name rank and number and stated that all calls are recorded. He said that this was for full and final settlement, the debt would be marked part settled and would never be pursued by anyone. I would get a letter after I paid before the deadline.

Not sure how I feel about this?


2nd account was in arrangement so he said they would never look at it for f&f. Received a letter to that affect, even offering to reduce my payments.

Because if this I'm thinking that the f&f in the other account will be honoured. They could have tried to get me to pay this one and shaft me if that was their style?

Any experiences would be greatly appreciated.

Jason_Bourne_2

Letter from a creditor today which simply says....

We are prepared, without prejudice, to accept **** in full and final settlement of the debt, provided that te payment is made by 23 December 2013.

There are several ways to pay, all of which are detailed overleaf.

I assume this is good to pay without any come back?
Just double checking as they make no reference to the debt being persued in future years but do use "full and final settlement".

Thanks in advance.

fatbelly

My thinking on this, Jason, is that you can only interpret 'full & final settlement' one way.

The problems occur when a creditor uses other phrases.

I can't comment on Barclaycard. All the deals I've done in recent memory have been with DCAs, so easier in a sense but potentially more slippery. Barclaycard ought to be honourable ... so why can't they put it in writing?

Well done BTW

Jason_Bourne_2

Quick question,


I've been dealing with Payplan and the timing of these F&F offers and settlement have been a little tricky. I'm trying my best to stop payplan sending payments out after I've received a written offer but a couple of them have been sent/paid after I settled the accounts. Takes about a week for them to process this and they said they couldn't stop the process even though the money hadn't left payplan yet....


Is that just tough luck or technically do these companies now owe me this money as my balance was zero after my F&F?


I know it's a bit cheeky but some of the payments were over £70 and this would help me pay off the remaining 2 creditors.