Full and final settlement help thread

drewsterbooster

My mother has a number of defaulted credit accounts which have been sold on a number of times. The amounts involved are very substantial but she currently has no way of making any F&Fs.
However, (sadly) my grandmother died recently, and will be leaving approximateely 25% of the value of the total debt to my mother once probate is cleared.
I have two questions:
1. Can I deal with all of this on my mother's behalf, if I get her to sign something? She is not in a fit mental state to do it herself.
2. Am I being unrealistic to expect to be able to clear the debt at this level?
Thanks

skyshadow

With all negotiations it really comes down to what leverage do you have, as others have rightly pointed out, the older and more times the debt has been sold the less likely the DCA are to ask for the full amount as anything over what they paid is easy money.

I've had more than my fair share of legal battles with banks and debt collectors (I used to work in both industries so know the inside info of how they operate) and generally speaking you need something to give them a headache with that you can offer to drop if they offer something in return.

F&F cheque payments are a good start, if you offer a F&F via cheque and they bank it you have a good argument for claiming it is settled. Others have commented saying its a myth and yeah there is certain criteria the DCA needs to do (or not do) but doing this say offering a 1% payment of the balance will leave them with a lengthy argument to have to put forward to enforce it.

Another trick I used was the lovely subject access request of £10 to a DCA. Part of the DPA 1998 states about getting information in an intelligible format. It is not specifically worded as such but can be applied to mean that they cannot send you documents you cannot read nor understand such as on a microfiche etc. I used to get all my call recordings transcribed as I did not own a CD nor DVD player. This mammoth task takes them hours and if they do not comply in 40 days you have the right to take them to court over it.


Another genius angle I discovered was writing an opening letter to a DCA/Bank informing them that if they ever requested copies of the same information they already held but requested me to provide these I would invoice them at £18p/h pursuant to the litigants in person costs etc act (don't have to it hand) So when they wrote asking for copies of documents after accepting my terms and conditions I invoiced them and when they did not pay issued a court summons for £18.

All these things will make a DCA far more agreeable to any offer you want to make as they are all lazy chancers who don't want to work for their money. The moment you start giving them a headache making them do some work they will happily write off a large chunk of your debt just to be rid of you

Stewart_78

drewsterbooster, it might be worth doing a CCA request on those accounts. There is much info on that here and on other sites. It sounds like these are old accounts and basically they can't take your mum to court unless they have a valid, signed credit agreement which in many cases were not or are not present. This is a good first step to getting a good settlement figure. I would certainly not tell them about the inheritance.

Is there any way that your mum can pass the money to you and you can administer her debts? Also, if she is not up to it, how about enduring power of attorney, so you can help her out of all this? Something like that. Maybe have a chat to CAB or National Debtline or someone. Plenty of advice on here from very smart people if you need help along the way.

cottage_retreatist

well - I had to mention this because I've never heard of this happening before:

DCA refused my first offer of 350 quid but said they would accept an offer in full which is 300 pounds more than my current outstanding balance!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Um - why would I do that? So - drafting the next letter - I can see these guys are going to be tricky

JonSpittle

Hi all,

I've just come across this thread and I hope someone can answer a question of mine, my circumstance is basically I got my self into debt when I was 18 and I'm paying the price today.
Had an OD with Lloyds which I tried to pay off with a loan, got myself into serious trouble, ended up with another load to pay off all. Anyway for the last 3 years I've been with First Step Finance, which has now changed to Dept Help & Advice, when they took over I had £6k owing to Lloyds, £1k owing to Welcome Finance and a small debt of £200 to Vodafone.
Now after coming to my sense I've cancelled with DHA as I've not been happy with then whatsoever, though they have classed Welcome as unenforceable and paid Vodafone off with a F&F. My Lloyds account is down to £4,800 and I've contacted Wescott who are dealing with the account to pay them directly, they seem so far more than happy.

Now back to my question DHA say that if I do it directly and Wescott offer me a F&F it still could mean I will be chased in future, only DHA can do it and it will stand, is this the case or just bull s##t to try and keep me?

Thanks

fatbelly

JonSpittle wrote: »

Now back to my question DHA say that if I do it directly and Wescott offer me a F&F it still could mean I will be chased in future, only DHA can do it and it will stand, is this the case or just bull s##t to try and keep me?

Thanks

The latter. Get the offer in writing in unambiguous language and keep it for six years.

Hada

hi all!
I have quite a large sum of debt at the moment and have considered bankruptcy but hopefully I can avoid that. Most of my debt is joint with my ex partner who has not paid a penny towards them! I recently received a ccj for around 7000 again which was joint, I admitted to half this debt but as the dca (reston's solicitors) cant get hold of my ex I am now left with ALL of the debt I pay 20 a month, just to stop them getting an attachment of earnings . I am now thinking of offering F&F to some of my own debts but as I have agreed to pay 20 a month to reston's solicitors does the F&F option still stand? Will be grateful for any info anyone has.
thank you

fatbelly

Hada wrote: »

hi all!
I have quite a large sum of debt at the moment and have considered bankruptcy but hopefully I can avoid that. Most of my debt is joint with my ex partner who has not paid a penny towards them! I recently received a ccj for around 7000 again which was joint, I admitted to half this debt but as the dca (reston's solicitors) cant get hold of my ex I am now left with ALL of the debt I pay 20 a month, just to stop them getting an attachment of earnings . I am now thinking of offering F&F to some of my own debts but as I have agreed to pay 20 a month to reston's solicitors does the F&F option still stand? Will be grateful for any info anyone has.
thank you

Yes, still possible. Just less likely.

Hada

thank you fatbelly
Is it true that debts over 6 years old "fall" off your credit file? what does this mean in reality? Trying every option here as im at my wits end . My debts mount to around 45000 and as I am a student and work full time I am not entitled to do an iva.

happy_bunny_2

Hada wrote: »

thank you fatbelly
Is it true that debts over 6 years old "fall" off your credit file? what does this mean in reality? Trying every option here as im at my wits end . My debts mount to around 45000 and as I am a student and work full time I am not entitled to do an iva.

6 years from default date they fall off.

CCJs stay for 6 years from date granted.