Lloyds Offered Partial Settlement

merri-drake

Hello!
I was wondering if anyone would be able to give me some advice on this as you all seem to have more of a grasp on this than me...
I have a debt of £1593 with Lloyds and their collections people BLS have offered me a discount of 50% and have stated that they will accept £796.55 in partial settlement but that it will be on my credit records for 6 yrs. I settled a huge debt (in the region of £2000) with Aktiv Kapital the other day for a couple of hundred pounds so I have a partial settled debt on my account.
My mum was going to pay off the 796 for me at 100 per month as they said they would accpt it in inmstallments. I just don't know the best way to proceed as I have quite a lot of debt and some is only being paid with token payments of £1 per month as I had major surgery a year ago and my income went to pot at that point and I was too ill to fix the problem.
I am having a real downer at the momnet and it is really getting to me. Sorry to moan.
Thanks for all your advice,
K

Ames

I'm afraid a partial settlement is worth nothing - they can and will come back for the rest of the amount. It's a full and final settlement where they accept a lower amount and close the account completely.

Welcome to the board, you'll get loads of help and advice, I'm just sorry that I don't have better news for you.

merri-drake

I have just reread what I have just typed and I was getting so stressed that I haven't even asked what I needed to...
What I was going to ask is - is it better to pay this debt off very very very slowly and it take years, or pay the reduced partial settlement and it be on my credit file for the 6 years?
Sorry I was not more concise in my previous email... my head is a shed at the moment!
K

merri-drake

Hi Ames!... Thank you for your response. In the letter from Aktiv, it states the following:
"It was agreed that we would accept the sum of £150 in full settlement of the debt..."
Does that mean that they can go back on that?
K

Tot_3

merri-drake wrote: »

Hi Ames!... Thank you for your response. In the letter from Aktiv, it states the following:
"It was agreed that we would accept the sum of £150 in full settlement of the debt..."
Does that mean that they can go back on that?
K

Thats to me is a 'full and final' settlement of that debt, meaning that they cant get any more money from you in relation to it. But a partial settlement is just that, you pay 'part' of it and they come back for the rest later. Sorry.

merri-drake

Thanks, Tot!
I will go back to Lloyds and tell them that I want to pay until it is settled completely.
It is getting to me though... most of this debt is for a wedding - and the marriage only lasted 6 months!
It is just getting to me a little at the moment, so thanks for all your support.
K

fermi

Hi.

There are two issues here. They often get mixed up.

Firstly, you need in in writing that they accept the sum as a full and final settlement. If they have stated "It was agreed that we would accept the sum of £150 in full settlement of the debt..." then that may be OK.

Your best bet is to talk to somewhere like National Debtline to run the wording of any offer letter past them.

Secondly, you need to check how they will mark the credit reference files. They must record that there is no balance outstanding on the debt, but they are permitted to mark the file as a "partial settlement" on that to reflect the fact that although the debt is settled it wasn't for the full amount.

merri-drake

thanks for that, fermi!
I have written a letter an have included the following:

[FONT=&quot]"I therefore request that you send me confirmation of this FULL and FINAL settlement by return post. I also assume that you will mark my credit file to reflect that there are no outstanding monies due.[/FONT]"

Sound ok?

As far as Lloyds is concerned, can I request a reduced Full and Final settlement to be settled in several monthly payments? Or are they likely to refuse that kind of thing? Am i better to just pay my couple of quid a month for now and save up to pay a final settlement amount off in one go? (Look out ebay, here i come!):rotfl:

fermi

Sounds fine to me.

If when you get a reply back, I really do think it is a good idea to run the wording of the offer past a professional debt advisor. That should give you some confidence that the offer is OK and will be the end of the the debt.

I've no idea whether Lloyds would accept payments spread over a few months. I've heard of debt collection agencies doing that though, so maybe.

merri-drake

:T Thank you all :j

You guys are all so nice!