Full and Final Settlements - what should I offer

Knotty29

Hi everyone,

There is a small possibility (I'm keeping everything doubly crossed) that I may be coming into a small amount of money. It should be enough to pay off about 50% of my debts. Do you think my creditors would accept 50% as full and final settlement?

I'm currently on a DMP and have paid off a fair amount of my debts already.

CCCS_Sarah

Knotty29 wrote: »

Hi everyone,

There is a small possibility (I'm keeping everything doubly crossed) that I may be coming into a small amount of money. It should be enough to pay off about 50% of my debts. Do you think my creditors would accept 50% as full and final settlement?

I'm currently on a DMP and have paid off a fair amount of my debts already.

Make an offer starting as low as possible. The creditor will take into account a couple of things;

• How long you have already been paying reduced payments
• How long it will take you to pay the remainder of the debt

If you make an offer and they were to reject then offer them slightly more.

Before you make the creditor any payments ask them to confirm in writing that they will mark your credit file as satisfied/settled and that neither they nor nobody acting on their behalf will in future chase the debt.

Keep all letters for your records

FieryBlondeScot

i have made offers of (i think) just over 50% to egg, barclays, mbna and barclaycard. egg have ignored my letters so far, barclays have accepted, mbna are being unmentionably difficult over it, barclaycard i am still negotiating to ensure they mark my debt as settled etc! good luck with it all :beer:

stapeley

Are the accounts in the hands of DCA,s ? Be very care with this . If they know you are coming into money they may well refuse, then try for a increase in payments , or go for a court order. My best advice would be to first request a notice of assignment and a copy of the sign Consumer Credit Agreement . Also is your current bank associated with any of the debts? If they are then theres nothing to stop them withdrawing the money once a large amount has been transfered to your account . Be very carefull , and good luck.

Broken_hearted

To avoid the hassle stapley is talking about, you could get a third party to make the offer for you. If they refuse they can stay on the payments they are on now.

Deep_In_Debt

I wouldn't mention that you are coming into money or how much you have. It's actually easier to get good settlements when the debts are passed to DCA's as they buy the debts for peanuts. I did a couple of F&F's at 45% and 55% with DCA's but the original creditors would accept nothing less than 70%.

Make sure you get everything in writing that it is F&F and that your credit file is marked as "satisfied" and that neither they, nor associate or third party will chase you at a later date and that you are released from any further liability.

Good luck.

stapeley

To "AVOID THE HASSLE " of being chased by the ORGINAL CREDITOR , it is very important that you insure the debt collector has been given the authority to collect the debt or have in fact purchased the debt from the OC . I can assure that there are many cases where a so call full and final offer has been agreed with a DCA. Only for the actual owner of the debt to be in touch for the remaining amount on the account . I am sorry if BH thinks this is a hassle ! But in these circumstances its better SAFE THAN SORRY .

fatbelly

All good advice.

BH is correct that the payment should ideally come from a third party (family? friend?) Only then is it legally binding.

It also easier at the initial stages to say that a third party is prepared to make payment to clear the debt if a satisfactory agreement can be reached. This avoids giving the impression that you're sitting on a pile of cash!

edinburgher

How long you have already been paying reduced payments

I've been making reduced payments for 3+ years, but haven't made much headway in clearing my debts (I've paid £2.5k out of £7k ish in this time). Would this make a dca more or less likely to accept any offer for full and final settlement? I'm currently 56 months (almost fiver years) off paying them with current payments...

As a supplementary question, how can I check whether my dca is legitimate? I currently have two debts with Blair, Oliver & Scott but there's a lot of contention re. whether they're a legitimate entity, or part of HBOS

Last of all - while both of my debts are with a dca, one of them has never actually had a default issued against it. If a !!!!!! was accepted, would there be any chance of them issuing a default notice at this late date? Do you get an extra default notice for !!!!!!, or will the existing one from 3 years ago stand and not be added to?