Incasso - Paying off a debt

Blankie

Hi everyone, this is a quick request for advice please.

We owe a loan company £24k. We haven't been able to pay it back because my husband was made redundant and I got pregnant, at the same time!

We offered to pay them about £8k as full and final settlement, but a debt collection agency called Incasso have said they have rejected our offer and requested £18k to settle our debt.

The thing is, we have other creditors and have worked out we can pay them all about one third of our debt, which is why we offered £8k. If we pay Incasso £18k we won't be able to pay someone else.

The big question is: What do you think is the least they will accept?

Thanks for your help, I could really use it!

Tixy

They asked for 75% whereas you have only offered 33%. I think a lot of the companies work in percentages, so you could see if they would take 50%, or if not maybe 66%, so maybe £12k or £16k.

Have your other creditors accepted yet? 33% is quite low unless you are already in default and the debt is with a debt collection agency.
If they won't accept what you can afford and you are both on benefits (or not earning) you could offer them just token payments until one of you is working again. (Sometimes once you have been paying reduced/token payments for 6months a creditor will accept a lower settlement figure)

Blankie

We are in default now, and they've just issued the blue court papers. Incasso are a debt collection company so maybe they'll accept less than 75%.

Does everyone think 50% is the best we can hope for?

Thanks.

GeorgeUK

What is the total amount of debt you have and how much is available to make the offers?

Usually if making full and final settlements, with the original creditor, you may be offerred 50%-75% and with a DCA 25%-50%. It may jsut be the length of time that they have had the debt for that is stopping them from accepting your offer.

Was the offer made in writing? Are they aware that you have other creditors and may not get the amount offerred if they don't accept?

Blankie

We haven't made a payment since about August so we're quite far down the line, and court papers have just been issued.

We made the offer in writing and told them we have other creditors, which they can see is true from our credit report.

We've got less than 50% of our debt available. This is our biggest single debt, so we especially can't afford to pay over the odds for this one.

I thought we might be able to pay less than 50% because they are a DCA, so is it possible they are simply starting to negotiate by offering to accept 75%?

Cheers.

GeorgeUK

It's possible that you could negotiate.

Have you put in a defence for the court papers?

You should really be making a payment towards the debt - even if just a token £1 or £5 per month to show that you are willing to pay it and not just ignoring it. It doesn't look good in court if you have made no payments at all.

It may be worth sending the letter again, but stating the full extent of your debts so that they are aware that if they don't take the money someone else may. There are a few good letters on the board. Just make sure that you get confirmation that the payment will be in full and final settlement and you will be absolved from any further liability for the debt.

Blankie

Thanks George.

We did use one of those letters and covered all the points you've raised. We are paying £1/month. We haven't returned our defence yet.

I suppose my main question boils down to why they offered 75% if they're a DCA. I thought they might have proposed a smaller amount.

Blankie

Has anyone else out there been offered 75% settlement figure by a DCA?

If so, did they manage to negotiate them down ?

Blankie

We made an increased offer of about 40% of the debt and they've written back to offer 75% again. Does this tell us that they're not going to budge?

(I would have thought they'd try to avoid going to court because they won't get any more money that way and it will cost them time and expense.)

Tixy

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=24310221&highlight=incasso

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=24188909&highlight=incasso

It does look like incasso are pretty difficult to deal with. And more than happy to take people to court. I guess they are assuming that if they go to court they will get more money as they will get 100% of the debt. Considering the size of the debt they may think its worth the cost.

Blankie

Thanks Tixy. It's interesting that they seem more than happy to take people to court, but there's no evidence in any thread I've seen that they have got that far with anyone (that's not to say it hasn't happened).

Has anyone reading this actually gone to court with Incasso? I wonder whether they would still be prepared to compromise a little leading up to the court date...I'm hoping so!