full and final counter offer

taylor_made

hi all, trying to get my head out of sand!.... debt no. 1, here goes...

recieved offer from b.o.s to clear old business account that went under. the offer is from £6400 to £3800 to clear account and would like to offer £2000 from family member to clear and test the water with them! just looking for some peeps to have a look at letter to send back and check wording etc. obviously i want my credit report to look as good as possible for possible future mortgage etc, so what is the best to ask for ie settled or satisfied or anything else? i know i have put both settled and satisfied so need to choose 1 presumably? (i cut and pasted some different parts of letters on here and other places to hopefully cover everything);

WITHOUT PREJUDICE

Dear Sir/Madam

Re: Account No:

I write with reference to the money which you are claiming on the above account and the previous communication with regards to a discount to clear the account.
Whilst I appreciate the offer of a 40% discount, I can confirm that I am unable to offer to pay that sum of money due to my current unemployment and having no money or income myself. However, a family member has generously offered a one-off sum of £2,000 and I want to offer this as an ex-gratia payment in full and final settlement of the account. This offer is made on the clear understanding that, if accepted, neither you or any associate company will take any other action to enforce or pursue this debt in any way whatsoever and that I will be released from any liability. I also request that, if accepted, you will mark any entry on a credit reference agency file relating to the above account as "satisfied" in full.
To confirm, I am able to settle this account for £2,000 so long as you can agree to, and ensure that, the following actions will be carried out;

• Any Default Notice will be removed
• The Status of the account will change from “Defaulted” to “Settled”
• The Current Balance will appear as £0.00
• The Default / Delinquent Balance will be set to £0.00
• There will be no date in the “Defaulted Date” field (as it will be removed)
• There will be no date in the “Date Last Delinquent” field on the report
• This will apply to all 3 Credit Reference Agencies, namely Experian, Equifax & Call Credit

If you accept my proposal, please respond confirming each of the above points on official letterheaded paper, confirming your acceptance and the exact amount owing and I will send a cheque by return.

I look forward to your response.

Yours faithfully,


again, appreciate comments and feedback if this is the best way to send offer,

thanks!!!!!

Tixy

Just one comment - I would include a deadline for them to accept/ limited time that the offer is available. Sometimes people put in that after this date the money will be offered to a different creditor. Perhaps give them 2weeks to accept. I think it helps focus their minds.

DarkConvict

Deadline date is all you need, it does help get a response

GeorgeUK

They usually don't take away defaults but i guess you've nothing to lsoe by trying. As well as giving them a time to reply by i would state you will be able to make payment by a certain time (end of month rather than actual date) to give you a little time instead of them agreeing and saying paymnet must be in their account within 3 days.

taylor_made

thanks for replys will put date to reply on, anybody know about the settled or satisfied part?
thanks again

taylor_made

also forgot to mention not sure if have even been issued a default so its probably worth checking my credit report right? is it best with equifax free trial? (think i read that somewhere on here)
thanks

taylor_made

any more suggestions? gonna send it tonight!

DarkConvict

Letter is fine, i personally do not think they will accept, B.O.S. (bank fo Scotland) is the original creditor and they often don't settle for lower amounts, There offer of 40% is low, most want 70-100%.
A DCA on the other hand, might accept 10-20% at a push, but 50% is a more than fair offer to them.