Full & Final settlement help please...

missno

Hi, Im new so please be gentle!

I have been in a DMP for around 4 years now but hopefully soon will be in a position where I can clear the majority, if not all of my debts.

My biggest creditor in an AA Loan I took out in 2005 for the sum of £9,000 for a term of 7 years. I think it was around a year later than I couldnt meet the payments & therefore entered into the DMP.

I stil get occasional letters from the AA and the last statement showed my balance as £17,000 (which I presume is including the interest??) My question is, do I have to repay the full £17,000 or as close thereto in full & final settlement? It seems an incredible amount but then I guess thats 7 years worth of interest accumulated?

Im a bit clueless about all this as the Debt Management people have pretty much been dealing with everything these past few years.

Any advice would be much appreciated

Thanks

Tixy

Welcome
Who has been dealing with your DMP for you missno? Did they ask for interest to be frozen on all your creditors? Presumably AA did not agree to?

Are your letters still from the AA? if so it sounds like the debt has not been sold on. Usually people get the best full & final settlement deals if the debt has been sold on to an external DCA, you could make a lower settlement offer (perhaps pointing out the amount of interest & charges involved) and see what they say

Here is a factsheet and template letter when it comes time to start doing your settlement offers - http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/england_wales/factsheet.php?page=24_full_and_final_settlement_offers

If you are paying a fee to your DMP provider each month then you may want to consider switching to a free provider - http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=2077631

missno

Hi Tixy
Thanks for the reply.

Yes it is a paid Debt Management Company. Im pretty sure that the debt was passed on to a company called Blair Oliver & Scott as when the DMC send me monthly letters showing how they've distributed my payments, that is the company name showing.

Im unsure about whether the interest was frozen, the AA just send my statements every few months showing the balance outstanding. It is not a letter chasing for payments.

I guess I should just speak to the DMC and find ask them to clarify it for me, its been years since I first took out the DMP so really dont know what the position is.

Thanks for the templates and information, Ill be horrified if I do have to pay back £17k!!

gonzo127

well who is your DMP company? as if you are paying a fee for this service did you know you can get the same service for free from the CCCS, payplan or CAB? if you didnt i would really recommend you phone them as they should hopefully be able to take on this DMP and then you can add the 'fee' on to your payment to them therefore increasing your payment

could you find a couple of months statements to check if you debt is actually going UP as if they have not gotten interest frozen (which it sounds like) you could end up being in a situation where you would never end up paying it back due to it keep on getting bigger

Tixy

Blair Oliver Scott are the in-house DCAs for the HBOS group (which includes AA as well).

So the statements don't show the interest being added and your payments coming off? Even at this late stage it might be worth writing again to ask them to freeze interest. There is a template letter on national debtline you could use/amend -

http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/england_wales/temp/3243_48881.pdf