Full & Final Settlement on DAS

Miss_Poohs

As you prob all know, my husband ran up a mega debt without me knowing - £82000!!!

He went into a DAS (we're in Scotland) 18 months ago and is paying £530 per month.

We may be in a situation in the next year to make some kind of offer to his creditors - with this in mind I phoned the advisor that we arranged the DAS through, to ask his advice about full and final settlements.

Have to say I'm surprised.

He was talking in the region of 50 - 65% offer on each debt - I thought that was very high.

The debts are with

Northern Rock - thats the biggest
Bank of Scotland
Halifax
Marks and Spencer
Lombard
Egg

I was hoping to offer in the 25 - 35% region.

Can I have your opinions please?

GeorgeUK

The advisor will be trying to get the best deal for the creditors. This means that you would need to pay them as much as you can afford although you may still be able to make the offer at about 30%.

Not sure how a DAS works in relation to savings, so it would possibly be better for this money to come form a 3rd party (possibly yourself) rather than from one of his own accounts (especially not one of the accounts that's part of the DAS).

gonzo127

i believe the reason the suggested F&F is so high is because currently the debts appear to be with the bank and companies who gave you the credit and they do tend to only accept 50% plus amounts

the 20-30% F&F's are usualy only accepted by debt collection agencies who have purchased the debt from the company (i believe they usualy purchase it for less than 10p in the pound) yes it sounds crazy and is in some ways is but it does seem to be the way they work

if i was you though once you get the money i would write (personally) to the companies you owe the money to offering a TIME LIMITED offer for a full and final settlement (of 20-30%), stating something along the lines of if they do not respond to/accept this offer within x days the offer will be withdrawn and the money offered to another of your creditors and that you will carry on paying them the agreed amount you have on your DMP

Miss_Poohs

Thanks for the info.

George - the debt advisor is from our council welfare rights office, so I'm hoping he's working in our best interests and not the creditors.

The money will be coming to me, not DH, and all the debt is his, none of it is in my name - up until 2yrs ago I didn't know the debt existed - now you know why I hate surprises!!

Gonzo - I think you've hit the nail on the head - the debts are still with the original creditors, thats why we went with the DAS - it stopped any further action being taken.

I think when the time comes I'd be tempted to write and offer 30% ish, the worst they can say is "no", and theres no harm in asking.

I think though I have to write and offer all the creditors the same percentage, as to do other wise would be seen as being preferential, and that I'm told is a no-no.

Thanks again for the input - it helps me work through my thoughts.

laguna_1

hi there,

was looking for some advice on this too.

was very very close to signing a trust deed but the long term implications for my career in finance would have been too much to worry about so i have decided to bite the bullet and pay the whole 35k i owe via a das

i never knew that full and finals would be possible via das....this sounds really good to me as any saving really is better than nothing. Especially wit all the late payments and interest fees that have been added to the debt over the years.

I spoke to a few DAs advisors today and one told me some interesting info.

Apparently the DAs is actually negotiated with the original creditor only, so even it has been sold on, it would have to go back to the original creditor. I was sort of confused when i was told this but apparently this is the case.

As i have 10k with 1st credit, i wanted to offer them 20%ish to try and clear that off before i start the das. Meaning 25k to pay off.

However if it is possible to do full and finals with das that would be great.

Is there anymore news on this.

Think if there negotiated with the orignal creditor, and if the orignal creditor knows he's getting the money every month thru a DAS anyway, maybe thats why the offers may seem high.

Ideally i would like to clear debts off one by one as i save up money on the side with low full and finals.. But with threatening letters of debt collectors, i dont want to risk getting a ccj (or decree i think its called in scotland).

Does anyone know if this thing about the debts going back to the original creditors is true (seemed weird to me to be honest)

Miss Poohs, i think going in low may not be a bad idea, will it be your das money advisor who will do the letters or the payment distributor or yourself.