F & F settlement before missing payments?

mrsJef

Hi guys,

I'm normally over on the O/S board but think i might get more appropriate answers here. We have a BOS loan taken out to buy a car with 3 years payments left on it of 257p/m. My husband is being made redundant and we are going to start struggling to find this payment. Is there any chance they would take a f&f settlement of less before we actually struggle to pay them or would i have to miss a few payments 1st?!

All advice welcome
X

DarkConvict

If you wanted to settle now you are likely to have to agree to whatever the settlement figure is on your terms & conditions.
Once you have missed 3 payments and defaulted (adverse information on the credit file) it gives an indication that you really are having problems. This makes you a higher risk and thus they will want to get some money out of you. It is however known for banks to not accept offers of 50%+ and then a week later sell the debt to a debt collector for 20-30% who would willingly accept a 50% offer as it is good profit.

The key point is there is no harm in trying so give it ago, sample letters are here for those who have defaulted so need to be modified but give you a good idea. http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/england_wales/debt_advice.php#6

If you have several debts i could urge you give NDL/CCCS/CAB a call just to discuss your future to ensure you stay on track, instead of falling off and having to get back on.

mrsJef

Thanks DarkCovict!

We do have other debts (CC OD etc) but currently are managing to pay everything. I desperately want us to start making overpayments on the mortgage but never seem to have any money left. I Have already audited our outgoings and reduced as much as we can but seem to have hit a barrier. This is why i wondered if we could've got rid of this onw then we could use that money to take chunks off something else. I guess we'll just keep plodding away then!:(

DarkConvict

Use snowballing, this will tell you what to pay. http://www.whatsthecost.com/snowball.aspx

Rule of thumb is make min payments on everything, and put the surplus as an overpayment on the cards with the highest APR. (obviously manage 0% deals so they are paid off before they expire)

Mortgage repayments are good but is probably the last thing to overpay!