Setteling a HP agreement with Welcome Car

Shalaby

Hi guys,

This is my first thread so please take it easy on me if I have done anything wrong. All I am after is some advice from some of you.

Back in July 2007 I was stupid enough to take a car from Welcome Finance on a HP agreement at a cost of £208/month for 48 months.
I have never missed a payment and my account has been always in the clear.
I had a phone call from my local office (sutton) informing me that I have requested information to settle the debt early (which I never did) and at the moment, the total amount that I owe is roughly £2800. They are willing to accept £2710 if I want to pay it off early. I really thought it was a joke when they said that number. But then I thought to myself, if that is the case, I will offer them £1000 to pay it off early and see what happens.

I am now seriuosly thinking about offering them this money and pay the debt early as I have managed to save a small amount of cash.


My questions are as follows:

1. What are the chances of them accepting this offer?
2. How should I approach this, i.e, how can I negotiate this?
3. Will this affect my credit file or my ability to gain credit in the future?
4. Any tips or advice to free myself from these blood-sucking parasites.

Many thanks in advance once again and please accept my apologies if there is anything wrong in my post.:beer:

trudij

Im a bit confused - are you in an IVA ?? Assuming you are (as you have posted in this forum) then if you IP didnt know you were going to take out extra credit, I think you are on a sticky wicket...

if you arent,and havent applied for one (which would probably explain why they have had a request for settling early if it is to be included in the IVA) then you could offer the thousand if you wanted to - the worst that would happen is they say no and you are in the same situation you are in now (if you see what i mean!)

good luck

Shalaby

Hi Trudij,

No I am not in an IVA or facing difficulties at all. It was all of a sudden that a guy rang me and offered me this settelment figure which I thought was a joke. He tried claiming that I have asked for it but I really didn't get in touch with them at all! I thought they were struggling for money (which they probably are) and wanted an instant boost or something.

Anyway, i was after tips on how to negotiate a settelment figure with them and anything I could say or use and things to watch out for.

Many thanks.

Charco_2

I think it's unlikely they'll accept a significantly reduced offer (although this wouldn't be my area of expertise). Also might be worth asking on the Debt Free Wannabee forum whether your credit record would be marked as settled in the same way as if you'd paid the whole thing off in full! (ie - your question 3)

The reason I think it is unlikely they'll accept a reduced offer is because they sill have a security against the actual car... the money you'll be paying them is at very little risk. When lenders accept reduced offers is is usually against what they might consider bad debt so any return is better than none!

bat-out-of-hell

It will be, or should be, clearly stated on the agreemant examples of what you would need to pay to finish the agreemant early.

they only have to re-calculate the intrest really, and as charco says, they have no reason to go any further.

With HP the lender can not lose in nearly all scenarios, so they most likely wont deal

You also have to be mindfull of any completion fees, as most HP have some fee's built into them, these can offset the reduction you may have been expecting in intrest if you have not factored them in, or thought they would be waived

Shalaby

Thanks for all the advice guys. The main issue here is that I owe more than the car's worth so I thought I might give it a shot. But thinking about it now, they have no reason to accept my offer.