Full and final settlement - all creditors or one by one?

skint_northern_lass

Hi,

I owe money to 10 creditors, £40k in total, and have been in a DMP with Payplan for around 8 months. At the rate I am paying I have 5 years to go.

I may be able to offer f&fs to four of my creditors, thanks to a loan offer from my in-laws, and have read loads of fantastic advice on here about how to approach them (creditors not in-laws!) and to ensure that they agree in writing the debt is fully satisfied and will not be pursued later, etc.

The one thing I am not sure on is whether I can pay a few of the debts off at a time? I know that when doing my DMP I was advised about equitable distribution of my available income, i.e. treating all creditors equally. I will have nowhere near enough to offer all creditors a settlement now, as 4 of the debts in particular are substantially higher than the others. There is a small posibility I will be in a position to settle those next year.

Would it be ok for me to try to settle one debt at a time starting with the lowest, or would I have to wait til I could offer all of them an acceptable amount (which could be a long way away/never)

Many thanks

SusieT

I think if it is your in-laws that are paying you would be ok, if it was you then you would need to treat them all the same - waiting now for someone to say I'm wrong!!

Numpty_Monkey

I did a F&F when on my DMP with CCCS, I just let them know I was doing it and they were ok with that.

The problem with getting a loan of family is will they be getting paid back during the time your on your DMP as this might impact what you can afford to pay your other creditors

Might be worth calling Payplan and see what they say

MustBeatThis

skint_northern_lass wrote: »

Hi,

I owe money to 10 creditors, £40k in total, and have been in a DMP with Payplan for around 8 months. At the rate I am paying I have 5 years to go.

I may be able to offer f&fs to four of my creditors, thanks to a loan offer from my in-laws, and have read loads of fantastic advice on here about how to approach them (creditors not in-laws!) and to ensure that they agree in writing the debt is fully satisfied and will not be pursued later, etc.

The one thing I am not sure on is whether I can pay a few of the debts off at a time? I know that when doing my DMP I was advised about equitable distribution of my available income, i.e. treating all creditors equally. I will have nowhere near enough to offer all creditors a settlement now, as 4 of the debts in particular are substantially higher than the others. There is a small posibility I will be in a position to settle those next year.

Would it be ok for me to try to settle one debt at a time starting with the lowest, or would I have to wait til I could offer all of them an acceptable amount (which could be a long way away/never)

Many thanks

I might be in a similar position in a few months' time. I'll probably go for the biggest, enforceable debts first and work my way down - I'll do the unenforceable ones last as should have more negotiating power with those.
Good luck, I'll be really intersted to know how you get on.

skint_northern_lass

Thank you all, I hadn't thought about what Numpty said, interesting point. I will let you know how I get on, as and when it happens! x