Is this a legally watertight settlement?

AndreaE

I have made an offer to MBNA in settlement of my outstanding balance. They have accepted the offer and at my request have written to confirm the details.

They say:

"We confirm your offer of £XXXX will be accepted in Partial Settlement of your account. Our agreement is conditional upon payment being received before 30th July 2010. Upon receipt and clearance of the payment, we confirm no further action from either ourselves or other collection agencies will be taken to recover the remaining balance.

Your account would be registered as a Partial Settlement with the Credit Reference Bureau for six years. Please be aware that a statement will be sent to you confirming receipt of your Partial Settlement payment, which is for your information only as your account will subsequently be closed. Further use of your card will void this agreement, therefore, if you have not done so, please return your card and any unused credit card cheques."

If I now pay them the agreed amount, can I be sure that this is the end of the matter and the unpaid amount will be history and neither they nor anyone else can come after me for it?

I accept that this will stay on my credit history for 6 years but as I have other debts anyway, that is not important.

Many thanks,

Andrea

fozmcfc

Well how you explained it, is my understanding. Assumably the account was in default, which is why they have accepted a settlement figure.

You'll just have trouble getting any credit for 6 years (that can be a blessing I guess as well though).

AndreaE

Basically I had told them I couldn't afford to keep going with the monthly payments so they froze the debt and I paid a smaller amount each month for 6 months or so. They then said I needed to increase that amount, I said I couldn't afford it, they said it would be sold to debt collectors unless I increased the monthly payment or settled in full.

They then made me an offer which was more than I could afford, I went back with a lower amount and they have accepted that.

When I say 'afford' I mean an amount my dad was happy to give me.

sharpy2010

AndreaE wrote: »

When I say 'afford' I mean an amount my dad was happy to give me.

Well, he wasn't "happy" to give you it, he did it to get you out of the !!!!!!, no doubt he was very annoyed at having to do it though...

AndreaE

He was "happy" that he was in a position to be able to help me get rid of a large debt for a comparitively small amount.

And no, he wasn't very "annoyed" because, unlike you, he knows how I came to be in debt (and trust me, it wasn't building up a large shoe and handbag collection) and he appreciates how much I have struggled and that I have never asked him for a penny before.

jonesMUFCforever

So essentially you are swapping one debt for another. He pays off your credit card then you pay him back right?

AndreaE

To be honest I am not really seeing why this is anyone's business but mine.

My question was regarding the wording of the above letter - I can live without a debate about a private arrangement between myself and my father.

I only mentioned it to avoid the questions along the lines of "if you can afford to pay it off with a lump sum, why can't you pay the higher monthly amount".

Daisy_Duck

Hi Andrea

You are quite right, your arrangement with your father is not anyone else's business. I am quite surprised by a couple of the comments on here- you do not need to defend yourself against such comments.

Your letter looks fine, just make sure you keep hold of it for the future.

Take care, DD

jonesMUFCforever

I thought so daddy pays off my bills and I get to start again.

OneHubbyOneSon4Debts

Well done to your lovely dad Andrea! My dad came round to see me the other day, he knows what a fix I'm in and he payed off one of my credit cards for me (quite a large amount). I never asked for it and yes I was happy to accept it, he doesn't want paying back. His words were......whats the use of having money lying in the bank if he can't help me when he knows how much I'm struggling.

I've never asked him for any help cos I knew it was my own fault the situation I got myself into, but sometimes.......thats what Dad's are for....and because of that I hopefully won't have to go BR, the CC he paid off for me was my biggest debt.

Thinking of changing my name to OneHubbyOneSon3Debts!

view

Someone will correct me I'm sure if I'm wrong - however, do you not need them to say 'full settlement' rather than 'partial' - there is nothing stopping them selling the rest of your debt onto a debt collection agency. don't sign or agree until they change that! even though they say it, it has, shock horror!, been known to happen time and time and time again...