Old dfw says 'hi' and 'help'!

compulsivespender79

Oh my goodness me it's been a long, long, long time since I was last here!
How is everybody then?

I haven't been around for so long because my DMP has been ticking along nicely, and I have now gone from the amount in my signature to being only £3600 in debt :j!!!

I may be in a position to offer a full and final settlement figure to my creditors and I wondered what kind of a percentage companies normally accept? Three of my outstanding balances are with RBS and the fourth is with CL Finance. It would be really useful if anyone who's had any experience with those two companies could give me their advice too .

Thank you for reading, I'm off to catch up on two years worth of DFW posts!

CSx

bottleofred

Hi and well done on getting to this point with your debts,

I've had dealings with RBS and they settled for 20% of the debt on 10k, although for smaller amounts a typical acceptance appears to be anything from 30-50% in my experience. Tell them your getting money from a family member and start with an offer at 20% and see how you get on. Don't however settle until you have written documentation from them with the words "full and final settlement" for the amount you agree.

Good luck

compulsivespender79

Thank you! That sounds positive - I shan't be lying either about the family member, as my lovely dad is benefactor!

Percy1983

Do you not feel morally you signed up for the debts so you should pay the full amounts?

Maybe its just me but I wouldn't want to settle with a lessor amount.

compulsivespender79

No Percy, my conscience is clear. RBS are a bunch of sharks (and if you want to talk about morality, I see none of that in their bonuses), if I can get shot of this debt sooner rather than later the better that is for me and my family. I need to start rebuilding my credit rating so that we can get a decent mortgage in the not-to-distant future.
I just want rid of it now as soon as possible - it's been a thorn in my side for far too long. I'm sure they feel the same way about me too.

eyeopener2

Well said Compulsive Spender

As far as i'm concerned there is no morality in money/debt/credit. If there was any morality the banks and credit providers wouldn't harrass people to the grave or take someones home. Nothing very moral in that is there.

I wish I could offer some guidance on your F&F but i'm a long way from that but good luck all the same if you can manage it.

Percy1983

More an open question as you say you need to start rebuilding your credit file, would it be worse that they are there longer and paid in full or settled sooner but shown as part settled on your credit file.

As much as I can see the arguement of don't give the banks anymore if it can be avoided, on the flip side everytime they right off a debt the bills gets passed onto the rest of us who do pay.

I do not wish to start an arguement/debate on the whole morality thing, but personally I signed up for my debts so its my responsibility to pay them. The banks never made me borrow the money, I may not agree to where the money is going but I did agree to give them so much in return of loans/credit cards.

With that you are looking after number 1, so good luck and I hope it figures out for you.

rachaelfleur

I haven't managed to offer any full and finals yet but I would like to do so in the future sometime so I've been reading up on them. As far as I can see if you offer a full and final you need to state that you want your credit file marked as 'settled' before agreeing to their offer. This way your file dosn't show partially settled. That's how i understand it, I may be wrong though.

MrsTinks

Kind of rachael... you can ask. but they (importantly!) do NOT have to agree to this. If they do make sure your letter states that the payment is full and final and they will mark your file as settled and NOT partially settled. However they are under no obligation to agree to this and personally I don't think they should either. After all the debt has NOT been settled in full has it?
Regardless your default will drop off your credit file 6 years after it was placed. That would give you 3 and a bit years to run some credit building cards so the day they fall off you will have a super shiny credit file.