can i offer a settlement on my ongoing gas and electrictity bills?

mrs-wills

hi i currently have my electricity and gas supplied by southern electric but i have arreas of £900 (both bills combined).
at the moment im paying £259 a month for both which is way over the odds i can afford as i am on benefits.

we are in debt with several places at the moment struggling to get ourselves out but this week we will be getting £1200 from a will settlement, as the gas and electricity are the most crippling payments out of the month we thought we would pay these off with the money but the thing i was wondering about is can i offer them a settlment fee (lower than the amount owed) on the arreas of the account even tho we still are bein supplied by them?


thanks
mrs-wills

dogshome

Hi mrs-wills - Discount for immediate settlement?
Occasionally suppliers will offer a lower figure for immediate payment, but the offer comes from them, not the customer.
I think it's unlikely, but worth a try.

South Elec. are not the most competative supplier, so it would be wise to add up how many KW of Gas & Elec. you are using a year and visiting the Switch sites immediately this debt is cleared

spiro

You dont say how much of the £259 is debt payment and how much is current useage. You need to remember that this an interest free debt. If you have other debts like CC on which you are paying interest you may be better off using some/all of the money to clear that.

It may be worth writing out a statement of financesw (it has a proper name) that shows all your incomings and outgoings and see if you can ask the supplier to reduce the amount you repay each month if money is that tight.

Premier_2

You can offer what you like. Whether the supplier will accept is another thing.

How about trying that approach at the till of your local supermarket next visit? Or wouldn't you have the bottle to do so when it is face to face?

How would you feel if the local grants office used that approach.
"Ah mrs-wills, the good news is that you are entitled to all the grants you've applied for. However we have a current issue of a £149bn debt ourselves. Would you accept a lower amount instead?" :cool:

mrs-wills

hi thanks dogs home i will have a look into that

spiro my gas is £64 pm usage and £53 electricity usage but they want it paying off within 6 months

and premier
considering i was hoping for some advice from money saving experts im guessing your not the expert im looking for and i frown upon your post as it is about as usefull as a wet paper bag and i feel insulted by what you said i didnt think this was the website insult&critisizeme/kick-me-while-im-down
but thanks for the post

ps yes the grants department do say that so thanks for the heads up


mrs-wills

undaunted

Just as Premier said you can offer whatever you like, though the supplier is not obliged to accept it.

Personally I think you need to consider what your other debts are (eg if mortgage, rent, taxes, court fines or some other priority debt then it may be that they should receive a share of the 1200) Strictly speaking none priority debts should normally be paid afterwards not just because they attract interest (you may actually be able to get that frozen in some cases).

In terms of the crippling payments if you are on benefits you should be able to negotiate a lower payment, eg you could use Fuel Direct if you are on benefits (which from the above should vastly reduce the payment) and/or making repayment over the period the debt accrued (get some help from C.A.B, Consumer Credit Counselling Service, Legal advice centre etc if necessary)

Premier_2

mrs-wills wrote: »

...and premier
considering i was hoping for some advice from money saving experts im guessing your not the expert im looking for and i frown upon your post as it is about as usefull as a wet paper bag and i feel insulted by what you said i didnt think this was the website insult&critisizeme/kick-me-while-im-down
but thanks for the post...

It may not be the advice you were hoping to receive as a response, but it is correct. I don't like misleading people, even if it's not what they really hoping to hear.

However, as you don't value my time and effort trying to help you, I won't bother again. I'll just pop you onto my ignore list, and suggest you do likewise, then we can both continue to enjoy the forum

mrs-wills

lol jd87 i thought it was just me :rotfl: now if only i could figure out how to use or even find the ignore list haha

eio

rodster23

1 year ago i took your advice and switched gas and electricity suppliers. Today i received their annual review and today i find that my direct debit for gas and electricity has been increased from £62 per month to £150pm.Last year i completed your comparison site and did not take cheapest company but thought an average price would save me money as you stated that a comparison site would do. My bills never changed for 7 years with original supplier. How more could i be wrong. Thanks to listening to youand your dirvel i now have massive bills.

Today on GMTV you stated that gas and electricity have not increased prices in the past few months, yet tonight EDF ENERGY told me there was a price increase last month.

You should get your facts correct and i will now seek legal advice against you as you are promoting products you really have no knowledge about.

No doubt many people praise you but i think you are as bad as the big companies as the normal person in the street look up to you as i did.

EDF ENERGY have supplied me with units for gas and electricity for 1 year which are identical to the past 7 years figures. So either you are talking bull rubbish or the company are fraud. The company stated tonight that all their figures are published.

Am i annoyed, i think so and will see my solicitor tomorrow as i think it is about time we saw you in the high court.

GM43

undaunted wrote: »

In terms of the crippling payments if you are on benefits you should be able to negotiate a lower payment, eg you could use Fuel Direct if you are on benefits (which from the above should vastly reduce the payment) and/or making repayment over the period the debt accrued (get some help from C.A.B, Consumer Credit Counselling Service, Legal advice centre etc if necessary)

mrs-wills, I just wanted to reiterate what undaunted said. I used to work for social security many years ago and the CAB was very good at renegotiating repayments for people and helping get the repayments for all debts down (although it will take you longer to repay) and they were often able to get the interest charged on payments suspended as well (although I know this doesn't apply to your fuel debt). I don't know if they would be able to help with what you are asking but I think they are the best place to go to.

As for paying for your fuel through your benefit (Fuel Direct/Direct Payments) as far as I can recall you had to be under threat of disconnection from non-payment for the company to agree to it, so I don't think this would be applicable in your case, although things change so it could be worth a phone call to Jobcentre Plus or again CAB will be able to advise.

Hope you get it sorted out.

Terrylw1

rodster23 wrote: »

1 year ago i took your advice and switched gas and electricity suppliers. Today i received their annual review and today i find that my direct debit for gas and electricity has been increased from £62 per month to £150pm.Last year i completed your comparison site and did not take cheapest company but thought an average price would save me money as you stated that a comparison site would do. My bills never changed for 7 years with original supplier. How more could i be wrong. Thanks to listening to youand your dirvel i now have massive bills.

Today on GMTV you stated that gas and electricity have not increased prices in the past few months, yet tonight EDF ENERGY told me there was a price increase last month.

You should get your facts correct and i will now seek legal advice against you as you are promoting products you really have no knowledge about.

No doubt many people praise you but i think you are as bad as the big companies as the normal person in the street look up to you as i did.

EDF ENERGY have supplied me with units for gas and electricity for 1 year which are identical to the past 7 years figures. So either you are talking bull rubbish or the company are fraud. The company stated tonight that all their figures are published.

Am i annoyed, i think so and will see my solicitor tomorrow as i think it is about time we saw you in the high court.

Errmmm...do we have a board for this?