How much to offer to settle

pmf63

Just a quick question lovely people. How much would you consider to be a sencible and realistic offer for a full and final settlement?

I have a few creditors and I am looking to make an offer. I owe a total of £25k so would it be realistic to make each DCA an offer of around 25% - 30% of what we owe or would that be an insult? One DCA I owe £600, some £3000 and one, the bank, £15000. I want them to say yes but I also don't want to pay anymore than I need to. I intend to start with the lowest and save for the rest.

Your thoughts would be much appreciated.

pmf63

Any thoughts please?

Byatt

I think everyone is out shopping in MrT's for DTD...:rotfl:

On the opposite side of the fence, I was offered anywhere between 30 and 50% to pay off in full and final settlement.

Have you done a search? A lot of threads come up and the answer might be in there somewhere.

pmf63

Hi Byatt, are you sure you're not staling me? LOL

Byatt wrote: »

I think everyone is out shopping in MrT's for DTD...:rotfl:

Maybe ... if only I could afford shopping

On the opposite side of the fence, I was offered anywhere between 30 and 50% to pay off in full and final settlement.

I could cope with that.

Have you done a search? A lot of threads come up and the answer might be in there somewhere.

No! Will do that. Thanks again.

Byatt

pmf63 wrote: »

Hi Byatt, are you sure you're not staling me? LOL

:rotfl::rotfl:

lvm

Hey,

I'm assuming all your debt is now with DCAs?? If so, defo start very low.

Just in case you have any similar DCAs to me...

Equidebt - they phoned me and offered 50%, rejected my counter-offer of about 30-35% in writing and didn't re-negotiate.
Lowell - wrote to them offering 20%, they replied with "we're looking into it", yet to actually receive a response
Wescott - offered about 20%, they came back with 50% and I've said 40%. Awaiting reply.
Arrow Global - a pitiful £95 debt and they won't even offer more than 20% off even though I haven't paid in nearly 3 years.

I know you've said you'll start with small ones first but I'd be inclined to start with the biggies (I'm assuming none are charging interest)...if you're not currently paying reasonable amounts, they've always got the opportunity to take you to court and get a CCJ on your file...

Good luck! x

Marine_life

pmf63 wrote: »

....but I also don't want to pay anymore than I need to.

You borrowed the whole amount so in my view you should try and arrange to pay back as much as possible. Is that not fair?

Hannah_10

How low to go depends on how festering and foul the debt is. If it's been years since you last paid them, they send threatograms regularly and when you did pay them it was sporadic they would probably be very glad to see any of it, so you could be cheeky and start even lower. If you've regularly paid the minimum repayments throughout the life of a credit card and you still are doing then they'd have no incentive to take less and you might want to open at 85% and consider yourself lucky if they accepted 95% kind of thing.

Or you could indeed just send them all 27% offers and see who, if any, bite. The ones that aren't interested will write back with another proposal most times. It's all negotiation and renegotiation.

pmf63

Marine_life wrote: »

You borrowed the whole amount so in my view you should try and arrange to pay back as much as possible. Is that not fair?

Depends how you look at it. I borrowed £15k from Natwest and after 11 years I have paid back nearly £18k and they still want another £13k. I had about a year left of a five year loan when I was made redundant and they ignored ALL requests for help. But they still kept adding interest and pathetic charges when I couldn't pay. My current account defaulted with them at less than £500 O/D ... now they want £3200. Is that fair?

Byatt

pmf63 wrote: »

Depends how you look at it. I borrowed £15k from Natwest and after 11 years I have paid back nearly £18k and they still want another £13k. I had about a year left of a five year loan when I was made redundant and they ignored ALL requests for help. But they still kept adding interest and pathetic charges when I couldn't pay. My current account defaulted with them at less than £500 O/D ... now they want £3200. Is that fair?

I had the exact same thing happen to me with Nat West. Back in 2005 when my now ex left me and our DD he paid nothing, not a cent to the mortgage or loans. I had no income other than my daughter's benefits. I contacted them over and over; they were adding 100+ bank charges a month, so not only did the debt get worse, but I couldn't feed myself and DD. Long story short they put a charge on the house...they got their blood money in the end. I asked them over and over again to take into account my current circumstances and that if they kept adding charges I would never be able to get on top of it. They never listened.

Sorry, it makes me so angry. :mad: And I rarely get angry.

I will never bank with Nat West again. All those adverts they have on now about their personal touch makes me feel sick! It doesn't happen.

pmf63

Hannah_10 wrote: »

How low to go depends on how festering and foul the debt is. If it's been years since you last paid them, they send threatograms regularly and when you did pay them it was sporadic they would probably be very glad to see any of it, so you could be cheeky and start even lower. If you've regularly paid the minimum repayments throughout the life of a credit card and you still are doing then they'd have no incentive to take less and you might want to open at 85% and consider yourself lucky if they accepted 95% kind of thing.

Or you could indeed just send them all 27% offers and see who, if any, bite. The ones that aren't interested will write back with another proposal most times. It's all negotiation and renegotiation.

Hi Hannah ... I have been making token payments for about 6 years ... £10 or £15pm on £3500k debt ... apart from the Nat West Loan ... £30pm on £13k. I will be 91 when that gets paid ... If I live another 40 years.