Conned - Full and Final Settlement?

Tallulah-32

Hi

I'm just wondering whether anyone has encountered something similar?

I had a debt with Santander which was passed to Apex Credit Managment Limited. The debt was for £4722.85. I kept receiving letters and calls from Apex and I managed to negotiate a full and final settment for £2625.00 in January 2011. A family member paid Apex over the telephone and I received a letter from Apex saying

"we confirm receipt of your payment of £2625.00 received in full and final settlement of the above noted account. You account has been marked as closed and returned back to ourclient. I can confirm that no further action will take place towards you in connection with this account".

Today I received a statement from Santander thanking me for my payment of £2625.00 in January but stating that the balance of my account is £2147.34.

It looks like I stupidly let Apex swindle me. I initially read the letter from Apex back in January as saying that the debt had been settled and they would inform Santander.

However on reading Apex's letter back now I think I let them swindle me. In the letter they say that "no further action will take place" but did that mean action by them rather than Santander? Santander have acknowledged the payment but not the full and final settlement.

If I send Santander a copy of Apex's letter thanking me for the 'full and final settlement' and stating that "no further action will be taken" do I have a leg to stand on in closing the debt?

Any advice would be much appreciated please. I look back now and realise I was stupid to pay Apex and trust what they said about the full and final settlement. Apex put it in writing but I guess their letter is open to interpretation.

Does this frequently occur?

Thanks

jadex

So you've dealt with them not in writing then paid over the phone then got acceptance letter?
In that order?
Hope it will work out for you but why, oh why, have you paid without an acceptance letter from account owner? and what does the letter you got from Apex say about updating your credit file? only account owner can change account status on your credit file.
Have you actually checked your credit file since paying to Apex?
The account should have been marked as "settled" or "partially settled".
Also 55% settlement was alarmingly good offer for account not sold to DCA (although not impossible).
Now I think your best course is to forward a copy of Apex letter to Santander and say you have complied with the offer and it must be a some sort of error their end. (Do not give them ipression whatsoever you doubt the deal was legit.)
Hope others will show you the way to have it sorted.
Good Luck

FireWyrm

Dear Santander (insert as apropriate)

I refer to your recent correspondance regarding the outstanding balance on the account <insert account number here> which states that the sum of £2147.34 is still owing on an original account of £4722.85. I have been in contact with your representative in this matter Apex Credit Management Ltd and with their consent, have settled this account with a full and final offer of <how much> which was paid to them on <when> by telephone. As a matter of course, I have received from them a letter which states that this offer and acceptance thereof is a Full and Final Settlement and I draw your attention to the wording of the attached copy letter which I have enclosed for your consideration. I am sure you can agree that the letter from Apex is quite unequivocal and I would appreciate your intervention in this matter since I was given to believe that the payment of <how much> would settle this matter with all parties concerned. I am therefore quite disturbed by your recent correspondance and would request your immediate attention in this matter as I feel there has been some miscommunication between your representative and yourself.

I look forward to your imminent correspondance and an amicable resolution to this unfortunate situation.

Yours Sincerely

<your name>


P.S - Check my spelling (dont put this in the letter lol)

Hopelessly_Hopeful

Hi

Hope you get this sorted. I'd be kicking up an enormous fuss. Demand a response today or contact OFT.

Good luck.

HHx

DarnIt_3

Dear Santander,

Can you whistle....if so please do, because I am not paying you any money.

I would write to them, it may be they are trying their luck, as long as you have the letter from Apex confirming full and final settlement then I wouldn't worry.

Tallulah-32

Thanks for all of your advice and the wording for the letter I really appreciate it.

I could kick myself now as it is so obvious that I should not have trusted Apex. I should have looked into the proper procedures to be followed. I accrued the debt due to long term sickness in hospital as I couldn't pay the debt. Apex called my home continuously and offered me the discount and I took it (my father paid). I just stupidly assumed the debt had been sold on to Apex from Santander and Santander had no more dealings with Apex. Looking back at the letter it clearly says "referred back to Santander" I think I was just so relieved to think it was settled and glad to get some form of written confirmation that I didn't read the letter properly.

So stupid and naive of me.

Thanks again for this.

Tallulah-32

Hi

Just thought I'd provide an update in case anyone is in a similar situation.

I wrote a letter to Santander using the words suggested above (thanks again for that). I also attached a copy of the letter from Apex stating my payment was in "full and final settlement".

Today I received a response from Santander about the statement they sent me showing an outstanding balance.

"The Transaction Summary Statement received is in connection with an outstanding balance on an account and has been issued under new statement requirements introduced by the Consumer Credit Act.

The account in question was partially settled in January 2011 however, the remaining balance will still show on your Credit File"

How can Santander say the account was partially settled when their agent (Apex) clearly stated in their letter to me that my payment was "in full and final settlement" of the account. The words "partially settled" were never mentioned once by Apex.

Does this mean I'm still liable for the outstanding balance? Also are they just trying to bamboozle me talking about the Consumer Credit Act when they don't mention the section or quote it?

lvm

As far as I can tell, it all seems ok. When I was trying to settle an account with a DCA acting on behalf of Halifax (it never finalised as they refused to send me what I wanted them to) Halifax told me about the statement that they are legally obliged to send to me every 6 months. This is probably what your letter refers to.

I'd be pretty happy with the partial settlement...it's a true reflection of what happened. The letter you got from Apex is correct too - the payment was taken as a full and final settlement.

From what you've said, I don't think anyone is going to pursue you for the outstanding balance although it will appear on your credit file for 6 years from the default date.

You could always write again to Santander asking them to confirm they won't pursue you for the debt but personally I would leave as is...

G51shopaholic

sounds like they took the money for the outstanding payments and not the balance.

Also the payment you made brought your account back upto date and therefore back to Santander it went.

Had a similar occurancy back in 2006 with Bank of Scotland. I was told that if I cleared balance over 10mths I'd get huge discount.
Luckily I asked for this in writing and debt reduced from £13k to £7.7k. I had pp insurance but guess what, they declined because I was self-employed, which was something I'd discussed with the loan advisor in the branch. Anyway got pp refunded - they took it off the debt.
I paid £770 a month for 10mths - NOT EASY but my selfemployed
business at that time was doing great - lots of people buying/renting flats. Working over 60hrs a week but got it sorted.

12mths later up pop Bank of Scotland asking for the rest of the money! Send copy after copy of letter to them, I refused to send them the original but local branch weere great and stamped it for me as verified original - send off more copies and never heard from them again!

Tallulah-32

G51Shopaholic does the outstanding debt still appear on your credit file?

Also, Ivan - how can it be a full and final settlement and a partial settlement?

Thanks for advice btw I appreciate it.

lvm

The money you are paying is "as" a full and final settlement - so instead of paying the full balance, whatever you are paying is going to be regarded as the full amount. But because you are not paying the full balance, you are partially settling the balance.

If you've settled the account in January and you've only just received a letter recently I really wouldn't worry about it - just get a copy of your credit report. It's probably worth checking anyway - my guess is that it says "partially settled".