When to offer F&F? before it goes to DCA or after?

mtm103

Thanks for everyone which answered my post yesterday re Lloyds.. Another, hopefully quick, question, again trying to help my friend in need. It is in relation to when is the best time to offer a full and final settlement. Maybe a bit of a general question, but is it better to offer a F&F settlement before it goes to a DCA or after? I am specifically thinking of a mbna credit card balance, which had a balance of £18k, (with payments of just under £500 a month to cover the interest of 34.9% alone) but nothing has been paid all of 2011 on it (apart from they allocated the £1 for the CCA agreement to the balance back in January), so the balance is now just under £22.5k. The 18k balance has been sitting like this for years, I think the original balance has been paid over and over again. Following CCA request all I got was copy of original application form, and mbna have ignored all letters sent to them (even though sent recorded delivery). Their problem is that there are no assets they can claim, and as we live in the Channel islands, they can only take to court here. So, in short, if we were in a position to offer full and final settlement for this credit card, is it best to approach mbna now, or wait til the sell? I should point out that they call a few times a day, some days, when they feel like it, and have sent a couple of letters, but apart from that not a lot…

Tixy

Usually best to wait until it goes to a debt collector (as in you usually get better deals accepted).

The danger is that they decide to get a CCJ in the meantime. If the debt was taken out whilst living in the UK they could take them to court in the UK and obtain a CCJ here, although I'm not sure if they can enforce that in the CI. If not then it would obviously only be a significant issue if friend decided to return to live in the UK.

mtm103

Tixy wrote: »

Usually best to wait until it goes to a debt collector (as in you usually get better deals accepted).

The danger is that they decide to get a CCJ in the meantime. If the debt was taken out whilst living in the UK they could take them to court in the UK and obtain a CCJ here, although I'm not sure if they can enforce that in the CI. If not then it would obviously only be a significant issue if friend decided to return to live in the UK.

Hi Tixy
Thanks! I did check this with a local advocate actually, you can only take out CCJ if you are a UK resident, this has not been the case for over 10 years (cc taken out in early 90s). If they want to take her to court, they would have to do it at the Royal Court here (and bearing in mind there are no assets to speak of, good luck on that). Having said that, she might be able to get some money togetehr from family and friends to offer a F&F settlement.
Thanks!