Anyone ever had a succesful Final Offer letter?

roadrunner_3

Glad it worked out for you. Definitely worth pursuing this option if you have a lump sum ready & available.

Probably a dumb question, but is this best to have been in some sort of DMP before you make such offers? & if so how long into the pprgrm whould be a good time to take this approach?

livilou

the way I did it was to offer two solutions, a ) offer a monthly repayment amount,in my case it was far less than they wanted or solution b) see if they will accept your final offer amount.

I think they know that it is better to take the finaloffer amount now or risk you being in a worse situation in a years time and not be able to repay anything.

hope it works out for you

lee3276

My mother had her house reprossed about 14 years ago they sold it at auction and she ended up owing £50000 they have just accepted £7500 and that will clear the debt, Its worth giving it a try good luck

purple_2

Personally, i don't think you'll get anywhere with a full and final offer of 50% although its always worth trying, we wouldn't accept anything less than 80% as a final offer and would request the payment to be made immediatley by card, again though this is dependant on the individual account and would not be accepted in every case

While we may accept offers below the 80% it would not result in the credit file being marked as satisfied, it woule be recorded as a part settlement payment

hopefulfooluk

Purple, what are you talking about. First you say that "we wouldn't accept anything less than 80%" then you say "while we may accept offers below 80%". If you're going to represent a collection agency, then get your story straight, and if you're just pretending, stop trying to scare the original poster.

For the record, I have negotiated 5 full and final settlements, all ranging from 50% - 85% of the total outstanding, and on my credit file they all show as "satisfied". Not a mention that it was a partial write-off.

Good luck with the negotiations!

All the best,

Chris

Debt_Free_Chick

And the policy of accepting F&Fs varies from one lender to the other. Debt collection agencies could be more likely to accept an F&F, as they often buy the debt from the lender for as little as 20% of the amount outstanding. So ... they pay 20%, you offer 50% ....? Worth a punt, I think

donmonster

Thnaks for the replies folks - Chris can you tell me who the lenders were who were willing to take F&F from you?

I sent all the letters last Tuesday I think - I know I may have to wait weeks to start hearing, but still nervous. Did not have th best of starts - rang Barclaycard who said as they had not marked the account as defaulted there was no way they would take an F&F unless it was for the full amount....

Then there was confusion with another company as to what they were actuallu owed....so not the best of starts - but hey that is only 2 of them - still got a long way to go and I hope it will have been worth the price of the stamps at least :-)

Mads13

Hi There

About 7/8 years ago we got ourselves into quite a mess. Basically I became disabled and hubby became my FT carer. We were both in good jobs and could easily afford the £11,000 roughly we owed between credit cards, store cards, overdrafts, catalogues etc whilst we were working. Anyway, our main problem was that we stupidly didnt take out the criticall illness cover, but saying that, you really never know if they will actually pay out etc, because there is soo much small print! :mad:
Anyway, so we were left with about £12,000 debt and living entirely on benefits :eek: . We had a small morgage at the time and we wanted to move to london(closer to family to get support), so we decided to sell our property and move into rented accomadation..maybe not the best move, but I still think we made the best choice in doing this.

We were left after selling the house with about £7,000. While all the paperwork was going through and funds being sorted we wrote to all the companies we owed money too and offered full and final settlements explaining our current situation:

Barclaycard Owed £2500-offered £875-Accepted (35%balance offered)
Barclay Bank Overdraft £3500-Offered £1575-Accepted(45%balance offered)
Comet Store Cards £2300-Offered £500-Accepted £805(35%balance offered)
Debenhams Cards £1500-Offered £600-Accepted(40%balance offered)
Catalogue £800-Offered £320-Accepted(40%balance offered)

I think thats all accurate..lol. I think we were very lucky and this was 7/8 years ago, but I would start with low offers then bartar with them , what have you got to loose by offering a stupid low final payment??? They can only say no. When we got the money from the house sale, we wrote out cheques immediatly and sent the special delivery and always asked for a full receipt letter accepting this as a full and final payment-which we got and still have...just in case..lol

Obviously we have never got ourselves into this mess again and by living on benefits I have become very thrifty and always have a little money aside-I stick £65 a month away into a savings pot connected to my bank account-plus with meal planning etc I am able to move about £100 a month of my left over food money I allocate each month. We try and live within our means and save for items we want.to make sure we really want them. I am unable to go out much, and if I do its in my wheelchair, so I am constantly scanning this website for further ways to make money go further :A My hubby thinks Im nuts, but I find it theraputitive...funny how he doesnt moan when he buys stuff with the money Ive saved

We do have credit cards(which are rarely used) and the balance I have is on a 0% till the end of the year.

I sound really sad, but this website has been a godsend for me..i thought i was good with money before!!!

Good Luck with your offers!
Mads13

purple_2

hopefulfooluk wrote:

Purple, what are you talking about. First you say that "we wouldn't accept anything less than 80%" then you say "while we may accept offers below 80%". If you're going to represent a collection agency, then get your story straight, and if you're just pretending, stop trying to scare the original poster.

For the record, I have negotiated 5 full and final settlements, all ranging from 50% - 85% of the total outstanding, and on my credit file they all show as "satisfied". Not a mention that it was a partial write-off.

Good luck with the negotiations!

All the best,

Chris

if you had actually read what i posted you would see that i said was that less than 80% may be accepted but it we wouldn't have marked the credit file satisfied as the poster requested in the letter, and i never said his offer would not be accepted i was just advised as to what we would do

Mads13

Hi Peter

I dont think your a mug!!

You are taking your responsibilities seriously. I know with my circumstances several years ago..we had no choice but to offer final settlements as our income was slashed via me becoming disabled and hubby my full time carer and we were good earners etc.

This was our last resort as i didnt want debt round my neck for years. We were very lucky! By offering full and final settlements to clear a debt will affect your credit rating as you have basically defaulted on an account, this will stay on your credit file for 6 years. Im not sure if people know this??? It is not be used as an easy option to get of paying your debt, but as a final resort in a desperate situation and if this is the case and genuine then I fully accept it is the best thing to do :j .

There will always be people who play any system and get out of paying their dues/debts etc, but I think most people on this site are genuine and need help and advice and in dire need :eek: .

Mads13
xxx