Help Needed with F&F payment

dannydani_2

hi, this is my first post on here so i'll start by saying hi and i hope somebody can help me.

my situation is as follows....

a few years back a couldnt keep up with my payments to hsbc, this included a loan, credit card and my current account overdraft. i believe my overall debt was around £3500. my debt was passed on the MCS who is the debt collector for hsbc. i came up with a payment plan, this was £5 per month from my loan and £5 from my cc and overdraft, i started making these payments in april 2009 and havnt missed a payment yet. now i would like to try and make a full and final payment to them to clear all my debt as this is the only debt i have and is giving me a bad credit report and in the near future i would like to try and get a mortgage.

what i would like to know is, do i just contact MCS, or do i go through citizon advice bureu or cccs? what should i offer? and if i make a F&F payment, will this clear my bad credit?

basically, i have no idea what to do next and would like some advice please. thanks danny

DS4215

You write to them using the template on National Debtline and make an offer. They will either accept or decline it. If they accept you pay and your debts are making partial settlement. If there is a default it will stay in place for 6 years from the time it was issued but they will not chase you for the debt.

Good luck

Deep_In_Debt

I'm with CCCS and have made F&F offers - CCCS can send you a template letter and contact names of people to write to. CCCS are there to help you clear your debt and they don't mind you contacting them about it. Don't let them do it though as you will get a better deal.

Start at 30% (or lower) of the debt and work up - if it's with a DCA they buy debt's for literally pennies in the £ so will be making a nice profit on what ever you offer.

Expect a bit of to'ing and fro'ing but believe me, it's worth it in the end. Make sure you ask them to mark your credit file as "satisfied" and ensure that neither they, not any associate or 3rd party will chase you for the remainder in the future and that you are released from any further liability.

It may affect future applications for mortgages etc as you will have originally defaulted on your agreement by making reduced payments in the first place and it may show that your "satisfied" payment was a reduced offer, so it could affect a mortgage application. Not sure it will clear your bad credit for a while so I would suggest waiting to apply for a mortgage until these debts have "dropped off" in a few years.

dannydani_2

thanks for the posts so far. i will contact the cccs and speak to them about F&F settlement, also i forgot to mention, i havnt heard anything from MCS since august 2009 after making my first payments, is it possible for them to decline my offer and then start asking for more monthly money instead? when i first agreed to my £5 per month payment, i wanst working, i am now but dont really want to be paying loads as still not got much to spare. thanks in advance.

Deep_In_Debt

dannydani wrote: »

thanks for the posts so far. i will contact the cccs and speak to them about F&F settlement, also i forgot to mention, i havnt heard anything from MCS since august 2009 after making my first payments, is it possible for them to decline my offer and then start asking for more monthly money instead? when i first agreed to my £5 per month payment, i wanst working, i am now but dont really want to be paying loads as still not got much to spare. thanks in advance.

They probably will decline your offer at first but just ignore and keep trying to negotiate with them. It's worth perservering though.

One thing I did when I was getting rejections on F&F offers - I just mentioned that it was in their interests to accept or I shall continue to pay what I am currently paying and it could take years before they see the majority of their money back. It seemed to work after several months of going round in circles with them but each creditor is different but worth a try.

Might also be worth saying that you've been lent some money from a family/friend (don't tell them how much) and that this money has been lent to you for the purposes of clearing your debts...you therefore offer them xxxxx. This offer stands for 28 days and if they don't accept it, then you will offer it to another creditor. They might bite your arm off for it

Stand your ground with them. Keep paying what you are whilst negotiating with them and see what they come back with but don't let them bully you.

Good luck

dannydani_2

thanks for the reply, much appreciated, gonna call cccs tomorrow and try and get the ball rolling, will keep you posted.
anyone else got any tips, please feel free to add!! :beer: