Aktiv Kapital - final settlement figure?

debtfreein2007

Hi guys
I wonder if anyone has any experience of negotiating a final settlement figure with Aktiv Kapital (who I think are also Wescot?). They are the last company that I owe any money to so I'll be debt free after this one! I owe them £1052 currently, and I could almost stretch to clearing the debt right away if they would accept £600-£700 for a full and final settlement.

Is this asking way too much? Anyone any experience with this?

Thanks very much
Gavin

barneystuta

I am in a similair situation and will be speaking to my Bank and Wescot myself soon.

debtfreein2007

Will be interesting to hear your experience!

I'm going to try and phone up tomorrow. I'm a little nervous of how to approach the subject though, and I was hoping someone else would have dealt with this company in a similar way previously.

Toomuchdebt

No advice on this at all I'm afraid but good luck!

bigmac2020_2

Best advice is to make the offer, if they refuse then write back and ask them what they would accept. In the meantime keep paying them your payments from the £600 you have. I just made an offer to Barclays which was about 88% of the total (7k) and they have accepted, good luck:j

debt23

Hi,

A lot depends on how much you are paying them monthly and how long you have had the debt - it all comes down to simple maths by the creditor as to what option is best for them - continue to collect or take a settlement.

I would certainly feel that you would get a settlement for £700.

Myself, I would open the negotiations at £500.

It also helps if you can give a scenario that leads the lender to think now would be a good time to settle - i.e if you were about to have your hours reduced at work or something and feel you might struggle in the future,but this is up to you.

Big word of caution though.....

Do not let the creditor know this is your money (if it is), always present this along the lines of (say) a family member has offered to help you clear this debt, but they can only pay such and such and only if it is a full and final etc.

They are likely to hound you harder if they know it your cash and you hold the purse strings.

Also, this approach allows you to even side with the creditor a little if you need to - "Yes, Im sorry its a lower amount than you wanted, but thats all my brother can spare, what a shame!" - you get the idea.

And.....

Never ever part with any money until they have aknowledged it all in a letter stating it is final payment - incase they try and change their minds.

Oh, hang on, theres more.

When you give your opening figure, dont budge on it. I very much doubt they will accept it straight away, so as above, you say 'oh well' and leave it at that.

Trust me, once you start talking settlement figures, they will ring you back!

I had great fun once getting a 30K debt down to a settle of £15K with Lloyds. They were tricky chaps, and it rolled on for two months, but in the end - I got what I wanted.

But after all that, i didnt have 15K either - and even I doubted they'd take 200 quid. Such is life.

All the best

Debt23

Broken_hearted

I would offer half what you owe. I keep offering Crapquest a settlement figure of one third and they keep saying no they want more. Still it doesn't hurt to ask.

debtfreein2007

Thanks guys for the advice - I'm going to try and phone in the morning and I will let you know how I get on. It's a little nervewracking but it might be worth it!

Thanks again for your support

artic_fox_2

we owed 750 and was offered a f&f of 460 they wouldnt budge any lower than about 40% write off but that was at the beginning of my dmp i think now that the other 2 dmp would accept less as they have been accepting £1 per month for 2 years and we owe £10,000 in total i will be offering around £3500 to £4000 in the end hopefully

debtfreein2007

I chickened out and in the end wrote them a letter and also an email instead of phoning. I made a settlement offer and explained my position. I kind of hoped it would initiate contact but they didn't reply either positively or negatively.

I used to be on a CCCS DMP but I've finished that now apart from this final debt. Aktiv Kapital haven't actually chased it for over a year but it's on my credit report and makes a lot of credit applications impossible to succeed.

Can anyone suggest a letter template I can use that would force them to reply with details of the debt? I'm not even sure who they originally bought the debt of and I'd love to initiate contact by writing.

Thanks in advance!

debtfreein2007

Just to add to my last message - should I send it recorded delivery or might they refuse to accept it?