Lewis Group and Settlement Figures

UKtotty

Hello guys, my first post so hope its in the right bit!
Many many years ago I took out a loan with HSBC, this was defaulted and went to debt recovery.
I was paying them £40 a month forever!
In 2009 The Lewis Group contacted me and advised me that they now owned the debt and nothing would change, I will still pay them £40 mth. At this point I asked them for a settlement figure, it was around £3000
Today I find out that I have been paying HSBC AND Lewis the £40 a month due to their admin error.
So since 2009 I have paid around £2900 more.
Today I asked why I was paying double, they apologised, i asked for the outstanding amount and it was £5380, I asked for early settlement and that was £4488 (£1500 more than 3 years ago)
So do i carry on paying them £40 mth ad infinitum,
can I get that settlement reduced,
do I have any recourse on their 3 year muck up?

Original figure was £10k
Cheers

somethingcorporate

If my understanding is correct you notice that you were paying twice? for three years? :eek:

UKtotty

Yes, went for a meeting with the bank manager today, looked at all my DDs and there was one for lewis and one for HSBC, same amount every month.

Apples2

It is sadly quite common for reduced payments not to even match (let alone exceed) the interest accruing each Month.
Reduced payments are only supposed to last a short time, until you get new employment/fit again etc when you up your payments to "at least" the level you were on before.

Far too many people just grabthe reduced payment offer and forget all about it hoping that by paying less, the debt wil eventually disappear.

When negotiating reduced payments you should really be insisting on an Interest freeze, so you know the debt will be reducing, fail to agree the interest freeze, and this happens.

Your credit file is shot already which limits your options.
You should be able to retrieve the "double payments" or at least ensure they have been used to offset your debt balance (as if you were paying £80 per Month.

This doesn't help the bigger picture though. The preferred option would be for you to source a lump of cash elsewhere, and make them a settlement offer. They say £4480, you offer them £2,000 in FULL AND FINAL SETTLEMENT.

This MUST be done in writing, do nothing over the phone, online help forms or emails.
You could start even lower if you feel lucky but if you simply take the P***, they may be unlikely to entertain any offers.

Don't agree (and pay) any settlement figures with them until you are in possession of a letter which clearly includes the words "IN FULL AND FINAL SETTLEMENT".

UKtotty

Apples2 wrote: »

They say £4480, you offer them £2,000 in FULL AND FINAL SETTLEMENT.

This MUST be done in writing, do nothing over the phone, online help forms or emails.
You could start even lower if you feel lucky but if you simply take the P***, they may be unlikely to entertain any offers.
.

Very interesting Apples, thank you!
I am paying no interest AFAIK just paying off the lump sum, I have been paying for 11 years so far and based on £40 mth I will have another 11 years to pay it off in full.

I will go for that £2000 figure and see what they say, thanks again!