Barclaycard F&F

Betchy

I'm struggling at the moment to get any sort of resonse from Barclaycard. I have been writting to them since January and they still haven't responded.

I have rung them today to find out what was happening with my request for a settlement figure to be told that Barclaycard don't offer settlement figures and that I have to pay the full balance.

Surely there is something they can do.

Can anybody suggest anything as this is really stressing me out. Their the most unhelpful useful bunch of people I have ever come across

Tixy

Can you provide some more information about your situation? are you behind with repayments? have you defaulted on the account? are barclaycard still charging interest?

Did you actually make a formal reduced F&F offer? was it in writing? What % did you offer? Did you give them a date to reply by or a date the offer was valid for?
Or did you just ask them what amount they would accept in full & final settlement of the account?

They are perfectly entitled to refuse any reduced offer you make if they wish to.

Betchy

I am about 3 months behind with my payments and recently they have taken over my Egg card as well so am about 3 months behind with that as well. I owed Barclaycard about £570 and Egg £750. I offered to settle the Barclaycard first but didn't think to offer them a % just asked if they would accept £300 but they have completely ignored the request and when have rang today the have said they don't offer settlement figures. The F&F is what it is outstanding!!!!

Tixy

If you are 3months behind then it may be too soon to get a full & final settlement - or certainly to get much of a discount.

Usually lenders will only consider a reduced settlement once they have entered a default on your credit file and frozen interest. At that point it can become worthwhile for them to accept a lesser amount now rather than wait to get the money back from you eventually.

I don't mean you need to offer a % in the letter, just consider what it works out to, as they will be doing the same, so you'd offered them about 52% from the sounds of it.

I wouldn't be surprised that they'd decline that sort of offer, if you are only 3months behind with payments.

That sort of offer you would likely get accepted with a debt collector, but is probably too low for an original creditor, unless its offered just prior to when they would sell the debt on for a lower price than your offer.

Betchy

The trouble I'm having though is that they are completely igrnoring my emails so I'm at my wits end with them. I don't know what else to do. If they put a default against me won't that effect my credit scoring?

Tixy

Yes if they put a default against you it will have a significant impact on your credit file for 6years.

Usually a default notice is sent out when a customer is between 3 and 6 month behind with payments. So by the sound of it you could be pretty close to one being issued if it hasn't been yet.

If you want to offer a full & final settlement I would do it in writing in the post not by email. But its not uncommon for a creditor to not respond to such offer, and if they don't then there is little you can do about it.
You'd then need to decide what your next step is (ie trying to get the account back up to date, considering a higher offer or whatever).

Betchy

Thanks for your help. I have written to them twice and they say their going to respond and then completely ignore me. It so frustrating. You'd think in this day and age with the country the way it is they would be glad to receive any amount of money as long as it wasn't insulting. But never mind. Obviously their to greedy and don't have very good customer services that that they just don't want to help anyone

Tixy

Betchy wrote: »

Thanks for your help. I have written to them twice and they say their going to respond and then completely ignore me. It so frustrating. You'd think in this day and age with the country the way it is they would be glad to receive any amount of money as long as it wasn't insulting. But never mind. Obviously their to greedy and don't have very good customer services that that they just don't want to help anyone

I guess if you look at it from their point of view - they will consider is how likely it is that you will eventually pay up in full the amount that you owe them - thats not greedy thats just business sense.
At the moment you are a few months behind and so there is a risk that you will not pay it back in full, or take a long time to do so. But at the moment if they are still charging you interest and possibly late payment fees then they are not losing out by waiting a little longer for their money.

There isn't much incentive for them to knock almost half of the debt off. The fact that you have made them an offer indicates to them that you do have some money, and so very likely can afford to either bring the account up to date, or at least start making repayments.

If they accepted everyone's offer for a near 50% reduction in their balance then they'd financially be screwed.
In general they only consider accepting reduced settlements when the alternative is to only get say £5 a month to the debt for 10years or when they think there is a realistic chance that the debtor may go bankrupt or when they are considering selling it to a debt collector for maybe 25% of the balance.

Miss_Spendalot_2

Sorry for just jumping in here but I wanted to ask this, is the amount of money you owe money you have borrowed and spent or mostly money that has been added for late charges etc ?

I have never heard of this situation before where somebody owes the bank for example £570 and called and offered to settle at only £300 and wondered why the bank has said no. I never even knew this was even possible. Excuse me for being a Newbie but It is amazing what you can learn coming here :-)

Betchy

The majority of companies will do it as most of wot u owe is interest. Iv had numerous loans & cards who offer u a settlement so they get their money back. It's isn't anythin new & most debt companies advise on it to curtail interest so it's nothin new really & not tryin 2get away with anythin

Betchy

Ps it's not a bank it's a credit card where the interest has recently gone up