Settlement help

DDD123

Hi, I have been on a DMP with PayPlan for 5/6 years now and am looking to try and settle my debts thanks to my girlfriend who has offered to loan me £5k.
I phoned my creditors today and got up to date balances and also enquired anout settlement figures, which seem to be around the 75% mark.
Having read a fair few threads on this forum it sounds like I may be able to get them down closer to 50% by writing them a letter detailing my circumstances and my offers, see figures below;

[FONT=&quot]Total owed -[/FONT][FONT=&quot] Settlement figure[/FONT] -[FONT=&quot]My offer[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Blair, Oliver & Scott[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]3365.97 - 2524.48 -1606.51[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]3065.27 -2298 -1462.99[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]292.05 -219.04 -139.38[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]80.76 -60.57 -38.54[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Bls[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]59.2 -50 -28.25[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]2149.06 -1900 -1025.65[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Moorcroft[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]829.24 -700 -395.76[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]MBNA[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]635 -[/FONT]Not obtained -[FONT=&quot] 303.05[/FONT]

I came to the settlement amounts by using the formula on the National Debtline site.

Question 1. Does this sound feasible as 50% sounds to good to be true?
Question 2. Could you give me your opinion on the following letter I have written please? (most of which I have obtained from here and the aforementioned site).

To: _____________________
________________________
Dear Sir/Madam

Without Prejudice

Account No: _____________________________
I write with reference to the money which you are claiming on the above account.
I can confirm that I am unable to offer to pay the money which I owe in full. A relative is prepared to offer me £5000. I want to offer this sum as an ex-gratia payment, in full and final settlement of the account. The offer from my relative will not be available forever and my relative will not make the payment unless the offer is accepted. I fully believe that it is in your best interest to accept this offer as my current financial situation is unlikely to improve and due to the birth of my daughter and my partner subsequently being unable to return to full time work I will be forced to reduce my monthly payments. This offer is made on the clear understanding that, if accepted, neither you nor any associate company will take any other action to enforce or pursue this debt in any way whatsoever and that I will be released from any liability.
I also request that, if accepted, you will make an entry on a credit reference agency file relating to the above account as having been paid and the account closed.
Payment can be made within 14 days of receiving your written agreement of this offer and method of payment.
I look forward to receiving your reply.


Yours faithfully


Any help would be greatly appreciated.

nottoolate

looks ok. would prob also get them to agree that the debt wont be sold on

exarmydreamer

Hi,DDD123, Please make sure that the agreement letter from your creditors mentions clearly that it is a full and final settlement. this way there will be no one making a claim against you at a later date. Good luck.

taffy056

i WOULDN'T SAY HOW MUCH MONEY YOU HAVE IN TOTAL ITS GOT NOTHING TO DO WITH THEM, ALSO START OFF FROM A REAL LOW OFFER FROM ABOUT 25%

sorry for caps

exarmydreamer

Hi, I agree with taffy056 - A bit to much information, their aim is to get as much money out of you as possible - not to do you a favour. They don't need to know where you get the money from or how much you have to use to pay off..

fatbelly

It's useful for them to realise that this is coming from a third party. It's not that the op is sitting on a fortune and trying to get away with not paying in full - this is all that is available to settle their debt and it's only available for a short time. Otherwise it's back to the ridiculously small amounts they've been getting through Payplan

I didn't read the original letter as saying how much was available in total, the 5k was there just as an example.

So, for instance, for the first BCW debt it would read 'A relative is prepared to offer me £1606.51. I want to offer this sum as an ex-gratia payment...

Actually I think 50% is a bit high as a starting point too. You might finish around that but I've recently done some where I started at 25%. One accepted at that figure, another at 28%.

Though I guess for the tiddlers it might not be worth dragging things out too much.

DDD123

Apologies for the delay in responding, my 5 month old daughter is keeping me busy and extremely tired at the moment!

Ok so I have amended the letter slightly and will change the settlement figure for each creditor to 25% as a starting point;

To: _____________________
________________________
Dear Sir/Madam

Without Prejudice

Account No: _____________________________
I write with reference to the money which you are claiming on the above account. I can confirm that I am unable to offer to pay the money which I owe in full. However, I can raise £(25%). and I want to offer this as an ex-gratia payment in full and final settlement of the account. I fully believe that it is in your best interest to accept this offer as my current financial situation is unlikely to improve and due to the birth of my daughter and my partner subsequently being unable to return to full time work I will be forced to reduce my monthly payments. This offer is made on the clear understanding that, if accepted, neither you nor any associate company will take any other action to enforce or pursue this debt in any way whatsoever and that I will be released from any liability.

I also request that, if accepted, you will make an entry on a credit reference agency file relating to the above account as having been paid and the account closed.

Payment can be made within 14 days of receiving your written agreement of this offer and method of payment.

I look forward to receiving your reply.


Yours faithfully


So if they do not accept the 25% do they usually comeback with a negotiated figure or a flat blank refusal?

fatbelly

DDD123 wrote: »

So if they do not accept the 25% do they usually comeback with a negotiated figure or a flat blank refusal?

Could be either.Or you might not get a response at all. In the case I mentioned earlier we've had a third acceptance at 30%. That was a bit out of the blue after the creditor had ignored two earlier letters.

DDD123

Ok so I received a reply from Blair, Oliver & Scott saying that they are unable to accept my offer and will only consider a reduced settlement if the circumstances are of an extreme nature.

What now?

bargainbetty

Write to the next one with 25%, and see what happens. You might be more successful with another creditor or at least get a negotiation going.

Good luck