Pay for Delete

dannyfleetwood

Been doing some research online regarding Pay for Delete. Anyone ever had any luck?

If for example, I owed Lloyds TSB £3000 but now the debt has been taken over by a Collections Agency, who should I send the PFD letter to? Lloyds or Collections Agency?

fatbelly

This appears to be the American equivalent of 'full and final settlement'. If you have come across a standard letter on the internet, you should be careful that it relates to England/Wales (or Scotland) law, depending on where you live.

The National Debtline guidance is a good place to start for those in the UK

Factsheet | Full & Final Settlement offers

Send your offer to the collector. If you are currently not making payments, or only making token offers, we recommend starting low at 25-30% as many have had success at that level.

dannyfleetwood

But if I send a settlement offer to debt collectors and they accept my "I will pay if you remove the default or account info from experian" how does that benefit me as it says the default is with lloyds on my credit file, not the collectors. Isn't it best to go direct through lloyds?

bargainbetty

They are unlikely to remove the default, but it will be marked as 'fully settled' which is better than 'partially settled'. The collectors have bought the debt, so they would mark it.

They won't remove it though - takes six years to drop off. Generally the only ones removed are those placed there in error.

fatbelly

dannyfleetwood wrote: »

But if I send a settlement offer to debt collectors and they accept my "I will pay if you remove the default or account info from experian" how does that benefit me as it says the default is with lloyds on my credit file, not the collectors. Isn't it best to go direct through lloyds?

Lloyds have appointed someone as collectors. It may be someone in-house (BLS? MHA?) or external (Moorcroft?) but if they are still showing on your credit file, I suspect they still own the debt. So any offer you make will be referred to Lloyds and, if accepted, Lloyds will mark your file partially settled. They will only generally agree to a fully settled mark if you pay in full.

The default is a matter of record. They won't remove that even if you pay in full.

chappers

If you are unsure about the staus of this debt write to the DCA asking whether they have equitable(they are acting on behalf of Lloyds) or absolute (they have bought the debt from Lloyds) rights over this debt.
If they have bought the debt you should have been sent a deed of assignment, detailing that.
As fatbelly says unless the default has been registered in error you have a snowballs chance in hell of getting the default removed, in fact there are strict guidelines and rules with regards to the registering and removal of defaults and CCJs and the company has an obligation to follow these, in order to ensure your credit file is atrue refelction of your current financial position.

dannyfleetwood

I do think its nonsense how a default should haunt you for 6 years though. For instance, when I get into a mess 2 years ago I lost loads of hours at work, no fault of my own.

Now I am on £8,000 more per year than I was then, so it isn't really a true reflection of my current situation.

[Deleted User]

I don't think debt or default is anyones intention. I would say that 99% of people who have defaults feel the same way that you do.

It's just not possible to prove your worth using a true reflection of now. Only history gives the option to judge and score you.

If your defaults were no longer so - there would be no point in the whole system?

I know one thing, now you have defaulted you probably wont do it again. Even if your hours change, you will most likely have planned for changes and reduced your debts to meet with risk.

You will not get removal of the data unless you prove it's wrong or simply fight them until they give up. Paying is not the easy route, I wish it was I am sure we would all default pay it back at 20% and claim our "perfect" credit history back with a few grand under the floor boards :-)