Debt Settlement problems - HELP ME

jlojgirl

Hello there,

I posted a few months back about making Full and Final Settlements on 4 accounts of mine and my husband.

We used the template that we got from a link on this website (without prejudice, full and final settlement), but have been advised by all of the companies, that they do not do this anymore, and that is called a partial settlement, the account will close, but remain on our records for 6 years as showing partial settlement. I'm fine with this, as we don't intend to try to gain any credit for a long time anyway.

But my problem comes here. We sent the letters out in March, stupidly thinking that they come back with a yes straight away. As of March, we had only missed 2 payments (last payment to all 4 companies was in December)

The debt and offered settlement figures are like this

Next - Debt 280.71 - 1st offer £100 Declined. 2nd offer £150 Declined. 3rd offer £200 - accepted.

Halifax Credit card. Was passed to Blair, Oliver and Scott, but now with Wescot
Debt - 4705.32 - Offer £1800 - Declined. They have said that they will not accept anything less than £3528. I sent them a breakdown of incomings and outgoings on request (our outgoings are roughly £200 a month more than our incomings) Are they likely to budge if I write them another letter. My incomings are dropping as the days go by, and I simply haven't got £3528. I may be able to get another £500 from my Dad, but definitely not that much.

Virgin Credit card MBNA
Debt - 3186.48 - Offered £1200. Point blank refused due to wording on the letter. So I had to write another letter saying that I wanted a short settlement. Still waiting to hear back from them.

Virgin Credit card, MBNA, now with Idem Servicing.
Debt - 4152.87 - Offered £1600.
They have a breakdown of our incomings and outgoings too, and i'm still waiting to hear from them.

Now my question.

Are these companies likely to accept, as i'm going out of my mind with worry that I haven't paid them since December. Although I haven't received any threatening letters or phonecalls, so i assumed our accounts have been put on hold.

My Dad is willing to lend us a little more money to try to get these debts off our back and if we can manage to settle with all of the above, we will be debt free (aside from my Dad)

Should I just wait it out? Do you think my offers are reasonable, and the Halifax account who said they will not accept a penny under the amount they quoted, should I try to offer again?

Thank you for reading this far. Sorry for rambling.

Lx:mad:

Tonylpool

Hi, I had similar experiences to you with F&F letters a few years ago.

I'm not going to be much help I'm afraid but have replied to your post hoping that it will keep it near the top where somebody with more knowledge might comment.

However, with a few of my debts, they were marked as partially settled and have now dropped / or about to drop off my credit file.

Good luck

TeamNicholson

Why not try phoning them? I have heard of a a lot of people on here negotiating good deals via phone. Just make sure you ask them to send confirmation in writing before you pay.

jlojgirl

I've been speaking to all of my creditors on a bi-weekly basis to chase it up. They won't discuss settlement figures on the phone without it being put into writing first.

Thank you your for replies.

Lx

Gimpsdad

A lot depends on the spread of the debt, but as you have a negative DI it may be worth looking at a full and final IVA. The amount you have offered is more than enough, in fact you may be able to offer less. IVA's are far more powerful than informal offers.

Just a thought.

Gemini33

My advice to you is be patient, if your expenses and outgoings are more than your income offer them the smallest possible payment each month. I assure you in a few months they will get back to you with a reduced settlement figure you will be happy with.

Offering £1200 will make them wonder, go hide the money for good measure and pay small monthly payments for each of them, Im not a gambler no more but I would place a bet within 3-6 months they will offer you something decent.

All the best

paulmapp8306

The confusion is regards a F&F v a DMP I feel.

A creditor will not consider a F&F if you can afford the contracted payments. Once a debt has defaulted, or in the process (ie you cant afford the contracted payments) then further solutions may be presented.

offering a F&F at that point will be met without much negotiation. The feeling will be "if they can afford 1/2 the debt in full, they can afford the minimum payments".

Once you have negotiated a DMP, or reduced payments and the debt has defaulted on your credit file - THEN you may get further with F&F offers. Basically - you have comne into a lump sum which you can offer as F&F payment. if your income goes up toa llow you to save a luimp sum, the creditor will think (rightly) you should have been paying more/month towards your debt - so again negotiation wont get you that far.

The further alona DMP/agreed payment plan you are - the more liklely a F&F is to be accepted, and the lower the outstanding ammount that is likely to be accepted.

Very few - if any - creditors will now record a debt as fully settled with a F&F - its normallp partialy settled - though you should still get in writing that the remainder will not be chased int he future.

From you OP it appears you ran into difficulty only 6 months ago - yet somehow have £4200 is cash to settle the debts. The creditors will be thinking "how did they get this much together if they cant afford the min payments?"

I think - 75% of the current outstanding ammount - is VERY GOOD given the timing and ammounts involved. If you'd been on a DMP for 6, 8 or 10 years you may get joy with 20-30% of the outstanding debt. If you cant afford to settle - a DMP is the next step.

jlojgirl

Thank you so much everyone.

Basically my Dad gave us a lump sum of money, which has been outlined in the original letter to all debtors, but we obviously wanted to get the best deal we could.

So if i'm reading correctly, I should go back to them and offer to go on a DMP again, but at a very low repayment, and soon enough they will get to the point where my lump sum is a better option than the £2-£5 a month i'm going to be able to pay?

I'm the least patient person in the whole world, so this is going to be tough, but i'm willing to do it if it means being debt free by the end of this!!!

We owed roughly £27k out about 3 years ago, so having halved it, i'm really pleased. Once this debt has gone, we'll only have £1200 worth of overdrafts!!!

Thanks again!

paulmapp8306

OK - off them a pro rata F&F. disclose what you owe others and what you are offering each. tell them take the offer, or you have to stay on the DMP.

Make sure you tell them the funds are ONLY available if a F&F can be negotiated as your family are only prepared to gift the money on those terms. if no agreement is reached, the money wont be available and you will have to revert to a DMP estimated at taking years to repay.

that should focus their minds.

It takes TIME to negotiate.

Gimpsdad

You could do a lot worse than take some professional advice, rather than relying on all our best intentioned advice on here, mine included.

To re-iterate though, an IVA F&F will get you a far better deal than a DMP one and will be over very quickly, if accepted. That isn't a personal opinion, more a statement of fact.