Should I accept or not?

Penny2myName

Ok yesterday I sent my stage four letter off, today I received a letter from Halifax offering me £294 in full and final settlement. I was requesting £378 in changes plus £78.15 in interest (£456.15) in other words I am being offered 2/3rds of what was requested. Need to know what to do, as these letters have crossed in the post, and since i am taking son away at end of april this money would be a windfall i have to admit. don't know whether to see this out to the end in the hope of receiving full comp, or taking what is being offered so my son can at least have a good holiday.

Bluebirds1975

It is all about personal circumstances. If you are happy with the offer then take it.

If you hang on you will probably get the lot but this could include court costs if it goes that far.

Penny2myName

its the border line amount that i would accept.

Bluebirds1975

You can try a couple of things

Call them and try a negotiate a higher figure or move on to the next step of the process

either way it has to be a decision you are happy with

Penny2myName

Thats the thing, I am no good on the phone. If it was full charges without interest they were offering, would proberbly accept.

Bluebirds1975

The way to look at it is that you have nothing to lose by phoning them and trying to get a higher figure. The worst that can happen is that you come off the phone with the same figure they offered.

Many people have received a higher offer as the banks know if you take them to court you should get the full amount plus interest at 8% plus court costs.

Jarvisma

It's a completely personal decision. To be honest they've offered a pretty good portion and like martin said try not to think about it as losing roughly £150, but gaining nearly £300 that you wouldn't otherwise have had.

If you're thinking of timescales, if you hold out for the full amount you probably won;t see it for another couple of months at least.

Penny2myName

Hi Javisma, I know what you mean. I have actually been to try and seek advice from my mum, as I am not a money grabbing person, and all i see at the moment with the offer they have made is my son having a good time when I take him away at end of month. I am truly split over this, as I could use the other £150 to pay my rent arrears off. Think I will give myself the weekend to think about it, (after all i have 14 days).
Work my actual income out for april, see how tight a scrape this short holiday is going to be (still have £100 to pay for board).

Beate

You have no right of getting the interest back before you file a court claim, it is only ever used as a bargaining tool. So you are "only" losing £84 which is about a 22% reduction on the claim for bank charges, which is a bit more than 1/5. I would take it.

ukmonkey

Beate wrote: »

I would take it.

So, if I mugged you of your purse/wallet containing 50 quid, and then offered 2 minutes later to give it you back, and if said "you can have 30 back now, or if you wait 5 minutes you can have the full 50 back" you're telling me that you'd take the 30?

Come on, get real!

To the OP, this is YOUR money, you ARE entitled to it, and you WILL get the FULL amount back. It isn't a question of "HOPING" to get it all back, it's a question of waiting until you DO get the full amount back.

I'd URGE you to accept it, but only as part settlement and tell them that you will still persue them for the rest.

This should allow you the best of both worlds (i.e holiday or holding out for full amount and paying off your rent arrears).

Penny2myName

ukmonkey its not a case of getting real, its a case of putting my son's enjoyment and happiness first. I have decided to wait and see what is happening with someone else who has accepted a reduced payment as full and settlement from Halifax.