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StepChange_James

Paddocksguest wrote: »

Hello,
This is my first time posting, so I apologise if I haven't correctly understood where to ask for your advise please.

I received a letter from RMA Resolve offering me a reduced settlement on a large debt which I have been paying regularly and without missing any payments. The settlement offer said that if I could pay £0.00 then the debt would be cleared and the Credit reference agencies notified that it had been settled.

I immediately telephoned them to accept the offer as per the instruction in the letter and had till the 16th July 2013 to do so. During this call, they said that the letter had been sent in error due to a technical IT fault and that they were not really offering this. I wrote to them explaining that as they were acting on behalf of their client, they had a duty of care to ensure that any correspondence they sent should be accurate and therefore they should honour their offer.

I have now received a further letter saying that it had incorrect information and that they were now offering 30% off the balance not 100%.

Does anyone know if I have any rights to hold them to their original letter and if it would be worth fighting for please?

Thank you so much for any replies or advice you can offer please.
Cheers,

Hello,

Thanks for posting. I have to admit that I've not come across this before so I'm not sure I can give you much advice. It's probably worth copy and pasting your post onto the CAB board as they specialise more in debt disputes: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=211.

There are two potential ways this could be resolved. Firstly you could make a written complaint to RMA Resolve and then refer the complaint to the Financial Ombudsman to investigate if RMA Resovle still won't write the debt off.

Secondly, if you were taken to court over the debt you could defend yourself against the claim and submit the letter as evidence.

Whether a judge or the Financial Ombudsman would see the letter as proof you don't have to pay the debt off is something I've no idea on I'm afraid (they might be able to tell you on the CAB board though).

My personal feeling is that if it was a genuine error (which it sounds like) then it'll probably be very hard to make them abide by it. However, that's not based on any legal knowledge as I'm not an expert on contract law or those types of things.

An offer to write the debt off for 30p in the pound isn't bad (though not as good as paying nothing!) but obviously this is only useful if you've got a lump sum available.

I'm sorry I couldn't give you a firm answer but hopefully the CAB board will be able to help.

Kind regards

James

eonskispeed

StepChange_Rachel wrote: »

Hi there

Once you've settled on the debt, the creditor will log this against the debt in question as 'partially settled'.

Hope this helps

Rachel

I understand this to be the case. What I am unsure of is whether this would update the old entry on my credit file or having been partially settled whether it'd have an adverse effect on my rating and show as most recent?

Smacca78

Dear James, Mat or Rachel,

I have been working my overall debt down recently due to a better change in circumstances.

However I still have a debt with MBNA Credit Card of around £6450. They have recently sent me a letter stating that they have raised a default with credit reference agencies for non payment (although until April I had paid the minimum - £174) and they are also threatening to pass the debt potentially onto a DCA.

Having looked through your forum (which is very helpful) I'm a little confused of how to respond to them please can someone guide me through what should be done as I do not want to just ignore the letter.

History
The account was originally with Egg and was as little as £1200. I then completed a balance transfer to Virgin CC (MBNA) where they increased my credit limit to £5400 without notication. Now due to non-payment I owe £6450. I'm willing to pay this off in the future but I'm unable to do this just yet but I will be willing to continue paying an agreed fee for now, it would also help if they freezed the interest on this account to give me a chance.

Please help

Rachelclaire

I may be posting in the wrong place, if so I apologize! I am trying to find out if any banks would consider offering a credit card with a limit high enough to cover 25K balance transfer from another card. I am getting lost trying to figure out the 'deals' from online comparisons and I don't want to adversely affect our credit score by completing applications only to find the credit limit offered is too small to clear the full amount of out other (2) cards. Any ideas? Thanks!

William50

Hi - when i lost 2 big clients last year I got into arrears with HMRC corporation tax and now owe £20,000. My accountant negotiated instalments of £5,000 starting on Monday. I've secured 3 jobs to pay for this but cash flow is a problem for the first instalment. For 1 September instalment it will be ok.

If I default they will cancel the plan but f I pay - from raiding credit cards etc - I can't cover my rent etc. it's completely my fault that I didn't manage things better but I don't know what to do.

Thanks

StepChange_James

eonskispeed wrote: »

I understand this to be the case. What I am unsure of is whether this would update the old entry on my credit file or having been partially settled whether it'd have an adverse effect on my rating and show as most recent?

Hello again,

I think this page on Experian's website should answer your question: http://www.experian.co.uk/consumer/questions/askjames261.html.

My understanding is that a flag is added to the existing record to note that a partial settlement has been made. It sounds like this information isn't always used when applying for credit though, so it may not have an adverse affect on your rating.

Kind regards

James

StepChange_James

Smacca78 wrote: »

Dear James, Mat or Rachel,

I have been working my overall debt down recently due to a better change in circumstances.

However I still have a debt with MBNA Credit Card of around £6450. They have recently sent me a letter stating that they have raised a default with credit reference agencies for non payment (although until April I had paid the minimum - £174) and they are also threatening to pass the debt potentially onto a DCA.

Having looked through your forum (which is very helpful) I'm a little confused of how to respond to them please can someone guide me through what should be done as I do not want to just ignore the letter.

History
The account was originally with Egg and was as little as £1200. I then completed a balance transfer to Virgin CC (MBNA) where they increased my credit limit to £5400 without notication. Now due to non-payment I owe £6450. I'm willing to pay this off in the future but I'm unable to do this just yet but I will be willing to continue paying an agreed fee for now, it would also help if they freezed the interest on this account to give me a chance.

Please help

Hi Smacca,

There's still time to try to agree an affordable installment with MBNA. If you've not had any debt advice yet I'd recommend using our online advice tool, Debt Remedy - http://www.stepchange.org/msehelp.

It will help you plan out a budget to see what you can afford to offer your debts and recommend a strategy to deal with the debts. Also, you'll be a client of ours so we'll be able to provide you with ongoing support to deal with your debts.

If offering lower payments is the best route then it doesn't mean that MBNA will accept your offer and stop interest and charges. On the other hand, if you're offering them a reasonable amount then it's fine to pay them it even if they say they want more.

There's a chance they could pass your debt to a debt collector but if that happens you can follow the same process of offering lower payments to the DCA and our clients often tell us that they've found the debt collectors easier to negotiate with.

All the best.

James

StepChange_James

Rachelclaire wrote: »

I may be posting in the wrong place, if so I apologize! I am trying to find out if any banks would consider offering a credit card with a limit high enough to cover 25K balance transfer from another card. I am getting lost trying to figure out the 'deals' from online comparisons and I don't want to adversely affect our credit score by completing applications only to find the credit limit offered is too small to clear the full amount of out other (2) cards. Any ideas? Thanks!

Hello!

No need to apologise, we're always happy to hear from people and to try and help.

As it happens, we're probably not the best people to talk about taking out new credit, as we tend to specialise giving advice to people trying to get out of the debt they've already got.

You can find some useful info about balance transfers here: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/credit-cards/balance-transfer-credit-cards and there's also a board in the forum for credit cards too.

Before you go though, it might be worth considering getting some debt advice before applying for new cards.

I don't know enough about your situation to be sure, but if you've got credit card debt that you're struggling with it might be that you could use our help.

Our online advice tool, Debt Remedy - http://www.stepchange.org/msehelp - can help you plan out an income and expenditure budget and tell you if your debts are manageable. If they aren't then it'll tell you about the possible debt solutions that could help.

I might be barking up the wrong tree completely, but it takes 20 minutes and it's completely free, so it might be worth trying.

Kind regards

James

StepChange_James

William50 wrote: »

Hi - when i lost 2 big clients last year I got into arrears with HMRC corporation tax and now owe £20,000. My accountant negotiated instalments of £5,000 starting on Monday. I've secured 3 jobs to pay for this but cash flow is a problem for the first instalment. For 1 September instalment it will be ok.

If I default they will cancel the plan but f I pay - from raiding credit cards etc - I can't cover my rent etc. it's completely my fault that I didn't manage things better but I don't know what to do.

Thanks

Hi William,

Tax Aid are probably the best people to speak to about tax related problems. Here's their contact details: http://taxaid.org.uk/pages/taxaid-helpline.

If they recommend a strategy that leaves you sorting out the tax but struggling with other costs (other debts and household bills) then we can give you advice on sorting those out. Our contact details are in my signature below.

I'd suggest getting advice about the tax side of things from Tax Aid first though.

Cheers

James

ted1980

Hi there,

two years ago I emigrated to NZ with the full intention of servicing my LTSB Personal loan. About six months ago I lost my initial jobn and was unable to meet my loan repayments.

This week I received a letter from Apex Collections, saying that the debt had been passed to them from LTSB.

I have up until now not contacted the bank re my situation, but now have employment, and could realistically send payments of say 50 pounds per month. My debt stands at around 12k, given all the charges that have been imposed by the bank.

So what are my options, would Apex chase me in NZ for the debt, if I was to declare myself bankrupt how would it effect me over here, would Apex accept a much reduced payment terms, or would they compromise on a lesser settlement figure?

Any help, advice, guidance much appreciated.