Full and Final settlements

debtfreewannabe321

Has anyone successfully negotiated a F&F settlement with any of the following creditors please (and for what %): S@ntander (current account & their CC department), B@rclaycard, B@rclays (current account & loan dept), Capquest, Fairfax solicitors, Capital 0ne, V@nquis, and catalogues. We have received an inheritance but it is not enough to pay all the creditors the full amount so we are considering asking our creditors to settle with f&f's. We owe approx £8.5k and are getting approx £6k. Would be great to pay them all off and start our DF life a little earlier...all thoughts appreciated! And if anyone has any good templates that would also be appreciated

Tixy

Hi

Are you currently up to date with payments/ on normal payment terms, or are you in a DMP?

If you haven't defaulted on the debts then it is very unlikely they will agree to full & final settlements.

If you are on a DMP then this is a good factsheet and contains a template letter http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/england_wales/factsheet.php?page=24_full_and_final_settlement_offers
Although I would recommend amending the letter to include a date you offer is valid to (give them a couple of weeks or so).

debtfreewannabe321

We're in a dmp which we've been in since Jan 2011. Our DFD on that is currently march 2019! We've defaulted a few of the debts but most went onto the dmp fine and are still with the companies we owe the debt to if that makes sense. I thought i'd give it a try anyway. Nothing to lose really, just wondered if anyone else had been in a similar situation and done the same. Thanks Tixy

Tixy

Given the timescale of your DFD I would hope you'd have a reasonable chance of them agreeing to settle for the sort of figure you are looking at even though they are mostly with original creditors.

Worth a try.

Some people prefer to send a letter to each creditor one by one, and state that if they don't accept the f&f offer by x date that the money will be used to make an offer to another creditor.

debtfreewannabe321

Tixy wrote: »

If you are on a DMP then this is a good factsheet and contains a template letter http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/england_wales/factsheet.php?page=24_full_and_final_settlement_offers
Although I would recommend amending the letter to include a date you offer is valid to (give them a couple of weeks or so).

Thank you have bookmarked this once i know the sum we have to work with I will use this template looks good to me and will add in a date too!

Tixy wrote: »

Given the timescale of your DFD I would hope you'd have a reasonable chance of them agreeing to settle for the sort of figure you are looking at even though they are mostly with original creditors.

Worth a try.

Some people prefer to send a letter to each creditor one by one, and state that if they don't accept the f&f offer by x date that the money will be used to make an offer to another creditor.

I know that they have all been sent to the debt collection dept's of each company as this is where most of my phone calls to them are directed (when I occasionally call!) not sure if it makes a difference or not, but as you say & I think, it's worth a shot! Thanks again tixy x

muppets

From the list I have only had dealings with Capquest and that was for a capital one card.. I sent them a mail asking if they would accept an amount which was 70% of the total debt.. Which they accepted without any quibble at all.. In the past 3 months I have managed to clear 4 debts offering F+F settlements, all were asked if they would accept 70% of the debt, only one wrote back stating they would accept 80%.. which I accepted as had expected them to do this. I offered them all 70% expecting all of them to say 70% was too low and for a bit of room for them to up it. If all had said 80% no less I would have still been happy with that.

debtfreewannabe321

Thanks Muppet that's the sort of figure we were going to go in with but I will need to work the sums out. DH has suggested we split £5k between the debts so if they come back to us with a counter f&f offer we have wiggle room. Received the money today so am off to write the letters x

happy_bunny_2

If any cards catalogues or loans are pre April 2007 then worth a CCA request first. Without the original they can't get a CCJ and may settle for less, especially DCAs like Capquest.

harveybobbles

Dont mention to the creditors that you have inherited money.
nor how much!

Check your CRA - are all the debts still with the original creditor or have they been sold/assigned to some scumbag DCA?

If the latter, then chances are they sold them for a penny per pound.

After you have checked your CRA to see who ownes what debt, then start low... Offer them all 15% of the balance.

Tell them you have managed to round up some funds and would like to use these as F/F settlements etc. Offer is open for 28 days, after which time you may have to reduce your monthly payments to £10 per month.

Send letter recorded.