MBNA F&F settlement??

CT1111

Hi guys. Will try to keep this breif. Would REALLY appreciate any help.

Basically i owed £30k on credit cards. A change in circumstance meant i couldnt pay. I offered £16k to the 3 creditors for F&F with all the usual rules.

1) Natwest said they don't negotiate and have now threatened CCJ
2) Barclaycard have agreed a F&F but not confirmed my request about not being chased for remaining balance in the future
3) MBNA (Virgin) have declined an offer of F&F but have said they will accept it as Partial Settlement.

I have read about Partial settlements on here but their letter looks pretty water tight? They confirm:

a) We are unable to accept the offer as F&F as it's less than the full amount
b) We can only register factual information with agencies
c) If we don't receive payment by Sep30th then a default will be registered
d) Once payment is received we confirm the following:
1) No default will be reported
2) Accoutn will show as partially settled
3) Balance will show as £0.00
4) No further action to enforce or persue the remaining balance will be taken by MBNA or any 3rd party and you will be released from liability

That last bit is the bit that seems pretty water tight>? should i just pay it then?

[Deleted User]

Yes. It's the final bit rather than the full bit which is important.

fermi

"Full and final" is and always was a poor way of describing what is in reality a partial settlement. The operative word in that being settlement. A settlement is just that, a settlement. Prefacing it with partial just states the fact that less that the full amount was accepted in settlement. It is still a settlement of your liability.

Letter looks OK to me. They are allowed to mark it as a partial settlement, and no default is a bonus as often they will insist on registering one.

However, when you are looking at stumping up that much cash then I would take some independent advice on the offer/wording from somewhere other than an internet forum.

National Debtline are usually good with these matters, so personally for your own peace of mind I would run the offer past one of their advisors. Freephone 0808 808 4000.

DevCoder

Although a "partial" settlement is often viewed as a bad marker by lenders compared to a satisfied (ie full settlement).

Whilst this doesn't have any affect on your liability (both partial and full with the wording above null any liability you have towards the debt), your credit file will be less appealing to lenders (although at this point it would sounds like your credit file is not very good anyway).

InsideInsurance

fermi wrote: »

"Full and final" is and always was a poor way of describing what is in reality a partial settlement.

It is a great way to describe it if you can get away with it.

I've seen people have a F&F settlement offer accepted, then a partial settlement loaded onto their CRA file and a complaint to the bank result in it being changed to a fully satisfied.

A partial and final settlement is almost the same for the practical purposes with the one exception being for future applications for credit but then you have probably learned your lesson on large amounts of unsecured credit now anyway.

As to the barclarycard, if they have accepted it as F&F there is no need to comment on the future, its in the term of "final"

Unless you are bothered about your CRA file then its really only necessary to address these things as a final settlement and let the bank decide if they treat it as full or partial

CT1111

Thank you so much for your fast responses.

Yes at this point i'm not too bothered about my credit files.

Important to me is
1) to have no defaults registered
2) to have no CCJ
3) to have no one chase me for future payments.

So based on that you reckon it's ok to accept MBNA partial as they state in their letter they wont chase me and to accept Barx bc it states full and final but does not confirm that i wont be chased?

Thanks again all.. life savers.

fermi

I would say teh MBNA one is ok, but call National Debtline to get the opinion of a professional debt advisor to be on the safe side. Freephone 0808 808 4000. http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/

With BC personally I would like to see a a clear statement that your liability for any remainder will end, and that you will not be chased and it will not be sold on. A "settlement" should imply that anyway, but I would prefer to have it explicitly set out if me.

InsideInsurance

fermi wrote: »

With BC personally I would like to see a a clear statement that your liability for any remainder will end, and that you will not be chased and it will not be sold on. A "settlement" should imply that anyway, but I would prefer to have it explicitly set out if me.

For !!! covering it would be good if they did but ultimately the FOS would uphold any complaint if you have explicitly offered something as a full and final settlement and they have stated they've accepted the offer. You just need to retain a copy of your letter/ email etc to verify what your offer was.

CT1111

That's what I thought. My letters to them made it clear and they have confirmed on that basis i guess.

Ok will pay them.

Just need to work on natwest.

Thanks so much again all - what a great help you all are

InsideInsurance

CT1111 wrote: »

Just need to work on natwest

Is your account in default with them yet or are you still making payments/ keeping in limits?

I've not had experience on their credit card side but do have experience on their loans/ overdrafts and there they certainly do accept offers but only once the accounts in default and it has been passed from Recoveries to the next tier of department (whos name escapes me)

CT1111

Yes they have passed it to Triton. The letter i have saying about taking me to court is them. I have spoken to them on the phone but in the letter they say I have not made contact and not made payment since Feb 2013.

So should i call them, get their address and re-direct the offer for F&F to them instead?