advice needed for an old credit card passed onto credit security

JJB51

Hello all

About 18 months ago I found out my new partner had an old credit card debt that had defaulted from a few years before we met.

Anyway we contacted the dca wanting to sort it out. I was hoping to make a one off gesture payment of a few hundred otherwise we offered them £5 a week, which they accepted!

Credit card was at about £450 when it defaulted. All the "fees" took the total up to around £1100.

After paying off all misc bills eg a sofa payment etc we are only left this which we would like to end. We have paid around £380 so far.

Looking for advice on how to contact them about a final settlement, how much to offer and how to get them to agree to take it and prove they accept it as case closed.

We have thought about saying she is being made redundant so wont be able to pay or she is leaving the country as she is not from the uk. Maybe even saying cab suggested this much etc

Any thoughts or advice would be great. We would rather be done with it but feel paying over double the original debt is a bit much!

Thank you

National_Debtline

Hi there

As the debt is now in the hands of a debt collection agency I'd say there is every chance of getting them to accept a one-off settlement figure. After all, they may only have paid a fraction of the debt's full value to buy it from the original lender.

The key is convincing them that as the proverb goes, "a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush". In other words, accepting a lump sum and closing the file now is a safer bet for them than holding out indefinitely for your weekly £5.

They may well want a financial statement before they'll accept. Did you send one when they previously accepted your £5/week?

It's worth having a read of our guide to the dos and don'ts:

https://www.nationaldebtline.org/EW/factsheets/Pages/24%20EW%20Full%20and%20final%20settlement%20offers/Default.aspx

Regards

Dennis @NDL

sourcrates

Hi,
How old is this debt ?, has the DCA sent you proof of this debt, have you asked them to prove you owe it ? if its from a few years back they may not be able to supply correct paperwork, worth sending a "provit" letter to them maybe.

JJB51

Hello thank you for the replies! The debt is about 4 years ols now. They have proof of the debt which I saw previously when negotiating.

Was hoping when we offered a the first time they would accept but they caught us off guard being happy with the £5 per week! That is why I was thinking about trying to word it like we wouldn't be able to afford carrying on paying.

They never asked for any statement previously.

Thank you