debt advice requested

Mark148

My wife took out a loan with Lloyd's before we were married and his been unemployed and unable to work or claim benefits for the last 6 years. I gave her the money to make monthly payments in full up to December 2010 when a reduced payment arrangement was made with Lloyd's.

These payments were being made then Lloyd's defaulted the account in June 2011 and it was passed to Westcott. Since June 2011 my wife has been making monthly payments of £75 to Westcott.

The original balance outstanding was 11k in December 2010 and interest has been frozen since then. I maybe in a position to offer Westcott 3k as a settlement in a few weeks and would really appreciate some advice.

My wife and I are not financially linked and she has no real assets in her name; I have helped as much as I can but would just like to remove this 'factor' soonest.

Any advice is appreciated as I am not conversant with debt management practice's, thanks in advance.

sourcrates

Firstly you need to find out the outstanding balance with wescott, you really need to know this first before making any offers of full and final settlement, do EVERYTHING in writing so you have a paper trail, never ever phone for this info as its easily deniable, also do wescott own the debt or has it just been assigned to them ?

[Deleted User]

If they do accept a reduced offer for a F&F, make sure you get it IN WRITING, that they won't pursue the rest of the debt, nor sell it on.

Mark148

My wife gets a letter from Westcotts every 6 months so I believe the debt is now owned by them.

When writing the letter do you recommend we follow a template or just politely ask them to confirm;

A. They own the debt.
B. The outstanding balance.
C. Final settlement figure.

Thanks for your responses.

[Deleted User]

Also.

D. They won't pursue the rest of the debt, nor sell it on.

longtermplanner

Whether the debt is owned by Westcott or they are just acting as debt collectors for lloyds isn't relevant as in either case your letter needs to be to addressed to them.

Doing some quick arithmetic suggests that there is about 8k still owing. A 3k F&F on that may well be successful as she is currently only repaying £900 a year.

Your letter should make it clear that your wife is unable to work and enclose some evidence about this.It should also state that she has no savings, investments, property or a car (assuming that that is all true!) If you want to play hardball, you should say that you have been making payments for her, but if this F&F offer is not accepted, you intend to cease payments.

sourcrates

longtermplanner wrote: »

Whether the debt is owned by Westcott or they are just acting as debt collectors for lloyds isn't relevant as in either case your letter needs to be to addressed to them.QUOTE]


Well actually its very relevant, if the debt has only been assigned to wescott, they will have to refer to original lender in order to accept a lower full and final offer, and we all know original creditors don't easily budge on this, were as if wescott have bought the debt outright for peanuts then they will be much more amenable to a lower offer.

Tixy

Template letter and useful information here - https://www.nationaldebtline.org/EW/factsheets/Pages/24%20EW%20Full%20and%20final%20settlement%20offers/Default.aspx