Making offer to DCA

AngryDog

Hi,

I am looking for some advice on how I can go about doing this please.

I currently have 3 debts that I am paying monthly to DCA's. These are;

£7,650.00
£12,998.00
£9,438.86

I have been offered some money by my parents so I am looking to make a Full and Final Settlement offer on at least one of these debts. They have offered a maximum of £2000, but are hoping that I do not need to use it all.

I have had 2 debts with DCA's before who accepted an offer from me, one was a debt of £1234 and the DCA accepted £400, and the other was £3513 and the DCA accepted £1400.

The debts defaulted 4 years ago, and while I am making monthly payments, it is going to take forever to clear them. I know making Partial Settlements can be frowned upon, but given how bad my credit rating is at the moment, I cannot see it making things worse, and in 2 years if the debts are "Paid" then at least I can start rebuilding my credit rating when the defaults drop off.

I was looking to make an offer to the DCA with the £7650. Bearing in mind that I have a figure of £2k max, and the debt has been going on for some time, what would the recommended first offer be?

Thanks.

FireWyrm

Its kind of like dickering at the market. Start with your lowest price (even a cheeky one) and see what kind of response you get. What is your income? How long is it going to take to pay off (worst case scenario) etc. Put this in writing to them and see what response comes back. Make it plain that they will be waiting a very long time for their money and they can take this offer now but you want a FULL AND FINAL at the end of it. DCA's have been known to take a partial settlement and then just sell on the remainder leaving you just as worse off.

AngryDog

Thanks, I'll start at £750 and work my way up. Thats 15 months worth of payments I am offering in one go...

AngryDog

Also, I recall sometime ago saying that you should never actually sign your name on any letters?

National_Debtline

Hello there,

We've a useful fact sheet that covers the full & final settlement process in detail, you can find it *here*.

I'm not sure what difference signing (or not) your name would have in the context of a full & final settlement.

Best wishes,

David @natdebtline

AngryDog

Thanks David, I'll have a read.

FireWyrm

National_Debtline wrote: »

I'm not sure what difference signing (or not) your name would have in the context of a full & final settlement.



David @natdebtline

It doesnt. I think AngryDog has confused the reasons. The reason you do not sign a letter with your actual physical signature is because at least one disreputable DCA has been caught out photoshopping it onto a 'reconstructed' credit agreement. A physical signature (as apposed to simply your name as text) has no relevance to making your letter legal or not in this case. As long as you are clear all the way through the correspondence that this is a FULL AND FINAL (those words exactly - minus the caps) settlement, then you shouldnt go far wrong.