F & F Rejections - Next Step???

MacTryingToSortItOut

Hi All,

I have been reading these forums for ages now and have learned so much, so thanx to everyone for sharing their experiences and knowledge/advice.

I have finally secured a chunk of money and want to pay off as much as i can since we have all kinds of defaults and one CCJ (...which includes a charge against the house). (Currently have debts of around £46k not including the mortgage)

Based on the information on this site, I wrote to my creditors in the middle of June, but very few have bothered to reply and those that have have rejected my initial offer (which obviously I expected).

Only one has come back with a counter offer requesting around 64% of the original debt (which I thought ws a good offer), however, this is more than I can afford on the pro rata basis described elsewhere.

I am not sure what to do next...especially with those that haven't even responded! If I write to them again and increase my offer, will they just stay quiet expecting me to keep increasing my offer?

Any advice would be much appreciated, since i've made a positive start to try and sort our finances out I don't want to lose momentum now

This was the letter I sent:

WITHOUT PREJUDICE

Dear Sir/Madam

Re: xxxxxxx Account No/Reference No: xxxxxxxxx

I write with reference to the money which you are claiming on the above account.

I can confirm that I am unable to offer to pay the money which you claim I owe in full.

My Income/Outgoings etc here

However, I believe I can raise £553and I want to offer this as an ex-gratia payment in full and final settlement of the account, including any subsequent third part claim. This is not an acceptance of any liability for the amount claimed. I appreciate that this amount is considerably less than the amount you are claiming, but due to my gradually worsening financial circumstances I believe it is the absolute best I can manage, and I would sincerely like to bring this matter to a close.

Please see our Pro Rata Offers to our creditors below.

A Table of Creditors with Amounts Owed and Our Offers Here

1. This offer is made on the clear understanding that, if accepted, neither you nor any associate company will take any other action to enforce or pursue this or any part of this debt in any way whatsoever and that I will be released from any liability.

2. I also request that, if accepted, you will mark any entry on any and all credit reference agency files relating to the above account as "satisfied in full”. If the entry is to be marked as “partially settled” (or any equivalent variation of), then I must regretfully withdraw this offer.

Both the above conditions must be confirmed clearly and concisely in writing by you to me at the above address before any payment will be sent. If you are unable to agree to either of the above points, then I must regretfully withdraw this offer.

Payment can be made within 28 Days of receiving your written agreement of this offer and preferred method of payment; however, I must respectfully request that you respond within 10 days with a decision in order that, if unacceptable, I can reallocate these funds to other creditors; I will of course then attempt to continue to pay the amount of £12.42 pcm as per our current agreement.

I look forward to receiving your reply.


Yours faithfully

MacTryingToSortItOut

Forgot to mention...

We are still paying our agreed monthly "token" payments, should we stop these to encourage a response?

Thanx

MacTryingToSortItOut

Incase anyone would like the formular I used...

Formula

LUMP SUM AVAILABLE X EACH DEBT
÷THE TOTAL AMOUNT YOU OWE TO YOUR CREDITORS
= OFFER TO THE CREDITOR

Example

You may have £10,000 owing to 4 creditors. You can raise a lump sum of £4,000.
You owe:

£2,300 to mastercard
£ 1,200 to a catalogue company
£ 4,500 to a loan company
£ 2,000 to the bank.

Use the formula:-

£4,000 (lump sum available) x £2,300 (debt to mastercard)
÷£10,000 (the total amount you owe to creditors)
= £920 (offer to mastercard)

Your offer to mastercard is £920. You then do the same calculation for each creditor, using each individual debt in the calculation.

This information was taken from: http://http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/scotland/factsheet.php?page=19_full_and_final_settlement_offers#5

Who have loads of other useful information including template letters.

MacTryingToSortItOut

Statement Of Income & Expenditure

Family/Household Income
Fulltime Salary (****** *************) £1,034.00
Fulltime Salary (****** *************) £940.00
Family Tax Credit £0.00
Family Allowance £69.80

Priority Debts
Mortgage (Abbey) £533.03
Secured Loan (First Plus) £513.83
Building & Contents Insurance £31.00
Life Policy £40.92
Gas £50.00
Electric £40.00
Water Rates £54.00
Council Tax £141.00
Food £360.00

Secondary (to facilitate work)
Car Insurance £21.24
Car Insurance £44.63
Car Tax (2 cars) £25.00
Petrol (2 cars) £300.00

Landline Telephone £25.00
TV Licence £11.37

Primary Creditors
Direct Line £12.42
HFC Bank £25.38
Debenhams £5.00
KwikFit £5.42
Halifax Visa £10.00
Abbey OD £10.00
Argos £5.00
NatWest CC £10.00
Egg PLC £11.33
Capital One £5.42
Egg Loan £11.33
Divorce £5.00
Final Charge Order £5.00
Halifax CurrAcc £5.00

Exp: £2,317.32 Inc: £2,043.80

Balance pcm -£273.52

*Please Note: ALL the details listed above are correct as of June 2007

MacTryingToSortItOut

Sorry to bump this, but I reeaally could do with some advice so I can send the next lot of letters out on Monday. Don't want to lose my inspiration to sorting out my debt.

Wish I could pay it all off but I cant afford it. Lost count of all the defaults now. It's a long story on how we ended up here, but started with losing my well paid job and then followed with the failure of the small business we then set up.

We've struggled with this for almost 5 years now and just want to get out from under this cloud.
Feels like we're drowning and the kids suffer from our moods...no matter how hard we try to protect them from it all.

:question: How best do I approach the creditors that haven't responded at all?

:question: Do we stop the current 'token' payments to encourage contact?

:question: Baring in mind we will be lucky to pay a little over 50% per debt, did I unwittingly insult them by offering just 17% in my first letter?

:question: What should I offer next, I think we can just about scrape 54% per debt?

Please advise or at least tell us your experiences so we can try to judge our next move :embarasse

Valley's_girl

Hi Mac
Sorry I don't have much advice for you, but I wouldn't stop the token payments, sometimes the creditors do take their time to reply. Have your debts been passed on to the Dca's
You could always go the Cab and get some advice from them.
Good luck
Ally xx

MacTryingToSortItOut

Hi Ally, thanx for your reply, was begining to feel a little invisible!

Very few debts are still with the originator, almost all are now with the DCAs.

We did try using CCCS for a while, but they actually made things worse.
They paid all debtors on a so called pro-rata, but they obviously used a different method of calculating than everyone else since they were paying some debts at 5 or 6 times the amounts of other larger debts.
They also changed the payment amounts almost monthly, so everytime an amount was agreed they broke the agreement. (Which included agreements we had set up previously...they slashed some and quadrupled others).

They also regulary made the payment weeks late which obviously upset our creditors.

After several downright rude conversations were we were told they were under no obligation to help us, we parted company...and then started getting stroppy letters from them asking for the monthly payments!

Since then, we no longer have any trust in such services and have done Ok in renegotiating our payments, but now we have come in to a little money we would really like to close the whole mess and slowly start to rebuild our lives.

Thanx for the advice on the 'token' payments, unless anyone else has valid reasons for not following your advice thats exactky what we'll do.

Thanx again

Mac

MacTryingToSortItOut

Morning all, another night night with little sleep

Off to work now to try and come up with some letters for the creditors.

Any ideas before I set off?

Belfastbelle

I hope you get this sorted- heart goes out to ya.
I think Valley's girl is right-continue to make the payments.
What seems like the most critical important thing to us- is just business (work) to them.

They will eventually reply.
Ring them and ask if they got the letter- Ive found speaking to someone really can make a difference.

MacTryingToSortItOut

Thanks for your support Belfastbelle.

Guess I have to just keep plugging away until we get somewhere.

I have written a new letter to them all, explaining that i've begged a little more money from family and so have increased their offers to around 45% of the amount claimed.

Just have to hope thats enough to get them talking to me...cos I really don't think I can raise much more.

Will let you know how we get on...if we get on.

Gotta keep smiling

CLAPTON

I would suggest you hold off writing again ... wait for at least 6-8 weeks and see what happens... you have no specific reason to rush.