Full and Final Settlement - desperate

LittleBabyNothing88

Hi All,

OK, my situation is this. I have recently become aware that my GF has debts of (according to her credit file) £11,000 across several different creditors (overdraft, credit cards and store cards) These were all driven up in approx 2009, when she lost her job, and things were going wrong in her personal life.

She rents and has no real assets, and has no money left after paying the priority bills to pay other debts off.

She has not made a payment on any debt since then, and defaulted over and over since then. Nobody has chased her, aside from last year when someone working on behalf of iQor turned up at the door and she paid him £20 towards the debt, and he never showed back up.

I have a sum of money I can lend her to pay off at least some of the debt (perhaps half of it), and would like to make what I have read are "full and final settlement" offers to her creditors.

My question is, is she likely to succeed? Are there any pitfalls?

I am trying to help her, and we will be contacting the National Debt Line and Step Change, but I just can't see the woods for the trees at the moment.

Thanks in advance

Tixy

Given the length of time since payments, and given her financial circumstances then yes it is quite likely they will agree to full & final settlements. And 50% offers don't seem unrealistic (don't offer the 50% to start with, start by offering much lower).

Potential pitfall - in making an offer she is acknowledging the debt - which could make it more likely they could take court action, and would reset the dates the debts may become statute barred.

Potential pitfall for you - you say she cannot afford debt repayments - how will she afford to repay the money you are going to lend her?

If she has not assets and owes less than £15k then has she talked to one of the debt advice charities about whether a DRO may be an option for her?

Alternatively - are you aware of the limitation act and statute barred debts? If these were run up/last paid in 2009 (aside from the one with the £20payment) then they would likely become statute barred next year - if they don't take court action against her. Another option for her, as she cannot afford repayments may be to wait to see if any take court action before the debts become statute barred.

LittleBabyNothing88

Thanks for the advice.

I'm not too worried about her paying me back - we are about to move in together, as I am buying a house (and she will not be on any bills), it will be more of a gift than anything.

I would rather address these debts than rely on them go statute barred. I think it's less messy and at least she is doing something to sorting out the situation.

-taff

what would she rather do?

LittleBabyNothing88

She wants to do this too, wholeheartedly.

National_Debtline

Hi LBN88

If as you say your girlfriend is eager and willing to try the route of full & final settlement offers, she needs to make it clear to creditors that the cash being proposed is on offer from a third party. You should hold on to the cash yourself and make any agreed settlement payment directly, rather than transferring the funds into her account first.

A more detailed run-down of the dos and don'ts when making these offers can be found here. (Or here if you live in Scotland).

Regards

Dennis
@natdebtline

fatbelly

LittleBabyNothing88 wrote: »

Hi All,

OK, my situation is this. I have recently become aware that my GF has debts of (according to her credit file) £11,000 across several different creditors (overdraft, credit cards and store cards) These were all driven up in approx 2009, when she lost her job, and things were going wrong in her personal life.

She rents and has no real assets, and has no money left after paying the priority bills to pay other debts off.

Sounds ideal for a Debt Relief Order then.

You could offer to pay the £90

LittleBabyNothing88

Thanks for all the help.

We phoned NDL yesterday, and we have a plan of action.

Thanks everybody