Looking to offer F&F offers to creditors - does anyone have any advice?

fastnet

Hello all,

We are currently in the process of selling our house and plan to use the equity from the sale to settle our debts (we will be moving into rented). I have read elsewhere on the forums that it is possible to offer creditors less than the full amount in order to acheive an immediate settlement.

As most of our debts are old (average 6 years old) I am hopeful this will be an option for us and something that will appeal to our creditors as we have been in a DMP for about 6-7 years paying a small amount.

Really keen to hear any advice from anyone who has been through this process; How long did it take? How sucessful where you? On average what settlement did you acheive, half/ a third? etc.

Lastly, our mortgage is with NRAM (was Northern Rock) and we had a Together mortgage. As such we have a secured and unsecured element to the loan. The house sale will automatically pay off the secured loan. However, the unsecured loan is currently part of the DMP. Has anybody been able to settle the unsecured part for less than the full amount?

Sorry for lenghty post and lots of questions.

Thanks
Fastnet

National_Debtline

Hello there,

I've helped hundreds of callers over the years with their full and final settlement offers. The most important piece of advice I can give you is to negotiate in writing. It is vital that you get written clarification from a creditor that they will accept your offer, and that they will not pass or sell the remainder of the debt elsewhere, before you make the payment.

Some other important tips:

1. Start low - creditors will often negotiate you up
2. Consider seeking information about the paperwork - This is especially useful for older Consumer Credit Act regulated debts (pre-April '07) as if a credit agreement is missing altogether, is missing an important term or missing your signature, it may make the debt legally unenforceable. If a creditor knows that they cannot easily obtain a legal remedy to recover the money, they may be more receptive to a very low settlement amount instead. If you need further help with this please ask - You're more than welcome to drop us a line via our web chat facility.
3. Stick to your guns - It can be a cat and mouse game sometimes.
4. Be patient - You want to ensure you're getting the lowest settlement possible.
5. If a debt collection agency has purchased the debt they may accept a very low amount - Often they buy debts for small percentages to start with, as such a low settlement from you could still turn them a profit.

Here's our full & final settlement fact sheet, it's worth spending some time digesting it (the sample letter is great too!).

Very best wishes - and good luck!

David @ National Debtline.

fastnet

National_Debtline wrote: »

Hello there,

I've helped hundreds of callers over the years with their full and final settlement offers. The most important piece of advice I can give you is to negotiate in writing. It is vital that you get written clarification from a creditor that they will accept your offer, and that they will not pass or sell the remainder of the debt elsewhere, before you make the payment.

Some other important tips:

1. Start low - creditors will often negotiate you up
2. Consider seeking information about the paperwork - This is especially useful for older Consumer Credit Act regulated debts (pre-April '07) as if a credit agreement is missing altogether, is missing an important term or missing your signature, it may make the debt legally unenforceable. If a creditor knows that they cannot easily obtain a legal remedy to recover the money, they may be more receptive to a very low settlement amount instead. If you need further help with this please ask - You're more than welcome to drop us a line via our web chat facility.
3. Stick to your guns - It can be a cat and mouse game sometimes.
4. Be patient - You want to ensure you're getting the lowest settlement possible.
5. If a debt collection agency has purchased the debt they may accept a very low amount - Often they buy debts for small percentages to start with, as such a low settlement from you could still turn them a profit.

Here's our full & final settlement fact sheet, it's worth spending some time digesting it (the sample letter is great too!).

Very best wishes - and good luck!

David @ National Debtline.

Thanks very much David - that is great advice and exactly what I was looking for. Pretty much all of our debts ar with credit agencies and most have been sold on multiple times.

Again as most of our debts are pre- April 07 I will drop you a line on the web chat as I would like to understand this a bit more.

Thanks again for the quick and helpful reponse.

Fastnet.

National_Debtline

You're welcome

David.