Settlement offer from DCA

sh4un

Hi All,
I have a Credit Card that I ran up to £15,000. I was entered into a payment plan of £110 a couple of years ago. This has now been sold to a DCA.
Today I have received a letter with a settlement offer of £9440 (25% reduction of the outstanding amount) with a statement saying by paying a one off full and final settlement it will be registered as partially satisfied with the CRA.

I have just phoned them and negotiated it down to £9000. I am in a position where I am able to pay this amount,They are phoning me tomorrow to collect payment...

Should I ask for this in writing before payment, is there anything I need to also ask for?

I know there are a lot of threads already, but Im not the brightest person and need things spelling out in simplistic term.

I thank you for any assistance.
I will be clear of any debt when I settle this little monster...

Regards
Shaun

Tixy

Yes definitely you want it in writing from them that the new figure you have negotiated will be in full & final settlement of the debt before you make a payment.

And, stating the obvious, you need to keep that letter along with proof you made the payment in case anyone tries to chase you further (either soon or even a few years in to the future).

Can you afford the settlement? once they have made a settlement offer once then they'll pretty much always accept them in the future. You could even try writing to them with your own offer for an even lower figure (though obviously that would take a bit longer).

Whiner

If they've offered 25% off, I'd be waiting a further year or so and waiting until they offer 75% off. It happens.

A partially satisfied CCJ is as bad anything that can be put on your credit file, and will certainly prevent you getting (much) credit until it drops off. I don't think I'd be paying it personally, as I don't see the point. There we go, thats just me.

sourcrates

I would never ring these people, do everything in writing, so you have a papertrail, does the DCA own the debt ? or has it just been assigned ?, have you asked for proof that they are entitled to collect on it ? for example, have they sent you proof its your account, copies of statements etc ?
I can understand you wanting to clear this, but don't make it stupidly easy for them, you are about to pay them 9 grand for a debt they maybe paid 2 grand for, a little more waiting and negotiation would be my choice.

harveybobbles

Only going to show as partially settled on your CRA, so no real benefit to anyone apart from the DCA who gets £9000..

happy_bunny_2

When did you take out the card?

What is the default date on your credit file?

Trajal

I'd offer them tuppence ha'penny for it. They are unlikely to have paid more than 20p in the £ for the debt, you are offering far far too much.

For the avoidance of doubt - There is no outcome here which will look good on your credit file so paying them off a large amount is really not a good idea. I appreciate you may want piece of mind and if the original debt owners were still accepting your payments then my view would potentially be different. But if you continue with this course of action you are proving the DCA business model correct and simply boosting their profits for no reason.

fatbelly

Whiner wrote: »

If they've offered 25% off, I'd be waiting a further year or so and waiting until they offer 75% off. It happens.

A partially satisfied CCJ is as bad anything that can be put on your credit file, and will certainly prevent you getting (much) credit until it drops off. I don't think I'd be paying it personally, as I don't see the point. There we go, thats just me.

I don't think there's a ccj on this, nor plans to go for court action.

There's probably already a default, and the record will drop off his file 6 years after this, regardless.

A settled default should look better than an unsettled one, but it's still a default

eyeopener2

This thread makes me smile, ive seen so much pro DCA stuff recently that I thought we had been inflitrated by the debt police.

If they will accept £9k now, you can be sure they will accept a lot less if you are play had ball. However you need to be tough to do it, and very, very resiliant.

If you are willing to pay the £9k, i'd want it in writing that the debt will be marked as FULLY SATISFIED, nothing less. The clown who is phoning tomorrow will make a nice juicy commission from you and will be desperate for it.

I don't know what the others think but i'd drop the offer to say 50% and then go for full settlement marking. See what they say.

sourcrates

eyeopener2 wrote: »

This thread makes me smile, ive seen so much pro DCA stuff recently that I thought we had be inflitrated by the debt police.

You know its funny, I was thinking exactly the same thing.


Lots of posts extoling the virtues of paying a DCA promptly,


something surely wrong here !!!


must be the sun lol:rotfl:!!!

Trajal

Don't offer 50%. Start at 25% of total monies owed and let them push you up to say 30-40% tops.

Bear in mind you do not owe these guys anything. The people you did owe money to have written the debt off in previous years accounts and have sold the contract on for whatever they can get, which is generally not that much and recorded it in their company accounts as a one off profit from sale.

The company who has bought the contract will have paid very little for it. So give them a choice - they can make a modest profit now, hassle free, or they can end up not getting any proper amount of money for years.

Cashflow is King for companies, particularly those in the financial sector. A lump sum now will enable them to immediately buy up more debt contracts, whereas paying slowly over time albeit for a larger amount is less useful in terms of net profitability.

Be smart about this, offer far far less than you are.