Haggling with creditors

melanie45

Some advice please

I am getting some money from parents and an endownment I cashed in but it is not enough to pay off all the debts. I have been told that I can try and offer the creditors less say like 70p in the £

Is this possible and has anybody had any experience of this

all advice gratefully received

smudgemanc26

Hi

Theres a template letter on the national debtline website for full and final offers to write to your creditors, as the most important thing you have to say is when u state your offer it will be settled and mark satisfied on your records so they cant chase you for extra money and its settled on your credit file.

There was another lady who started a thread off about this if you do a search on offers on the forum you will find the thread, i'll have a look now see if i can locate it and post up the link.

I think most people go in at around 30% which get rejected but then at least you can up your offer to 40% and work your way up from there.

smudgemanc26

Found it!

Have a look here see if anything helps

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=496000&highlight=final+offers

CLAPTON

what are your circumstances?
have you already defaulted on your debts?

frazfisher

Melanie,

This can be done. I recently paid off a debt of £1030 for £650. I simply called the debt company and told them I wanted to settle but I could not afford the full amount and did not want to pay this up each month. I offered £600 they came back and said £650. Done - paid that day - got a letter about a week later advising that was the debt settled.

Good luck

melanie45

Thanks for all the good advice as always;)

Clapton - yes I am paying my debts off through the CCCS at the moment

totals at the moment are -

Lloyds tsb loan - £1,895.17
Lloyds tsb cc £5,289.11
Lloyds overdraft £286.86
Egg cc £3,395.87
Northern Rock £11,093.48 (who are being very aggressive at the moment
CCJ being mentioned)

with the amount I am getting £7k I hope to pay of the 4 lesser debts and be able to increase my payments to Northern Rock

rog2

Melanie - I think that MOST creditors would bite your hand off for 70pence in the pound. I suggest that, using the National debtline templates, you start at around 50 pence/£. It is easier to go up than down.

melanie45

Hi rog2

just to let you know that I have sent off my full and final settlement letters, unfortunately total money available was a bit below what I forecast but sent our Pro Rata offers as per national debtline formulae

Lloyds Loan £1,895.17 offered £1,046
Lloyds cc £5,289.11 offered £2,920
Lloyds overdraft £286.86 offered £158
Egg cc £3,395.87 offered £1,874

will let you know the outcome fingers crossed

rog2

At around 55p in the pound, I think that is a sensible starting point. I hope you have left some room for negociation as I think that they will, probably, refuse your first offer.
However, it is always worth your while in letting them know that this offer is only available for a certain time, say 14 days, after which the funds will no longer be available to you.

MagsyB

The way we did it was to ring the creditors and ask what the lowest they would be prepared to accept.

We had some surprises - they varied from 25% to 100% but even the 100% settled for about 75% in the end.

Having an idea of their 'starting' point means that you have the knowledge to negotiate more successfully without committing yourself.

Hope this helps

MagsyB

melanie45

Hi All

Thanks for the replies and advice, I havent heard from any of the creditors yet (well it has only been 1 week) ha ha. Will give them another week then will take magsys advice and start ringing see what they will accept

keep you posted:rolleyes: