Satisfied or partially satisfied?

escoman990

I recently received a response from a Debt Collection Agency in regards to negotiating clearing the default in my credit file in return for full payment for the debt. Unsurprising, no luck but it was worth a shot.

In their response they gave me the option of clearing the balance and changing the status of the credit entry to SATISFIED or partially settling (50%) the debt and changing the status to PARTIALLY SATISFIED.

Their response:

As a means of improving the status of the default, once payment of the full outstanding balance is received from you, we would update the default as ‘Satisfied’.

Otherwise, with your circumstances in mind, we would be prepared to accept a one-off full and final settlement payment of £159.43, where we would update the default as ‘partially satisfied’. I hope that you will consider these options and then contact our administration team within the next 7 days with your proposal to discharge the outstanding amount.

I could afford to pay the £159.43 now but probably would take a few months to pay off the full amount of £318.86.

Should I clear the debt in full or partially clear it? Does a PARTIALLY SATISFIED entry make much difference to a SATISFIED entry in regard to obtaining credit/fixing my credit rating?

thebritishbloke

Satisfied looks a lot better than partially satisfied when a lender looks at your report. Given that the default's only for £320, I'd just try and pay it off in full. Set up a repayment plan with them over 6 months.