default acc, partial settlement or ombudsman?

GoodCredit

Hi,
I have a defaulted account from Shop direct (very). I have £460 to pay. But most of this is interest. I got my account right down to £150, then i run out of interest free period and bam, on went a load of interest, so i just stopped paying. This was back in 2010. I am now trying to clear my debts and i am hoping to buy a house in the future so need to get my credit good. The default didnt go on until 2012 so its not dropping off my credit history anytime soon.
The DCA have sent me offers such as 50% off for partial settlement, so i agreed and my first payment is on Friday. But since reading about partial settlements online, im now wondering if i should cancel the payment plan. Ive seen that even though ive partially settled it with this DCA, another DCA can then come and try reclaim the left over amount?! Im also now thinking maybe i should go through the financial ombudsman to try get some of this interest removed? will they help? Or am i just wasting time and just carry on with the payment plan? I really dont know what to do for the best. I know my debt isnt as big as some peoples on here, but I only work part time so cant pay it off in one go.
Any help and advice would be great.
Thanks

National_Debtline

Hi there, welcome to MSE.


If you are going to do a partial settlement you must get everything agreed in writing before you send any money. We have a sample letter to help and part of that states that the creditor must agree not to pass the remaining debt to anyone else to chase - https://www.nationaldebtline.org/EW/sampleletters/Pages/Full-and-final-settlement-offers-%28sole-name%29.aspx

A partial settlement on your credit file can be positive and negative (good because the debt is settled, but bad because you didn't pay it all). The creditor should mark your file with a zero balance when you do the settlement (to show nothing more is owed but it won't actually say how much has been paid).


The default may be able to be back dated if it was registered late...you would need to complain to the creditor and then escalated to the Information Commissioner. You can also try and complain about the interest added to the account and escalate it to the Financial Ombudsman Service but if they have added the interest specified in the contract then it is less likely to be changed - good luck.


Laura
@natdebtline