Paying off the debts

Ben22

Hi, I've been in a DMP with Payplan for 3-4 years, I still owe several thousand to about 5 debtors. I now have a lump sum from an early pension (God Bless the NHS!) so advice needed.
Do I pay off a portion of the debts and if so what percentage is 'normal'? and will it affect my credit rating and for how long?
Do I pay the whole lot? Or is that just giving money away for no great benefit?
I want to pay off as much as I can from my mortgage and I can't do it all!
Any advice appreciated!

sourcrates

Hi,

Depends how much you owe, and how much spare cash you have available.
You can try and negotiate with your creditors, see if they will accept full and final offers to settle your accounts, best advice is start low, you can always negotiate upwards, forget about how your credit rating looks, the main task is to get you debt free, but if your that bothered, all entries disappear after 6 years, from default date, regardless of whether the accounts are paid or not.

You will obtain better results if all your debts are defaulted and sold on to debt collection agencies, original creditors rarely give away much discount unfortunatly.

Ben22

Thanks,
Am I right in thinking that some companies will take a small percentage (I've seen 30% mentioned somewhere) but others will want 90 or 100%?
Now I've got the money it would seem to be impossible to continue with the DMP and anyway I want to be free of the debt that's been hanging around me for 15 years.
Above all I want to make sure I never get in this mess again, so I need to ensure that any decisions I make will give me enough breathing space.
Payplan have said they will negotiate on my behalf, is that the best plan?