Settling someone else's loan early

JamieLee3k

My wife has some loans and I want to help clean them but I want to try and do this the cheapest way possible.

One of the loans has been passed to a collection agency and is about £1000 ish

The other is still with the bank where the loan was taken out £800-£900 ish

The last one is a little woods but with the amount so small I can just pay that off.

What are my best options in trying to pay back as little as possible?
My wife has cut her hours to 4 a week so paying it off is a near impossible and I am willing to pay to clear her debts but I don't want to pay the full amount.

Pixie5740

Offer her creditors a full and final settlement. It doesn't have to be the full amount of the loan, maybe 30% or something.

Gaz83

You can offer them a full and final settlement. They might accept, then again, they might not.

oldhand

Sorry if Im reading this wrong but does this mean if I was to take out a loan for several thousands I could pay some off for a year or so and then just offer to pay a small proportion of whats left and I can walk away? If so why have I wasted all these years paying in full any loans I took out?????

Gaz83

oldhand wrote: »

Sorry if Im reading this wrong but does this mean if I was to take out a loan for several thousands I could pay some off for a year or so and then just offer to pay a small proportion of whats left and I can walk away? If so why have I wasted all these years paying in full any loans I took out?????

Presumably you haven't wanted your credit record to be dreadful.

foxy-stoat

oldhand wrote: »

Sorry if Im reading this wrong but does this mean if I was to take out a loan for several thousands I could pay some off for a year or so and then just offer to pay a small proportion of whats left and I can walk away? If so why have I wasted all these years paying in full any loans I took out?????

Yes, but you would need to default on that loan for a few months, stop paying them, have your credit file trashed and receive many phone calls and letters from collections agencies. THEN you can make an offer of 30%, you may get told a NO though you may not. I dont think this is worth it.

I believe the OP's question has not been thought out very well.

Herzlos

Can't you just give her the money to put towards the loans normally? Go for the ones that aren't at debt collection already, and you'll hopefully be able to avoid those ones making her credit rating worse.

Pixie5740

oldhand wrote: »

Sorry if Im reading this wrong but does this mean if I was to take out a loan for several thousands I could pay some off for a year or so and then just offer to pay a small proportion of whats left and I can walk away? If so why have I wasted all these years paying in full any loans I took out?????

If you've got to the stage where your debts have been passed to a debt collection agency then yes, you can make a full and final settlement offer. The creditor is just glad to get something back at that stage.