Advise required on debt with 1st Credit Ltd

001721

Okay so 1st credit have just emailed me -


1st Credit Reference : ********
Original Creditor : Halifax
Your Balance : **********

Dear Mr D,

Thank you for your email.

We can confirm the above account relates to an overdraft on a bank account.

1st Credit Ltd purchased the account in November 2014 and are the legal owners.

We understand you have previously had a dispute with the original creditor and was under the impression the account had been written off.

We are unaware of any dispute. So we may raise this with the original creditor, we would be grateful if you could provide us with further details.

Please contact us within 7 days of this email to discuss the account further. If we have not received contact from you within this period, your account may be subject to further telephone calls, letters, SMS and emails.

sourcrates

001721 wrote: »

Okay so 1st credit have just emailed me -


1st Credit Reference : 9498120
Original Creditor : Halifax
Your Balance : £1,524.29

Dear Mr D,

Thank you for your email.

We can confirm the above account relates to an overdraft on a bank account.

1st Credit Ltd purchased the account in November 2014 and are the legal owners.

We understand you have previously had a dispute with the original creditor and was under the impression the account had been written off.

We are unaware of any dispute. So we may raise this with the original creditor, we would be grateful if you could provide us with further details.

Please contact us within 7 days of this email to discuss the account further. If we have not received contact from you within this period, your account may be subject to further telephone calls, letters, SMS and emails.

Balls back in your court then !!!

001721

sourcrates wrote: »

It could be argued you have acknowledged the debt, thus restarting the statute barred time clock.
If you partially settle the debt it will look better than not paying it, but it should be off your file anyway next year, so how it looks to potential lenders may be irrelevant as it won't be showing any longer.

If you go down the partial settlement route, follow National debt lines advice on full and final settlements.

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Sorry I don't fully understand, if the statute barred time clock has been reset does this not mean it will appear on my file for another 6 years?

sourcrates

001721 wrote: »

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Sorry I don't fully understand, if the statute barred time clock has been reset does this not mean it will appear on my file for another 6 years?

No.

Two entirely separate issues.

Restarting the time clock has no bearing on the date the default drops off your file, 6 years it will be gone, paid, unpaid, acknowledged or not.

001721

Okay, so what does restarting the time clock do? Does this just mean they're likely to start chasing it?

If 1st credit may issue a court order before the 6 years is up do you recommend I partially/completely pay it or would you just wait it out and see what happens?

fermi

Please take amounts and account reference numbers out of posts and quotes of them please.

sourcrates

001721 wrote: »

Okay, so what does restarting the time clock do? Does this just mean they're likely to start chasing it?

If 1st credit may issue a court order before the 6 years is up do you recommend I partially/completely pay it or would you just wait it out and see what happens?

Exactly what it says on the tin, if your wanting to move on them make an offer to settle with them, otherwise you do risk further action.

They are a very unpredictable DCA, and just because the debt falls off your credit file, doesn't mean it's not still owed, they can still chase it.

001721

Thanks very much for your help so far. I have decided that I am going to make them a full and final settlement offer using the template on the national debtline you shared above.

From past experience could you recommend an amount to offer?

What do you think the minimum they will accept is as a one off payment?

I don't want to waste time by going in too low but at the same time don't want to offer them too much.

I'm thinking based on the debt potentially being SB next year this may make them want to get it settled quick.

The debt is £1524.29, do you think I should try offering £300 as a full and final settlement offer or is that me being a little optimistic?

Wingco44

They probably paid less than £150 for this debt. £300 might not be enough. I would try £400 if you fear going in too low.

001721

Okay so I offered £400 using the "full and final settlement" letter. They replied today with this -


"We write in response to your offer of settlement in the amount of £400.00 against your balance of £1,524.29. Unfortunately this offer is less than we would be willing to accept.

We are however able to offer you a partial settlement of £1067.01 provided that payment is received by 31/03/2016.

If you clear your account by way of partial settlement any default that is registered in relation to this account would be updated to 'partially satisfied', the outstanding balance will show as zero on your credit file and you will not be pursued for any remainder of the balance by 1st Credit or any other third party. Please be aware partially satisfied may be considered less favourable than fully satisfied by future providers of credit.

We send the information to the Credit Reference Agencies between the 1st and 5th of the following month and are reliant on them to update the credit file which can take up to 10 working days from us sending the information.

If you are not able to take up this offer, other repayment plans are still available.

To set a repayment plan on your account please complete the attached Financial Statement within 14 days. This is to ensure that your offer of repayment is affordable and sustainable. Should no contact be forthcoming, your account may be subject to further letters, telephone calls, SMS and emails."



Where do you think I should go from here? I don't really have to fill in the "financial statement" detailing what I spend all my money on, (they didn't even attach it by the way).

Do you think I should ignore them for a while and hope they come back with a lower offer at some point? Or I could offer a bit more to pay in two lumps? Around £600 perhaps?

Thoughts please,