Pay off in full or try to negotiate?

rickbooth86

Hi,


Sorry if this has been posted before but I'm new here.


I am trying to clean up my credit file and have 4 or 5 defaults on there from 5 years ago. They are due to drop off my report next year but I'm wondering if it would make a big difference to my score if I paid the balance in full or if I tried to negotiate a smaller settlement?


We're not talking massive amounts here. The largest one is around £1300 with Lowell.


Thanks,


Rick

DCFC79

rickbooth86 wrote: »

Hi,


Sorry if this has been posted before but I'm new here.


I am trying to clean up my credit file and have 4 or 5 defaults on there from 5 years ago. They are due to drop off my report next year but I'm wondering if it would make a big difference to my score if I paid the balance in full or if I tried to negotiate a smaller settlement?


We're not talking massive amounts here. The largest one is around £1300 with Lowell.


Thanks,


Rick

You do know your score is only seen by you ?

If they are 5 years old it may not be worth paying them off in full.

Have you asked or offered something to pay them off ? This would be my first step, if only offering say £20 off whats owed then not much point.

rickbooth86

Hi,


No I wasn't aware of that but thanks.


I haven't tried to negotiate anything with them yet as I was just wondering if it would affect my score/file if they only show as part settled?


Thanks

Westminster

They won't be shown at all once they get to the 6 year anniversary of default.

I settled for between 30 and 60% after negotiating directly.

rickbooth86

Thanks,


Do you have any tips on negotiating with them? I have 2 with Lowell and 1 with Barclaycard.

Fireflyaway

I agreed a partial settlement with wescot. I phoned and said what deal was available if I increased my monthly payment to clear it over 3 months. I said a figure, they said no, I increased it, they suggested much higher and in the end we met in the middle. Start low but be firm if they suggest something you can't afford just go back to what you were previously doing. My old defaults disappeared completely off my file after 6 years and they were not settled so score wise I don't think its going to make a difference. It might if you approach the same lender as they will have in house records.

MoneySaver123

Have you written to or made any payments to the creditors since you defaulted?

rickbooth86

Hi,

Yes I have been paying them off very slowly. One gets £5 a month, one £20 a month and I've not paid the barclaycard one for over a year but will start to in the next few months.

phillw

DCFC79 wrote: »

You do know your score is only seen by you ?

Each credit score is also calculated differently between the different agencies. However they do all have access to the same information, as do companies that do a credit check.

Some companies ignore things on your credit file that others don't. So two people with a low score could find that one person is accepted and the other is rejected. So in that respect having a low score is irrelevant.

But your chance of being accepted by every company is higher if your score is high. Even though they don't see it.