I can finally be debt free but in sad circumstances :(

thewiccaman

New to the forums & hope I'm posting in the right place?

I do have a question but bear with me as I outline my situation.

I have always been terrible with money and over the last 20 years, things have got worse - I went through a messy divorce in 1998 and became very depressed so much so I lost my job & my house was repossessed. Things picked up a bit although I did have 2 stints of unemployment and have been in social housing since 1999. I am though working full time again for the same company for the past 10 years & am 4 years off retirement now.

With the repossession, my credit rating plummetted & I resorted to getting credit wherever I could: high-interest credit cards & loans, payday loans, etc. which I couldn't cover & I was rolling loans over & getting new loans to cover the repayments. It has got to the point where even the payday lenders won't lend to me! I know I've been stupid and irresponsible.

In the last year, I basically stopped paying the payday lenders, a high-interest loan and one credit card & these have now defaulted but I do have credit cards still though maxed out to the tune of £5k or so.

I had my head firmly in the sand over my debts & have been stupidly ignoring them although I am making token payments on a number of them with Lowell & a couple of others (a couple of payday loans are nearly clear) & owe Lowell nearly £8k across some of these debts which I'll have cleared when I'm about 165! Altogether I owe around £22k as my credit reports show - see below.

Earlier this month, however, my Mother sadly passed away after a relatively short illness and much to my surprise, my inheritance from her will provide me with more than enough to clear all my debts completely & leave me enough to invest a small but not insubstantial amount & to be able to give my children and Grandson something too.

With this windfall, I have taken the plunge & got my credit reports (which I was scared to do before) which confirmed my defaults, the accounts where I'm squeaky clean and my total debt & not surprisingly my credit rating is horrendous.

I realise that after paying all these debts off it will still be upwards of 6 years for all of them (14 defaults in total) to drop off my report and my creditworthiness to start to improve.

My question though (finally!) is whether I should ask the debt collection agencies for Full & Final discounted settlements or just pay whatever they say I owe as I will be in the fortunate position to be able to do so?

Your guidance & advice appreciated.

Browntoa

I'd go for full and final settlement

thewiccaman

That is my thinking but I did want to put my situation out there to see if there would be any mileage in F&F offers. Many thanks.

Willing2Learn

thewiccaman wrote: »

My question though (finally!) is whether I should ask the debt collection agencies for Full & Final discounted settlements or just pay whatever they say I owe as I will be in the fortunate position to be able to do so?

I would not tell your creditors about your inheritance. I would offer 10% of the amount owed to each creditor and see what they say.


Sorry for your loss...

MovingForwards

F&f and make lowball offers.

There are some threads providing guidance.

Sorry for your loss as I know you would sooner have your mum than the money x

thewiccaman

Thanks for the advice but part of me feels I want to pay whatever is being claimed - nothing untoward in the amounts. But I agree, no mention of where my funds are coming from is a good idea. Thanks.

thewiccaman

MovingForwards wrote: »

F&f and make lowball offers.

There are some threads providing guidance.

Sorry for your loss as I know you would sooner have your mum than the money x

Yes, you're absolutely right on that. I feel guilty that this is the way she has found a way to help me out of this. I won't have the funds for 3-4 months most likely anyway, just getting my ducks lined up. Many thanks.

Willing2Learn

thewiccaman wrote: »

Thanks for the advice but part of me feels I want to pay whatever is being claimed - nothing untoward in the amounts.

I would have thought that your mother, in leaving you the money, wanted you to have the money and enjoy it. The DCAs don't deserve whatever they ask for, they deserve what you are willing to give them. Try and enjoy the balance left over...

thewiccaman

That's a great way of looking at it, I like that, thanks

Red-Squirrel_2

thewiccaman wrote: »

Thanks for the advice but part of me feels I want to pay whatever is being claimed - nothing untoward in the amounts. But I agree, no mention of where my funds are coming from is a good idea. Thanks.

How much have you paid over the years in interest and charges?

Make the low offers, having a decent amount of this inheritance money left could be a huge help in preventing you getting into a mess again!

thewiccaman

Red-Squirrel wrote: »

How much have you paid over the years in interest and charges?

Make the low offers, having a decent amount of this inheritance money left could be a huge help in preventing you getting into a mess again!

It does seem a consensus is building that I should make offers. Yes, I hate to think how much has been squeezed out of me in interest & charges. Thanks for this.