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I can finally be debt free but in sad circumstances :(
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thewiccaman
Posts: 15 Forumite

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.
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.
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Comments
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I'd go for full and final settlementEx forum ambassador
Long term forum member0 -
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.0
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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?
Sorry for your loss...I work within the voluntary sector, supporting vulnerable people to rebuild their lives.
I love my job0 -
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 xMortgage started 2020, aiming to clear 31/12/2029.0 -
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.0
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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.0 -
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 work within the voluntary sector, supporting vulnerable people to rebuild their lives.
I love my job0 -
That's a great way of looking at it, I like that, thanks0
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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!0 -
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.0
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