Moorcroft Settlement Offer Letter

zangse

Hi,

I'm currently on a DMP with Stepchange and Moorcroft who are managing one of my debts on behalf of Arrow (from Virgin credit card) have recently sent me a Settlement Offer Letter which states that "If I can afford to pay £5000 in the next 45 days, then they will clear the remaining balance owed and close my account" and also that they will change my account as being partially settled.

Am I correct in thinking this letter is a Full and Final Settlement Offer? Or should it have this written on the letter? I've read some scare stories on Moorcroft and am a little paranoid!

My sister has said she is able to loan me the money to help me pay this debt off earlier.

Any advice will be greatly appreciated, I've not had a settlement offer so a little unsure of what to do!

sourcrates

Yes it is a settlement offer from Arrow Global, brought to you by Moorcroft, who are, as you are aware, managing your account on their behalf.


The term "full and final" can cause confusion.
It should be renamed "partial settlement".

Willing2Learn

If it was me, I would be satisfied if they have confirmed in the letter that that:

• £5,000 will settle the account
• The account will then be closed
• Credit file entry will be updated to show partially settled

From what you have typed, it appears as though you have this.

Edit: And welcome to the forum

zangse

Ah thank you for the quick responses! I think that's what was confusing me with the full and final and partial settlements and whether the letter had all the required information on. Thank you for your help!

National_Debtline

Hi zangse and welcome to MSE,


The other posters are right that this is a settlement offer letter, and they can be very tempting. Before sending any money you must ensure you are happy with the terms of payment to ensure the payment is deemed as settlement. However, you do also need to consider this carefully. As you don't have the funds and you would need to borrow the money, this really only moves the debt, as opposed to solving it.


Also, by doing a partial settlement with one debt and not the others, this can be seen as a preference payment by other creditors. I appreciate that by settling this debt you may be able to pay more per month to the other debts but they have not received a proportional settlement offer and this can be deemed unfair. They may be less inclined to negotiate going forward, and potentially become more aggressive in taking enforcement action.


Laura
@natdebtline

Just_Di

zangse wrote: »

Moorcroft who are managing one of my debts on behalf of Arrow (from Virgin credit card) have recently sent me a Settlement Offer Letter which states that "If I can afford to pay £5000 in the next 45 days, then they will clear the remaining balance owed and close my account" and also that they will change my account as being partially settled.

Am I correct in thinking this letter is a Full and Final Settlement Offer? Or should it have this written on the letter? I've read some scare stories on Moorcroft and am a little paranoid!

I don't think you are being paranoid at all !

If the letter doesn't say it's a "Full & Final Settlement" then it isn't.

Forgive my cynicism (based on experience) but if it's not "Full & Final" then Arrow could close the account on their system and then assign/sell the balance to another debt purchaser.

My suggestuon is to send a s 77-79 CCA Request to Arrow with a copy to Moorcroft. If they (Arrow) can't/don't comply within the statutory timeframe then this debt would become unenforceble in court until or unless they do.

In my personal opinion that could strengthen your bargaining power while at the same time protect your legal positon 'just in case'.

How much is the balance outstanding and is £5k a substantial discount? When (what year) did you open this Virgin credit card?

Is the current debt owner Arrow Global Ltd or Arrow Global (Guernsey) Ltd. It makes a difference.

Di

zangse

National_Debtline wrote: »

Hi zangse and welcome to MSE,


The other posters are right that this is a settlement offer letter, and they can be very tempting. Before sending any money you must ensure you are happy with the terms of payment to ensure the payment is deemed as settlement. However, you do also need to consider this carefully. As you don't have the funds and you would need to borrow the money, this really only moves the debt, as opposed to solving it.


Also, by doing a partial settlement with one debt and not the others, this can be seen as a preference payment by other creditors. I appreciate that by settling this debt you may be able to pay more per month to the other debts but they have not received a proportional settlement offer and this can be deemed unfair. They may be less inclined to negotiate going forward, and potentially become more aggressive in taking enforcement action.


Laura
@natdebtline

Hi Laura,

Thank you for your response, I understand about having to borrow money to pay off this debt but luckily I have a very understanding sister who I recently told of my debt issues after 3 yrs of suffering in silence and is willing to help and I can pay her back once all my issues have been sorted.

I didn't think about my other creditors but as the Moorcroft debt is the second biggest, I think it might be better to get this settled as like you mentioned, the other creditors will receive more from my DMP.

zangse

Just_Di wrote: »

I don't think you are being paranoid at all !

If the letter doesn't say it's a "Full & Final Settlement" then it isn't.

Forgive my cynicism (based on experience) but if it's not "Full & Final" then Arrow could close the account on their system and then assign/sell the balance to another debt purchaser.

My suggestuon is to send a s 77-79 CCA Request to Arrow with a copy to Moorcroft. If they (Arrow) can't/don't comply within the statutory timeframe then this debt would become unenforceble in court until or unless they do.

In my personal opinion that could strengthen your bargaining power while at the same time protect your legal positon 'just in case'.

How much is the balance outstanding and is £5k a substantial discount? When (what year) did you open this Virgin credit card?

Is the current debt owner Arrow Global Ltd or Arrow Global (Guernsey) Ltd. It makes a difference.

Di

Hi,

My current balance is around £8200 and it was opened around 2012-13 and defaulted in early 2016 and it's Arrow Global. I didn't realise there were two companies called Arrow. That was what I was worried about, is that if I settle it and then end up having the remaining balance still outstanding later on.

Arrow Global had already sent me a letter containing my statement of account and credit agreement back in July? Would I need to request another one?

January2015

If they've writtent to you out of the blue, I would consider writing back with a counter {lower} offer. You never know, they may just be willing to accept less. You will never know if you don't try.

Just_Di

zangse wrote: »

Arrow Global had already sent me a letter containing my statement of account and credit agreement back in July? Would I need to request another one?

Do you mean you have already sent a formal s 77-79 CCA Request together with the £1 statutory fee which is why Arrow sent you a credit agreement in July?

Did the covering letter which came with the credit agreement say it was a reconstituted agreement etc?

If they were so sure that they had complied with your CCA Request (if that's what you sent them) then it's surprising that they have made you an offer to settle. Unless they have not fully complied with your request and don't want to pursue you for the full amount if there's a risk they won't get it if the credit agreement is 'unenforceable'.

Were you sent a Default Notice before the account was terminated and assigned to Arrow?

I can only speculate without knowing the full facts.

Di

zangse

Just_Di wrote: »

Do you mean you have already sent a formal s 77-79 CCA Request together with the £1 statutory fee which is why Arrow sent you a credit agreement in July?

Did the covering letter which came with the credit agreement say it was a reconstituted agreement etc?

If they were so sure that they had complied with your CCA Request (if that's what you sent them) then it's surprising that they have made you an offer to settle. Unless they have not fully complied with your request and don't want to pursue you for the full amount if there's a risk they won't get it if the credit agreement is 'unenforceable'.

Were you sent a Default Notice before the account was terminated and assigned to Arrow?

I can only speculate without knowing the full facts.

Di

I've never sent them any letters or any £1 payment so maybe it was something different then or I'm misinterpreting the letter?

The letter says Remediation of Account and that under the consumer credit act, they were required to provide me with statutory notices within the timescales to inform me about the status of my account. They then apologised and said I hadn't been receiving this information and after it has a full balance of my debt and payments made to them.

It was a Virgin credit card which was defaulted pretty soon after my DMP started and then sold to Arrow