possible 25k in unenforceable debt: MBNA & Barclaycard - what to do next?

IndyScot2020

Hi Debtfighter,

Thanks for your interest recognising similar situation you may be in. Yes, exiting the DAS was WAY more complicated than I had thought it would be! Without exiting it, you may find it near impossible to negotiate with the creditors. This may in part be down the how lenders interpret the DAS guidance/ rules and regulations leading to some lenders thinking that negotiations/ partial settlement offers either have to done through a third party and that any offer has to be the same offer as sent to other creditors. In my circumstances, I found it easier to first EXIT the DAS before THEN trying to negotiate/ settle accounts.

Pleased to say though there is a way to exit a DAS which I'll come to later - or discuss on a new thread for current and former DAS'ers.

Meantime, here's what has happened since Apr 2018:

(likely to be) enforceable debts: Barclaycard, Nationwide, Bank of Scotland and Hitachi Finance - all agreed to varying F & F offers between 65% - 70% if I remember correctly. Some were easier than others to negotiate with, some asked for income and expenditure data, some didn't.

The hardest and most frustrating part was getting them to negotiate as some refused or were reluctant to negotiate while I was on the DAS. In my experience, Nationwide and Hitachi were fine to negotiate by phone/letter/email, though neither would accept payment to settle the account while remaining in the DAS.

Bank of Scotland were the most stubborn and made it clear to me they would not consider ANY offer whatsoever - 5% or 95% - they would not even consider entering into dialogue about the issue while on DAS. I HAD to leave the DAS to begin negotiations with them. However, once I had exited the DAS they were quite reasonable and co-operative when negotiating.

Barclaycard were initially very open to negotiating by phone while on the DAS and in fact I think we agreed a 70% or so figure within 24 hours. HOWEVER, I think the phone operator may have initially wrongly assumed I was on a DMP (not a DAS) and later on they wrote to change their mind as they said they could not negotiate or settle while in a DAS, at least just by myself. Strangely Barclaycard later wanted the DAS payment *distributor* to negotiate on my behalf with them (the DAS distributor only, er, distributes agreed monthly DAS payments)

Arrow Global (Capquest) operated completed differently - while the other lenders were either reluctant to negotiate with DAS debtors directly (preferring to deal through the DAS administrator / agent) - Capquest told me they would only negotiate & settle with me and not via a third party - eg DAS administrator / agent. As they all but acknowledged the balances shown were unenforceable - they were good to negotiate through email and phone, resulting in a 12% settlement agreement. And because I could make a payment - in my case full and final settlement figure to CQ, it meant I had automatically breached terms of my DAS which ... helped trigger the DAS REVOCATION process, thereby opening door to negotiate with others.

update: here's a long-ish thread on how I managed to exit (revoke) my DAS in a non-conventional way to enable easier negotiations & settlements with creditors.

Debtfighter

Hi Indyscot2020

Thanks very much for the detailed and informative update. You have very much helped me out and inspired me to look into this further as an option.

2 things spring to mind - when you came out of the DAS did any of the creditors add interest onto you including backdating it?

You were already in the DAS when you sent CCA requests, even if your account was placed on hold with the creditor do you still have the option to make payments to creditors, just thinking if I decided to not opt out of the DAS in the end for whatever reason?

Thanks again!:j