Wescot - Partial Settlement gone wrong

paranoid12

Hello everyone!

I was wondering if I could find some kind of guidance regarding an issue that I am facing.

So I'll dive right into it, I had a default on a overdraft from few years ago. To settle the default I was paying £x monthly via Wescot since a number of years. I recently phoned wescot as I had received a letter from them that they might be able to reduce the balance and help me settle the account. So when I spoke to them we agreed on an amount half the total amount of the debt. A letter followed with the main points as follows:

"If the above payment is received our client agrees not pursue you for the remaining balance and will not pass on the remaining balance to anyone else to pursue.
Please note payment of a partial settlement will result in this account being recorded as "partially settled" on your credit file.
Failure to make the payment as agreed, will result in the agreement lapsing and the full balance will be payable."

I promptly made the payment.

After 2 weeks I requested an update and received a letter stating:

"Thank you for your payment made in "partial settlement" of the above account.
We confirm the payment has been credited to your account and your account has now been returned to our client. As agreed, our client agrees not pursue you for the remaining balance and will not pass on the remaining balance to anyone else to pursue.
Your credit file will be updated accordingly. Please note payment of a partial settlement will result in this account being recorded as "partially settled" on your credit file."

So when they said "returned to our client" I got a bit suspicious. I contacted the bank and they said the account is still in default with the remaining balance outstanding. She also mentioned they the bank won't pursue for the remaining balance. I asked her if the bank won't or can't pursue the remaining balance and she said won't. I explained to her that the won't pursue was subject to me making the payment of the reduced amount. Since I have made the payment, as part of the agreement they can't pursue the remaining balance anymore and as such should write it off and update the credit file as partially settled. She did not agree with me and said the default balance will remain on file and a yearly statement will be sent to me. I said this not what was agreed with wecot. she told me I should contact wescot as she can't talk on their behalf.

So I contacted wescot and requested an update without telling them that I had already contacted the bank. They said the balance on the account will be reduced to ZERO and the credit file will be marked as partially settled. Then I told them that I had spoken with the bank and they are saying something else. I asked them to send me in writing the current status of the account. So I received a letter stating:

"We refer to the above account and your recent communication, and can now confirm that this account is fully paid. As a result no further action will be taken by Wescot regarding this account.
The closure of your account and subsequent update of your credit file is subject to the clearance of funds. Should your balance change within the next 14 days, collection activity will recommence and further contact will be attempted."

I am now lost as to what to do now. My credit file is not updated and the default is still there with the reduced amount. The only thing this has done is reduced the balance of the default.

How do I get this sorted. I don't have the money to pay the remaining balance and the reduced amount I paid was borrowed money. I could only have paid monthly installments which I was already doing for a number of years.

Please advise.

Suseka97

It really doesn't matter what your credit file actually says - you've received various confirmations from both Wescot and the OC to say that they consider the case closed, so to speak, and neither will pursue you for the remainder of the debt.

Irrespective of whether a balance remains on a debt or not, or whether a marker says settled or partially settled, or not settled at all - a default remains on your account for 6 years from the date it was registered. It will then just drop off your file, never to be seen again.

So I don't think you have anything to worry about here. Just keep hold of the letters or other comms you've received for future reference if required.

StokieBecks

How long ago did you pay the settlement? It can take at least a month or two to filter down to the credit reference agencies as deoends when the company send data. Keep hold of all your paperwork

DigitalDevil

StokieBecks wrote: »

How long ago did you pay the settlement? It can take at least a month or two to filter down to the credit reference agencies as deoends when the company send data. Keep hold of all your paperwork

This, I had a partial settlement a few years back and it took around 2-3 months to appear correctly on my credit report. If both companies have confirmed that the account has been settled and is no longer of interest to them then you should be finished with it.

paranoid12

I paid end of April 2019. So I guess I'll just wait a while and see. Thank you for all the feedback and comments.