Settlement Offers

Paton47

Advice welcome

I’ve been in a Debt Management plan for approx 8 years with a company which l paid a fee to every month. It worked well at the time them dealing with my debt mess but l have come out of it a few months ago. I have some money that l was hoping to use to partially settle the debts so I’ve been dealing with my creditors myself to do this. So far 2 of them have settled on a partial payment and closed the account with a few more considering it 🤔 During the last few years my credit score has increased due to the defaults on my accounts falling off my file. However a company Link Financial have been hard work just not willing to compromise at all, refused my offer but didn’t offer me a counter offer 🤷🏻!♀️ So they have now put a default on this account which has obviously been recorded this on my credit file as well. Now l was under the impression you couldn’t get a default on an already defaulted account or is it because this company have taken the debt over from the original creditor? Also I’ve read on here discussions about CCAs and to request this from each company, if they don’t have the correct paperwork they can’t really do anything...is this true? Wondering if it’s worth doing this for the remaining creditors? Any advice greatly appreciated

Willing2Learn

Hello Paton47 and welcome to the forum

First up, before you send out the CCA requests to your creditors, I recommend cancelling your contract with the debt counselling agency who have been managing your DMP.

Then send out your CCA requests to each creditor with whom you have an eligible account. Use the guidance and embedded letter template link in the article linked below:
Debts - why, how & when to ask for the CCA agreement

It is true, that if a creditor cannot provide you with a true copy of your credit agreement, then the account becomes unenforceable. The unenforceability of the account means you can either totally withhold payment, or alternatively use the lack of compliant paperwork as leverage to get lower settlement figures.

Edit: You cannot get a default on an account that has already been defaulted previously.

Paton47

Hi Willing2Learn
Thank you for your advice

I have already cancelled my DMP in May although it took till August for it all to be done. So can l request CCAs even though l have offered them a partially settlement? Thank you for the form l was going to ask if there is a letter template anywhere 👍🏻 I did read somewhere that you couldn’t get a default on an already defaulted account 🤔 so is there anything l can do about this? I’m a bit annoyed that they’ve done this instead of trying to come to an agreed amount even though l know they don’t have to.

Again thank you for your advice 😁

Willing2Learn

Sorry, I did not read your original post properly. Well done on breaking ties with your old debt management company. For the two accounts that have already accepted offers, there is no point in submitting CCA requests with them. For all other eligible accounts, I would recommend you do submit the CCA requests.

Incidentally, when a company accepts a partial or full settlement, you want to have this confirmed in writing. You want the confirmation letter to contain a couple of things:

• That neither the DCA nor any associate company will take any other action to collect or enforce this debt in any way and that you will be released from any liability.
• That they confirm that they will mark your credit reference agency file to show that the account has been paid and closed.

Edit: And I would make a written complaint about the default. Tell Link that the account had already been defaulted once. Say to Link that if a debt is sold to a debt collector, then the new creditor should use the same default date as the original creditor did. The account cannot be defaulted for a second time.

Paton47

Yeah l have received one confirmation that the account is closed etc just waiting on the other one to come through. Think they said it would be recorded as partially settled which is fine cause that’s the truth. I’m more annoyed about this default in my credit file when it’s already been defaulted. I will contact Link about it and see what they have to say, do you think l could add this onto the CCA letter or do it separately? Thanks again for your help

Willing2Learn

The CCA request and your complaint about the default date are entirely independent matters. Each one needs a separate letter.