Robinson Way - Settlement Advice

Newellie

Hi All,

Just to give a bit of back story.

I had a Barclaycard credit card with a £5000 credit limit taken out in 2011. I stupidly maxed out the card and buried my head in the sand. The debt then passed to Robinson Way for a total amount of £4850. I have been paying around £50 or so per month for 3 years and the debt is at £2300. (It dropped off my credit file last year).

I was happily paying off this amount per month but I have had 2 texts and a phone call telling me I am due a discounted settlement. I offered £1000 but they came back with a figure of £2050 and stated they wanted to settle the account as soon as they can which is why they are offering the lower amount. I can’t afford this. I suppose my question is, Am I within my rights to continue paying as I have been doing? It just seems strange they are pressuring a discounted settlement?

Any advice would be excellent!!

Thanks!! :beer:

EssexHebridean

Presumably it defaulted back in 2012 did it?

fatbelly

You're only at the start of the process. You offered 45% (ish) - a very generous starting offer. They countered with 90%.

Now you could re-offer say 55% and see if they move further. You could offer to meet them in the middle at 66.6%.

But have you done a cca request? If they can't provide one the debt is unenforceable. They would be lucky to get anything from you. If they can provide one then you can carry on discussing a settlement figure

https://www.nationaldebtline.org/EW/factsheets/Pages/getting-information/credit-agreement-advice.aspx

Newellie

Great thanks for the advice! I haven’t requested a CCA although have read a few threads on here so I will request one now.

redux

I'm surprised the offer failed.

Robinson Way have been able to accept 40 to 50% on behalf of other instructing clients, and Barclaycard have been able to accept 40% to 50% for themselves, so I wouldn't think you were far away.

Maybe things are tightening up in this field.

See how the CCA request goes, but if it's still enforceable I'd say try 50% for the next offer and be reluctant to reach 60%

Newellie

I have been reading a little bit about CCAs and one article terrified me that stated if they do find the CCA they can go and get a CCJ for the full amount? Is this correct or plain wrong?

Thanks

WhenIam64

But have you done a cca request?

It all depends on the facts - one of which is "do they have the paperwork".

We can't really give anything other than speculation e.g. they may .... or they may not .... or they are not bothered, until we have a bit more information.

fatbelly

Newellie wrote: »

I have been reading a little bit about CCAs and one article terrified me that stated if they do find the CCA they can go and get a CCJ for the full amount? Is this correct or plain wrong?

Thanks

They can start court action but all that would happen is that the court would order you to pay by affordable instalments, which you are already doing.

There would be little point in them taking court action as things stand. They would just be paying out more money and not getting any more back.

sourcrates

Newellie wrote: »

I have been reading a little bit about CCAs and one article terrified me that stated if they do find the CCA they can go and get a CCJ for the full amount? Is this correct or plain wrong?

Thanks

The option of court action is always open, they can still take you to court without any evidence whatsoever, they just cannot obtain judgement against you.
Been able to produce compliant paperwork, or not, has no bearing whatsoever on the actions a creditor will take with regard to court action, it all boils down as to weather you have the money to pay the debt, or not.

[Deleted User]

How did you get on with this?

KPnut_4

Word of warning regarding Robinson Way. My daughter was seriously ill in hospital and we had no idea how long she would be there. We had an offer of a settlement figure from Robinson Way so called up to make the payment. We were advised NOT TO MAKE THE PAYMENT. However they would not tell us why because we were not the account holder and said it was a Data Protection issue. We made the payment anyway because we wanted it to be one less thing to worry about. One month later they wrote to ask for the balance of the account. By this time my daughter was able to give permission for them to talk to me and 
I was informed that because she did not formally agree to pay the settlement figure the balance of the debt remained on their books. After a very heated conversation they agreed to accept that the balance should be cleared. Since then I have sent a complaint saying I felt they handled the situation very badly, and that had they explained we needed to accept the lower figure before paying up that could have been arranged. I believe this is a process issue that should be information that is freely available as a matter of process, and not kept secret only to be revealed to customers. Please be wary if you are able to settle a debt with these people.Even though they received 75% of the debt in one lump sum, they did not just clear the balance. My daughter was paying 10.00 per month and would have taken 22 years to clear the debt. You would think this company would realise they really had lucked out getting a 75% settlement and cleared the balance. When I wrote to complain they hid behind Data Protection once more and rejected my complaint that they could have explained how their process works without breaching any DP issues. The letter was poorly written and stated " In order for us to accept a settlement we are obligation to make some points surrounding credit file implication clear"  ?? (no me either what exactly is that supposed to mean)
Furthermore despite getting the payment they have said her credit file is updated as "partially satisfied"  so she will have this balance showing as owing on her credit score. That feels like they offer a settlement but are expecting people to pay in full to repair their credit score.I will be complaining to Financial Ombudsman but just wanted to warn others.