2020 - 'Nothing in your life will change until you make the decision to change'

savingholmes

Takeaway is a lovely way to round off the day. Glad you had some peace

jwil

savingholmes said:

Takeaway is a lovely way to round off the day. Glad you had some peace

Thank you, it was very nice and I have leftovers for another meal

jwil

Hello everyone

Opinions please.  I've received a letter from  my biggest remaining creditor offering me a 25% discount to settle.  I couldn't do that, but I could probably stretch to a max 50% discount.  It would clear another almost £5k and leave my remaining debt at around £3.6k.  I can't even imagine that!!

However, if I could get them to agree to 50% it would pretty much wipe out any savings at this stage.  The debt is off my credit report so won't have any benefits there.  I'm only paying £6 a month so there's no real financial gain either.  It would be a nice psychological boost though.

The excitement about potentially having less than £4k debt is blinding me.  Should I try to negotiate or should I hold off and wait a bit longer as per my original plan?

SusieT

jwil said:

Hello everyone

Opinions please.  I've received a letter from  my biggest remaining creditor offering me a 25% discount to settle.  I couldn't do that, but I could probably stretch to a max 50% discount.  It would clear another almost £5k and leave my remaining debt at around £3.6k.  I can't even imagine that!!

However, if I could get them to agree to 50% it would pretty much wipe out any savings at this stage.  The debt is off my credit report so won't have any benefits there.  I'm only paying £6 a month so there's no real financial gain either.  It would be a nice psychological boost though.

The excitement about potentially having less than £4k debt is blinding me.  Should I try to negotiate or should I hold off and wait a bit longer as per my original plan?

With the amount that you are paying I would be cheeky and ask if they will take 25-30% of the debt, and hope that they will settle for 40-50%   It would be a huge boost to you if you could do it, and even if they do not accept now I suspect they have a list of people who may come to an agreement, so you could get a better offer later especially with the length of time it will take to repay at the moment

HairyHandofDartmoor

Sorry I've been awol Jwil. It's a tough decision. It is a huge psychological boost to have a smaller amount of debt. Only you can decide how important it is to have the debt gone. I know that when I was debt free it felt like a huge burden had lifted as all my money was finally mine.

beanielou

You can but ask.

savingholmes

I would ask for a bigger discount sounds like a no lose approach... I think you will always wonder otherwise

WinterWarrior

If the debt has been sold to another collections company it will only have cost them peanuts, so you could try a massively cheeky offer like a quarter of the amount…they would still be winning and if you worded it that it’s the maximum you could absolutely stretch to they might go for it. If it’s the original company they might still want it gone from their books. I would really try for a very low amount and explain that’s all I had. It’s definitely worth the embarrassment and cheekiness to beg for a low settlement ⭐️

jwil

Thank you everyone   I really appreciate all the thoughts.

It's still with the original creditor, but managed by a DCA.  I did make my silly offer (10%) to them earlier in the year which didn't really come to anything as they were just asking what the total available was and wouldn't counter-offer, but obviously they are open to a settlement now.

I'm a bit worried about decimating my savings as I'm not growing them as much as I was (although I am spending too much!).  I think I might do as you all suggest and go in with another cheeky offer, but more realistic, like 25% and see what happens.  If they accept or come back with something else, I can consider, and if not, then I'm in no worse a position.  If they do accept, that won't completely wipe me out.

savingholmes

Sounds like a plan to me.