Wescott and Settlement Figure

M_anonymous

Hi,

I took a call from a Wescott representative looking to set up a plan for repayment £6700. 
They offered a settlement figure which was still fairly high and I said I'd do 50% if they would accept. They accepted this offer and I said I'd be getting the money from my employer (very kind) so please just bear with me as people aren't in the office and a few phone calls will need to take place and a payment set up to me in order to pay it off.

I had a settlement letter through the door stating what had been agreed on the phone and payment was made.  

I phoned them up a day or two later to ensure payment had been received and the account would be closed. 

The representative said there had been a mistake and there was no way they would offer or / and accept 50% settlement. They would need to go away and listen to the original call. 


I had a call yesterday saying that the employee was new and shouldn't have accepted 50% and they want to recover more money from me.

Where does this actually leave me? 

I said they should suck it up unfortunately, it's not my fault if an error has occurred their end. 

I work in a world where we offer quotes for product. There are occasions where we underprice a job, I can't then go back to the customer and tell them "we cocked up the price, we need £x,xxx more please". 


Any insights would be appreciated.

sourcrates

Hi,

I`m afraid it dosen`t quite work that way with debt matters. Wescot are just managing your account, as they no longer buy bebts, and unless a settlement offer agreed verbally, is backed up in writing, then it never happened basically, and even if it was recieved in writing, they can still claim it was an error.

There are no hard and fast rules over debt collection/settlement, only guidelines, if they say they made a mistake, then they made a mistake, and thats that.

Its the client that sets the rules, wescot have leeway to accept a certain discount, but are authorised to only go so far.

You can try the complaints route, but don`t expect to win, sorry.

richardadc

@sourcrates surely if it is in writing and the money has been paid then a contract has been formed that they can't then back out of.  Otherwise you're saying that no full and final offer is legally binding as they can just later say it was a mistake.

My personal view on this is that if the money has been received by them then a contract has been formed.  Even if Wescot are just managing the account the debtor would of been told by the creditor that Wescot was their contact point.  Any issues with this would then be between Wescot and creditor if Wescot have in fact done something that they were not supposed to.

@M_anonymous please keep us updated on how this goes.  I would put an official complaint in, and then contact the FOS after if needed.  As it is a sizeable about of money I would personal also contact a solicitor - £60 initial consultation should give you enough legal advice to know how far to take this.

sourcrates

No money has been paid as far as I am aware, and you do not need a solicitor, you just require written agreement.
No settlement offer is legally binding unless all bases are covered in the letter, and even then debt collectors can sell on the remaining balance for someone else to chase you for.
Dosen’t happen that much nowadays, but bottom end collectors still try it on occasionally. 

Galloglass

I read it the same way as @richardadc - though don't see it as a contract.

The issue is though whether the agent working for Wescott had the authority to accept the offer and the details of the communication about the offer. Whose debt was it that Wescott was managing?

Now the bad news..
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foakes_v_Beer

nyermen

M_anonymous said:

I had a settlement letter through the door stating what had been agreed on the phone and payment was made.  

The dodgy part here in my mind is what stops them making an offer they think will be accepted (eg. 50%), taking payment (like above) then saying "nope, mistake, we want 100%".  Or just handing it back to the original creditor.  They've managed to grab half the debt.
Am I missing something?  Is my brain having an early morning failure?

Galloglass

Depends on what has been agreed as a variation to the original terms as it is not a new contract. Just [potentially] an agreed change to the terms of the old one. 

Then it gets into the realms of whether Wescott could agree on behalf of the creditor and the limits of Wescott's remit - balanced against what a reasonable person may imply from the correspondence. 

The key is who the creditor is, and what regulation covers them. So was a a loan covered by the CCA, or a bank loan, or a simple money debt? Was it assigned etc.

Unless there is detail, it's all speculation.

Karonher

sourcrates said:

No money has been paid as far as I am aware, and you do not need a solicitor, you just require written agreement.
No settlement offer is legally binding unless all bases are covered in the letter, and even then debt collectors can sell on the remaining balance for someone else to chase you for.
Dosen’t happen that much nowadays, but bottom end collectors still try it on occasionally. 

It does say that the payment has already been made.

sourcrates

Karonher said:

sourcrates said:

No money has been paid as far as I am aware, and you do not need a solicitor, you just require written agreement.
No settlement offer is legally binding unless all bases are covered in the letter, and even then debt collectors can sell on the remaining balance for someone else to chase you for.
Dosen’t happen that much nowadays, but bottom end collectors still try it on occasionally. 

It does say that the payment has already been made.

Your right, it does.
Basic first lesson is never pay anything until you have it in writing, and even then things can go wrong.

M_anonymous

Hi, 

I did have it in writing with the letter. Payment was made after the letter received. As far as I'm concerned. Case closed. 

The debt was for a Barclaycard credit card. 

Will see what they come back with I suppose. 

Like someone said above, if they accept offers of these partial settlement values, then change their mind "because of an error" every single partial settlement could be dragged back up for full payment down the line. Doesn't make sense. 

Galloglass

If it is Barclaycard debt, and not a debt sold onto Lowell or others, then you can take the issue up with the Financial Ombudsman. Until the debt is cleared, FOS is still operational. So Barclays/Wescott might decide that there is no debt rather than face the FO. 

Find out the Barclaycard pre-FO complaints system and start using it.

As a side issue, if you have any accounts with Barclays not just the CC one, then move them. And don't bank with Barclays again.