D.M.P. Full and final settlement approach

Dmptogo

Hi everyone.
We have been in a DMP with Payplan for nearly 16 years.Current balance is £32000.
We have come into some money and would like to know how to approach our 11 Creditors.
We have not got £32000.It is above 10k that we may have in the next 3 months.

We have letters from 4 of our creditors offering 50% discount to settle.
Will be ringing all our creditors to see whats on offer (would like more than 50% off)
What are other peoples thoughts on how to approach?
Please be gentle with your thoughts and ideas

GreenCat80

I used this template letter to write to my creditors - https://nationaldebtline.org/sample-letters/full-and-final-settlement-offer/

Maybe start by offering them all 10% of what you owe and take it from there. Good luck! 

sourcrates

The very first thing you do is send CCA requests to all your relevant creditors.

After 16 years, none of these accounts should be showing on your credit file, so see if they can produce the correct and legal paperwork to continue receiving payments, if not, it strengthens your position when conducting negotiations, or you could just draw a line under a particular debt and walk away, but in any case, you need to know what is enforceable, and what is not, before you even mention the words "settlement offers".

Dmptogo

Thank you.
Where do I get a up to date template letter for this.Also out of the 11 creditors 4 are with Caboot 2 with Intrum do I send separate letters for all of them or contact them by email?

fatbelly

You can use email and you can combine letters.

You can adapt the National Debtline standard letter

https://nationaldebtline.org/sample-letters/full-and-final-settlement-offer/

I agree with both of the posters above, except 10% may be a bit low. However, the rule here is 'you can always go up'

You can use phone to fine-tune the deal. Make sure you get the final deal confirmed in writing either by old-fashioned letter or attachment with their letterhead.

as a first step CCA the accounts that you can - this is credit debts like loans, credit cards, catalogues but not overdrafts, mobile phones, energy bills.

https://nationaldebtline.org/sample-letters/information-about-your-agreement-under-consumer-credit-act/

Dmptogo

Thank you for advice.
Worried I could open a can of worms and they all add the interest back on.Its been frozen for the past 16 years/

fatbelly

I've never known that to happen. You're just discussing a final figure to settle at, anyway. 

sourcrates

Dmptogo said:

Thank you for advice.
Worried I could open a can of worms and they all add the interest back on. Its been frozen for the past 16 years/

Credit agreements allow the inclusion of interest and various charges for certain infractions of the agreement, whilst the agreement is in force.

Once accounts default, all interest and charges stop, because the terms of that agreement have been broken, you are no longer bound by those terms, as you are in default of that agreement.

In theory a company could reinstate interest that was previously stopped, but this virtually never happens, and would not even be in the mindset of the negotiations you would be conducting to seek a final settlement to a debt.

Would not even be on their radar.

Dmptogo

Thank you.
So basically to try and get a quick end to this I think we will go in with a very low offer to all my creditors and see waht happens.
Looking at requesting CCA could take weeks?

GreenCat80

Dmptogo said:

Thank you.
So basically to try and get a quick end to this I think we will go in with a very low offer to all my creditors and see waht happens.
Looking at requesting CCA could take weeks?

I didn’t do the CCA requests as I didn’t have time to wait. I’ve settled 2 with Cabot for 50% (I think I started at offering them 30%) and one with Capquest at 40%. There is a full and final thread on here where lots of people have shared their experiences, I found it helpful to read through it and it made me feel a bit more confident sending my offers  

sourcrates

Dmptogo said:

Thank you.
So basically to try and get a quick end to this I think we will go in with a very low offer to all my creditors and see waht happens.
Looking at requesting CCA could take weeks?

Unfortunatly you may be looking at a lot longer than that, this process can take a year or two occasionally.

Most companies, despite what they might say, are not very quick to respond to offers.

CCA requests alone could take 6 months to a year before the account status is actually confirmed, its not a quick process at all.