Pay "offer" to settle IVA after defaults and account no longer appear on credit file?

IvyChivey

Hi 

My partner and I defaulted on credit agreements over 10 years ago and entered in IVAs with the lenders.  Subsequently these debts have been sold on to various companies, sometimes sold multiple times (as seems to be the case for a lot of people)

Whilst we've kept up with the monthly agreed payments, increasing them where we can afford them I've noticed that they are no longer on my credit file (Equifax)

A couple of the debt management companies have approached me recently with "settlement offers", a discounted % of the balance owed, and having come into a small windfall it is tempting to take at least one offer up.  

However, having worked hard to get my credit score back I'm unsure what would the effect of paying the "offer" would do to my credit file - I still have a long term plan to repay these agreements in full, but obviously an offer like this is tempting.

Will taking up an "offer" have an impact on my credit file?

Any advice or information, would be greatly appreciated.

Grumpelstiltskin

Hang on So both you and your partner did IVA's?

Did you complete the IVA? If so the debts should have been included and cleared at the end.

RAS

When did you start your IVAs and when did they end? 

You shouldn't have been paying anything to anyone except your IP from the date the IVA started.

IvyChivey

We agreed the arrangements with the various lenders.  These lenders then sold on the debts.  We agreed with companies that bought the debts (Cabot, Lowell, Moorcroft are the names I can remember off the top of my head) each time agreeing with them that we would continue what we had agreed with the initial lender - or in a couple of scenarios increasing what we were paying after going through I&E / affordability forms.

Why shouldn't I have been paying anything to anyone other than the initial lendor?  I thought when a credit company buys the debt, then I need to pay the credit agency.

Grumpelstiltskin

Are you sure you did an IVA?

If you did you should have been paying the IVA provider and not any creditors.

IvyChivey

apologies if I used the term IVA incorrectly, I must admit I'm confused by it, because technically we entered into a voluntary arrangement with each lendor.

I remember we went to a website at the time following advice from our bank, downloaded various forms / documents from there - completed an affordability form with an offer of payment to each lendor, creating the voluntary payment amount to each - sent them each a copy, interest agreed to be frozen, offer of payment agreed and that is when we started making the payments.

When the debts were sold on, we either kept the payments the same or where possible increased them.

Again, apologies if I have used IVA in the wrong sense.   Too many acronyms in the finance world for essentially just paying lol

Grumpelstiltskin

OK That's a big difference.

Your mistake was to keep paying, your credit file will be trashed for 6 years after your final payments assuming the accounts have never been defaulted.

Ho much is involved in outstanding debt?

IvyChivey

Debt left approx 12k

Confused with what you are saying

Are you saying I don't need to keep paying them?
Are you saying my credit file will be trashed from when they are fully repaid or part repaid ?  Or that it was trashed for 6 years from when I defaulted?

Grumpelstiltskin

If you had asked for help when this first started you would have been advised probably differently, not just to carry on paying for more than 10 years.

You could have been in a position some years ago to offer low settlements.

IvyChivey

Firstly, thanks for your patience.  I assumed because the bank signposted me to an appropriate website that the advice given on there was good. 

A couple of the companies have offered me a low settlement figure.  What I want to know is though, will paying the low settlement figure effect my credit file.

I will mention again, not one of these outstanding debts are showing on my credit file at all.

IvyChivey

Sorry for double post.  

To clarify my option with an early settlement.

I have enough of a windfall to either pay one off in full (repaying the full amount borrowed) or to repay two accounts at the offered settlement figure.

What effect does either repayment option have on my credit file.