Full & Final settlement advice

budg13

An update on my situation.

My two largest creditors (£13,500 and £10,000 respectively) accepted full & final settlement offers of £3,400 and £2,500 respectively.

My overall unsecured debt has therefore reduced from just south of £40,000, down to circa £15,000. Some way to go still, but a relative good news story for anyone reading who is considering taking a full & final, albeit partial settlement offer approach to multiple creditors.

penguin10

Well done with those settlement figures.
My sister is trying to get similar sorted with Lowell and Link.  She has been on DMP for about 10 years and at least another 10 to do. She offered 10% then 20% but they aren't going any lower than about 70%.This is for various amounts - she has about 9 accounts I think  - totalling around £5,000
She has another 2 debts with Cabot for around £10,000 they wouldn't budge and just said they wanted all.
A smaller one with Nationwide (£300) or so but it hasn't been sold on so is there any point in asking for a reduction?
Any tips would be appreciated to pass onto her
Thanks 

sourcrates

@penguin10

Has your sister sent CCA requests to all relevant creditors for the accounts she holds?

If not she should, its the very first step in the settlement dance.

penguin10

@sourcrates

No she hasn't done that.  She knows she owes the money and signed up to all these loans/cards so is there any point in doing so?  If so can you explain the process please and explain why this is what she should do?  She has been paying towards these via PayPlan for 10 years or so already. And although she hopes to finalise the debts by not paying off in 100% full if possible, she does accept she owes them the money.

sourcrates

I could go on about the entire fractional banking system we have in this country, how they lend you money they don`t actually have, and charge you top dollar for doing so.

Instead I`ll stick to your statutory rights, nearly all lending is governed by the consumer credit act, sec 77/79 of that act gives a debtor certain rights, one of them being the right to ask for a copy of their original credit agreement, at any time, so long as a balance is owing on the account.

Failure to provide a copy or a re-constituted copy, means that whilst the breach exists, the creditor cannot take legal action against you to recover the debt, no matter how long that breach may last.
Basically she can just walk away or make very small settlement offers.

Debt Camel explains the process in detail:

Debts - why, how & when to ask for the CCA agreement · Debt Camel

This is a basic first step to ascertain whether an account is enforceable or not, so you can save your money on those that paperwork cannot be provided for, keeping in mind these debt buyers pay around 12p in the £ for these accounts, the original creditors long since having written them off to tax.

penguin10

@sourcrates

Thanks - that's very useful and I will pass it on.
Whether she does it or not - I'm not sure.
She seems to just want the debts to be reduced and be seen to making 'final' payments.
Discounts of 60 or 70% won't be enough though - she's hoping for more in the line of what @budg13 got I think.

sourcrates

penguin10 said:

@sourcrates

Thanks - that's very useful and I will pass it on.
Whether she does it or not - I'm not sure.
She seems to just want the debts to be reduced and be seen to making 'final' payments.
Discounts of 60 or 70% won't be enough though - she's hoping for more in the line of what @budg13 got I think.

Then she must use every weapon in her arsenal, they don`t give discounts of that degree to everyone.

Its all about using the system to your own advantage, just like the debt buying companies do, making a CCA request is a vital first step in that dance, failure to comply, she can just walk away should she choose to do so.

Good luck to her, but she needs to get wise if she wants to play this game.

budg13

penguin10 said:

@sourcrates

Thanks - that's very useful and I will pass it on.
Whether she does it or not - I'm not sure.
She seems to just want the debts to be reduced and be seen to making 'final' payments.
Discounts of 60 or 70% won't be enough though - she's hoping for more in the line of what @budg13 got I think.

Agree she really shouldn’t push for those CCA’a as suggested. She is at a very different stage of her journey than I am anyway.

I’ve had a couple of decent results, but hasn’t stopped other lenders being a lot more difficult, as is their prerogative.

I went into my offer process treating them
all equally, as I’m supposed to. But they don’t quite return the favour, so I’m back to fighting on different levels with 5 or 6 now.

Good luck, and keep us posted.

penguin10

A little update - my sister did send the CCA letters and got 2 back from Cabot.
One related to a santander card original debt and they said they have requested the details from santander but haven't got them yet and will be in touch. 'agreement may be unenforceable at this stage ..the balance remains outstanding.' - I guess she then gives them more time on this one?
The 2nd one related to an original northern rock loan and it states that NRock are not able to provide this information at this time but if it becomes available soon, they will sent it out. Says the account is unenforceable. But if the info becomes available it will become enforceable if received within the relevant limitation period.
Should she just stop paying her small monthly amount towards this debt now? Does she need to let cabot know she's no longer going to pay?  Is there just a small chance the CCA will be found and she might need to start paying again? What does the relevant limitation period refer to?
This is an old debt and about half of it has already been paid off through DMP - no defaults show on her credit file.
She hasn't heard back from Lowell about CCA yet but they did agree on a settlement figure of just less than 25% on one of the debts so that's good news too.

budg13

Some good news there. Let’s hope for more for her!

Northern Rock - now that’s a blast from the past!!