Full and final settlement

hazzaboy

Myself and my soon to be ex husband have been in a self managed dmp for 6 years.  His business went into liquidation in 2013 and we got into £75k of debt that is made up of 8 credit cards and 2 overdrafts.  These were all  defaulted in 2019 so no longer appear on our credit files.  One of the overdrafts which is on a joint account was not defaulted until 2020 so we have another year before that drops off.  We have been paying £95 a month for the dmp so we will most certainly die before clearing the debts.  We have just sold our house due to the divorce and we had a small amount of equity that we have agreed to use to offer final settlements to try and clear these debts.  I have seen the template letter to use on national debt line with the wording required.  Most of the debts have been handed over at least once and have offered us settlements previously but we were not in a position to pay then but I am hopeful that they will accept partial settlements now.  

I wondered is it acceptable to negotiate a settlement on the phone and ask them to confirm their agreement in writing or is it better to email or send letters regarding settlement offers?  

The majority of the debts are in my exes name so he will be doing the negotiating but he prefers to speak on the phone rather than put it in writing so this is my reason for asking.  

I am particularly keen to get this sorted as I am hoping to get a mortgage in the future and would like a clean slate and don’t wish this debt to affect this. I appreciate at the moment the one default still showing does have a bearing on my ability to get a mortgage. 

Thanks for any advice 

fatbelly

Make the initial approach by email/letter and see what comes back. Start low

If they suggest a higher figure than you offered then that is the time to get on the phone

RAS

Low means around 20% unless it's PRA, when you can offer that but expect them to come back wanting 80% plus.

hazzaboy

fatbelly said:

Make the initial approach by email/letter and see what comes back. Start low

If they suggest a higher figure than you offered then that is the time to get on the phone

Ok that’s great thanks, I am going in with an offer of 20% and I shall put it in writing.  Do I have to include an income and expenditure sheet as well or is that not necessary?  My ex is better on the phone so if they refuse the offers he will get on the phone to them.  

hazzaboy

RAS said:

Low means around 20% unless it's PRA, when you can offer that but expect them to come back wanting 80% plus.

Ok thanks.  Yes I’m offering 20%, two of them are with PRA but they have previously asked for 50% when we didn’t have the funds so I’m hopeful they worse case they will still accept that.