Full &Final Debt Offer Letter Template

Amberelli

HI All,

I am in the process of creating Full and Final settlement letters for my partner for for his 3 remaining debts. I have already requested CCAs and 2 out of the 3 have come back unenforceable - the 3rd is less than £900 balance and that is the one that is enforceable.

I am going to gift him some money to clear the debts as it will be the final step of us both becoming debt free.
I have written about them before on here but essentially they are about 15 years old, he's been paying £1 or £2 off each month since defaulting - so for at least 10 years.

The three remaining (were 6) debts have been moved from one debt recovery agent to another over the years. There is now 1 with Lowell, 1 with Link and 1 with Cabot.

Could anyone possibly copy the template in this thread for me from the National Debt Helpline - I am getting an error on the page and it won't load for me. I've tried a number of browsers and tried clearing cookies but without success.
I found another template from StepChange but it looks a little sparce compared to some quotes from the letter I've seen here and I'd like to add in the bits about where the money is coming from and that it's a one time offer etc. I am hopeful we can agree a settlement asap given that they will probably never get the money back at £1/£2 a month

Thanks so much in advance

Grumpelstiltskin

Hold on why are you thinking of paying anything if the debts have been proved to be unenforceable?

sourcrates

You only need to clear the enforceable debt, you do realise that don`t you?

Don`t even think about lining pockets on debts they can`t prove are legally his.

I feel I must re-iterate that if a creditor cannot produce legal proof of liability, then the debtor is not liable under the consumer credit act to pay such a debt.

Its covered under sec 77 (4) CCA:

(1)

The creditor under a regulated agreement for fixed-sum credit, within the prescribed period after receiving a request in writing to that effect from the debtor and payment of a fee of [£1], shall give the debtor a copy of the executed agreement.

4)If the creditor under an agreement fails to comply with subsection (1)—

(a)he is not entitled, while the default continues, to enforce the agreement.

You can walk away and only pay the debt that is enforceable here.

Brie

I get an error message too when I look on National Debtline.  So why not use the StepChange one and copy and paste it here for someone to review it for you.  £900 debt only as others have said!!!

Meanwhile - more advice from Debt Camel.  Guide to Full & Final Settlements

ManyWays

This url should work but will be slow to load: 
https://web.archive.org/web/20250615044842/https://nationaldebtline.org/get-information/sample-letters/full-and-final-settlement-offer/

I agree with the others that you should not try to make an offer on unenforceable debts. (You may think they would be better off if they accept a low offer, but the debt collector knows that if they keep saying No, many people will give in and make a large settlement offer.)

Brie

ManyWays said:

This url should work but will be slow to load: 
https://web.archive.org/web/20250615044842/https://nationaldebtline.org/get-information/sample-letters/full-and-final-settlement-offer/

I agree with the others that you should not try to make an offer on unenforceable debts. (You may think they would be better off if they accept a low offer, but the debt collector knows that if they keep saying No, many people will give in and make a large settlement offer.)

another reason not to use a F&F settlement letter for the unenforceable debts is that in the body of the letter you would be accepting responsibility for the money owed.  Frankly I would remove that line completely even where the debt is enforceable.  

Amberelli

Oh really? We were just trying to get these gone. So, I need only settle the sub £900 debt through F&F? What do we do with the other 2? They are currently being paid at £1 and £2 a month. Do we stop paying them and just wait see what happens? ... then only pay/ agree a settlement if they can  provide the original credit agreement?

(We just had Barclays write off 'business decision' a £6500 debt - I found out after looking on the Lowell portal -= we weren't informed that came after my CCA request - I wonder whether that wasn't a coincidence then?)

Grumpelstiltskin

Stop paying the debts they haven't been able to prove  enforceability, you should have done this the moment they admitted  they couldn't provide the CCAs.

Rob5342

With the unenforceable ones just send them an email thanking them for confirming that they are unenforceable and that you will be stopping paying, then cancel your payment and ignore anything else they send ypu unless they do send the cca later on. 

Your strategy probably matters more then the wording of the letter with the enforceable one. Start with a low offer and if they reject it try again in 6 months or so. 

sourcrates

Amberelli said:

Oh really?  What do we do with the other 2? They are currently being paid at £1 and £2 a month. Do we stop paying them and just wait see what happens? 

Stop your payments, nothing will happen, they can`t do anything except ask you to pay, to which you can politely decline.

They are unenforceable in court, and in time will become statute barred, and just go away.

Amberelli

Thanks so much everyone who took the time to reply