Debt repayment rules

BarryJoe

I have three non-priority debts that are 16-years old. Total debt £16,400. I have had a repayment arrangement since then for £1 pm to each creditor. This arrangement has been trouble-free. I have now had an offer from the largest creditor (£8766) to pay this off at a substantially reduced amount (£3507) by December 11th. I can manage to do this with family help, and would like rid of this debt. But how does this impact on the remaining two debts? I don’t want to change the existing agreement, and cannot afford to. Am I safe in going ahead with this offer without further consultation with the other two creditors? Many thanks for any advice. BJ.

Grumpelstiltskin

Why on earth have you been making such small payments all this time?

If you had stopped payments they would have been statute barred after 6 years  ( 5 in Scotland ).

What were the debts exactly? loans, credit cards?

Give us more details please and we will advise you what to do.

fatbelly

Token offers is ok as a short-term strategy while something else gets put in place

If you don't have a substantial lump sum of your own then neither is settlement a good strategy, certainly not using other people's money.

We would need a full statement of affairs to give proper advice but it is more like that a DRO or cca challenge would be better, and free.

sourcrates

I`d be tempted to send CCA requests, if they are CCA debts, see how the land lies in that respect first.

BarryJoe

Thank you for your comments. Apologies for this delay. The debts are car finance (£8800), credit card (£4640), overdraft (£3000). I am disabled with mobility issues, and my income is state pension and PIP. The offer has now expired, but they are occasionally repeated by any of the three creditors. It would be helpful to have an idea of my position on this as there is no way I can meet all three debts, but even getting rid of some of it would help.

ManyWays

can I ask if you are renting or own your house?

RAS

Do you get a mobility allowance/car?

tigergambit

BarryJoe said:

I have three non-priority debts that are 16-years old. Total debt £16,400. I have had a repayment arrangement since then for £1 pm to each creditor. This arrangement has been trouble-free. I have now had an offer from the largest creditor (£8766) to pay this off at a substantially reduced amount (£3507) by December 11th. I can manage to do this with family help, and would like rid of this debt. But how does this impact on the remaining two debts? I don’t want to change the existing agreement, and cannot afford to. Am I safe in going ahead with this offer without further consultation with the other two creditors? Many thanks for any advice. BJ.

So at the moment you have an interest free loan for £16k which you are paying off at a very reasonable £36 per year. 

Why on earth would you want to make 97 years worth of payments at once to reduce the debt by half? Particularly with someone else's money. 

You're on a good thing. Don't rock the boat.

RAS

Sit on it a while longer and they'll make a better offer. When it gets low enough, make an even lower counter offer, if you want. Or just sit with the debt rolling down slowly?

SPM87

"Token offers is ok as a short-term strategy while something else gets put in place" actually it all depends on the age of debt.

likelihood is none of these have any paperwork to enforce the debt by now, you should have stopped paying small amounts a long time ago like Grumple stated. I would say a maximum of 6 years depending on the age of the agreements.

People offering very low % sums dont have any enforcement is my theory, hence why Sourcrates is suggesting you send CCA requests.. me personally I would wait for an LOC letter before asking for anything