do I pay off one debt first or do I try pay them off altogether

jessicathompson198

I have two out standing debts - EE which is £837 - ACI - £2600 I am currently paying £150 towards each of them. I have worked out my finances for next year and could possibly pay £200 towards each of them till paid off. my partner suggested i focus on getting one paid of first instead of attempting both, but I would really like to be debt free by September / October 2026. 
what can anyone suggest should I try and pay them off at same time or pick the lowest first then pay off the highest one. 

Spendless

Are either of them attracting interest? 

jessicathompson198

No one is defaulted through EE and the other is a debt that been sold on.

fatbelly

ACI have bought some very dodgy debts.

Are you sure this is yours/isn't statute barred/can provide a cca?

Jemma01

It's really up to you, I'd be motivated if I cleared one, so I'd continue to pay 150 for the big one and 250 for the smaller one, that way I clear one of them fast, then I only have one to worry about. But either way, whichever approach to paying you choose 50/50 or 65/35, you'll clear them in the same time frame (sep/oct).

Rob5342

jessicathompson198 said:

No one is defaulted through EE and the other is a debt that been sold on.

What is the default state and payment arrangement state of each of them? Normally I would expect a sold on debt to be defaulted and a debt that's still with the original creditor to be on a payment arrangement if theres no interest.

Paying them off in full shouldn't be your first thought, with cca requests and settlement offers you can often pay less or nothing. 

enthusiasticsaver

I would ask if they will agree to a settlement.  If you have £400 available from January that will repay it all off by September. You can either pay it off proportionately by £100 to EE and £300 to ACI or maybe if neither are charging interest and you don't get a F and F payment my inclination would be to carry on with £150 to EE which will repay that by May/June and put the additional £100 to ACI so £250 to that to reduce the balance quicker. Once EE is repaid in May/June throw everything at ACI. 

Alternatively stop everything to ACI and EE and save for F and Fs. 

MasterG83

I am an advocate for the snowball method, which means paying the smallest debts first regardless of interest, paying the minimums on anything else, then once paid, use the amount you were paying to add to the payment for the next debt. 
Its proven that our debt management is much more than just numbers, its phycological too, and quick wins help boost the feeling of winning when debts are cleared and closed. 

jessicathompson198

ACI I don't really have much about them as they send me letters from a loan I had with Oakbrook finance which was part of likely loans, They send me letters to say they have bought the debt off them but they don't appear on any of my credit scores with Equifax and Experian. Likely loans does but the on there information it say its settled but ACI have never told me about a default or anything, they just send me letters about paying them and setting up payment plans. ACI have offered payment plan of £150 but I know they did want originally what likely loans where getting which was £184. 
EE defaulted in May 2023 - Again don't really get much out of them they send the occasional letter but nothing about the debt or repayments they gave me bank details which are there's. They haven't really spoke to me about payment plan they just wan the debt paid. 

I haven't asked about cca or settlement figures as thought with Phone debt you have to pay it all and ACI there never an option on there portal for a settlement figure. 

What is a CCA and F and F sorry if really dumb question not really looked into debt help well 

Martico

CCA is the consumer credit agreement, effectively the contract you originally signed to access the credit. If the creditor can't provide this, the debt is unenforceable. 

F and F stands for "Full and Final" - shorthand for a mutually agreed payment to close the debt. Companies buy the debt for pennies in the pound, so after a long period of token payments, many will accept an offer of under 50% of the total outstanding to get the debt off their books

jessicathompson198

I decided to do the snow ball effect if its called pay my EE bill off first, I'm still waiting for my CCA agreement of ACI. I am thinking of writing an email to ACI for F AND F as it will be £1300 to owe them and that is manageable to pay off rather than the original amount they want.