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Getting Rid Of Card and Loan Debt . . Can I Negotiate?

Ok Im new to this so please be gentle . .and if this is the wrong thread category please point me in the right direction.

Back in 2001 I took out several loans and credit cards . . .around 2 years after i became unemployed and shortly after that I entered full time education for a further 3 years followed by unemployment until recently. During my period of unemployment/education I was unable to meet the extortionate repayments and so entered into a debt management scheme with the cccs which has been a great. However it appears I will shortly be recieving a one off lump some of money as a gift and I wish to use this to try and get rid of my debt so i can mend my rating and think about a mortgage.

On paper my debt is around £8000 to 5 creditors and 2 of these accounts have now been passed on to debt collection agencies. My question is . . is there any way to negotiate reduced settlemets with these people? and if so how do I go about it? If I can get around £3000 knocked off across the 5 accounts i can pay it all off in lump sums, is this an unrealistic expectation? Please please let me know!!!

Comments

  • freddy08
    freddy08 Posts: 52 Forumite
    Yes if your debts are in the hands of debt collectors you can negotiate a reduced full and final settlement. You need to contact the debt collectors yourself and make them an offer, my advice would be to offer 50% of each debt at the most.
    Debt collection companies purchase debts from the banks often for a fraction of their value.
  • CLAPTON
    CLAPTON Posts: 41,865 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    do make sure you get everything in writing that is clear and unambiguous.
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