DCA Advice Please

Sammy_Girl

Hi all,
I have been reading the many DCA posts with interests and have some questions that I hope may be answered.

3 of my debts were transferred to DCAs. To be honest, I have never had a problem speaking to the guys. Maybe I'm lucky, but all of the staff that I have spoken to at the DCAs have been very polite and helpful. Obviously they're after their cut, but I have not found them threatning or mean :T


The first one ( I forget the name) let me clear the debt as a settlement figure.

This leaves me with 2. The first I am paying 2 more payments and then this will clear me on that one. The last one is where I have my question. I currently pay £203 a month, and have done so since November. Once I clear the second one above, my plan was to add this payment to the £203 and pay them until the debt is cleared. By these calculations the debt will be paid by Christmas. :T Would you guys advise that i do this method or should I continue paying the £203 as normal and then put the extra into a savings account and see if they will offer me a settlement figure maybe in October. Or will it show on my credit report that I haven't paid the full amount due. Any advice would be much appreciated. Thank you.

stapeley

WELLDONE ON BEHALF OF THE DEBT COLLECTION INDUSTRY
I would like to award you the honour of being the CUSTOMER OF THE YEAR !
If I was in a position to pay 85% of a debt in one go , I am sure the DCA hounding me would be very nice to me to .
If I was paying off £200 a month to my other DCA , I,m sure they would say please and thankyou .
If I was able to pay £1400 within two months , I,m sure I would get a EASTER EGG and a card at Christmas .

stapeley

Facts are that most people are not in this position . Most are almost living hand to mouth . There are people who have been conned into believing that BAILIFFS were on there way, if payment were not made there and then ! People have been called at all hours with demands for payment . In the most part they are scumbags with no morals .
DCA purchase bad debts for 20p in the pound . In many cases without obtaining proof of a debt ,ie no CCA. When they come across a easy touch, I bet they throw a office party !

scooterwife

thats a bit harsh. I've spoken to one or two nice ones and they work for 1st Credit!!!!! (I suspect they were on work experience though)

Sammy-girl ,I would suggest saving the money in a savings account and then try and get a 'full & final settlement' figure somewhere between 30 to 50% of the balance remaining. make sure it is full and final though and in writing.

Sammy_Girl

scooterwife wrote: »

thats a bit harsh. I've spoken to one or two nice ones and they work for 1st Credit!!!!! (I suspect they were on work experience though)

Sammy-girl ,I would suggest saving the money in a savings account and then try and get a 'full & final settlement' figure somewhere between 30 to 50% of the balance remaining. make sure it is full and final though and in writing.

Thanks scooterwife. I have just read a thread about someone who was offered a settlement figure, but that it would state on their credit file the full amount was not repaid. If mine accept a settlement figure can they guarantee it will stand as a 100% cleared debt?

Many thanks

Sammy_Girl

stapeley wrote: »

Facts are that most people are not in this position . Most are almost living hand to mouth . There are people who have been conned into believing that BAILIFFS were on there way, if payment were not made there and then ! People have been called at all hours with demands for payment . In the most part they are scumbags with no morals .
DCA purchase bad debts for 20p in the pound . In many cases without obtaining proof of a debt ,ie no CCA. When they come across a easy touch, I bet they throw a office party !

I don't think that it is a case of that I am an easy touch. I have had these debts for 4-5 years and have been dodging the various DCAs for the past couple of years. Now I have come to accept my debts and am willing and wanting them to be paid off asap. I did come on here to ask for advice not to be judged and berated.

sam89

stapeley wrote: »

WELLDONE ON BEHALF OF THE DEBT COLLECTION INDUSTRY
I would like to award you the honour of being the CUSTOMER OF THE YEAR !
If I was in a position to pay 85% of a debt in one go , I am sure the DCA hounding me would be very nice to me to .
If I was paying off £200 a month to my other DCA , I,m sure they would say please and thankyou .
If I was able to pay £1400 within two months , I,m sure I would get a EASTER EGG and a card at Christmas .

That's really very rude .

Sammy girl, you've done great facing up to your debts and paying them off. :T

For what it's worth I would save the money and offer them a full and final in October. Then you have an emergency fund for between now and then as well.

Sam,
x.

freddy08

Sammy_Girl wrote: »

I don't think that it is a case of that I am an easy touch. I have had these debts for 4-5 years and have been dodging the various DCAs for the past couple of years. Now I have come to accept my debts and am willing and wanting them to be paid off asap. I did come on here to ask for advice not to be judged and berated.

Fair play to you sammygirl, I got berated on by "guess who" on here the other day for suggesting some should negotiate with DCA's. It worked for me when I was in debt, I got vastly reduced settlements & settled on my credit file. They are only human beings doing a job not monsters, if you call them then there is no need for them to hound you day & night.

Your faced up to you debts, are well on the way to paying them off and you were open and honest on here when asking for advice.

Sammy_Girl

sam89 wrote: »

That's really very rude .

Sammy girl, you've done great facing up to your debts and paying them off. :T

For what it's worth I would save the money and offer them a full and final in October. Then you have an emergency fund for between now and then as well.

Sam,
x.

Hi Sam,
Thank you very much for your advice and kind words. I was rather taken aback from that other post, but I will get over it!! Since Nov I have really tightened my belt so hard that my salary just pays for household bills and my debts. I have no luxuries, but that is what I choose as I want to clear my debts as quickly as possible. I think I will prob save the money before offering a final settlement. I just don't know if I can trust myself not to spend the money as I don't have any savings, and it might prove too tempting. I will look into an account where I can't withdraw without notice. Thank you.

Sammy_Girl

freddy08 wrote: »

Fair play to you sammygirl, I got berated on by "guess who" on here the other day for suggesting some should negotiate with DCA's. It worked for me when I was in debt, I got vastly reduced settlements & settled on my credit file. They are only human beings doing a job not monsters, if you call them then there is no need for them to hound you day & night.

Your faced up to you debts, are well on the way to paying them off and you were open and honest on here when asking for advice.

Hi Freddy,
Thank you. I was asking for advice and I don't think "guess who" gave me some particularly good advice. I am new to this forum and have read many posts over the last couple of weeks and thought the support was fantastic. Its true when you say that the workers at DCA are only doing their job. I should imagine that they have a high level of staff turnover as I guess you can't get much job satisfaction from asking people for money all day! RE your settlements, do you know what % of the full debt they settled for. Obviously I would like as low as possible, but I don't want it to appear on my file as an unpaid debt.
Many thanks

freddy08

I settled for roughly 30-50%, before I paid I got in writing from them that they are accepting the amount as a full & final settlement, I gave it a few months then checked my credit file and the defaults showed as settled.