Settlement offer from DCA - should I accept?

lucie_abc

I'm posting here as I have no idea what to do for the best.

I missed about 4 cc payments on my BOS visa, and received a letter from Apex credit management asking me to phone them to discuss the debt. A day later another one came from them saying I had been selected to receive a discounted settlement rate, and to call for more info. My debt is £1400ish, and they offered to accept £1250. I then counter offered £1k a few days later, but they have said that BOS will not accept that and £1250 is as low as they will go (apparently the woman said they have a figure on their screen and anything lower will not be accepted by BOS?) I asked her to go back to BOS with the offer and she refused, saying they wouldn't accept it, and that the offer of the £1250 settlement would be witrhdrawn on Tuesday. She was hassling me to give her all my details so I could be put on a payment plan then and there but I refused as I was at work. My parents are (very kindly) bailing me out by paying the debt so I don't want to risk them having to pay the full amount because I'm being greedy for a greater reduction, should we just pay the £1250 or offer £1k in writing? Thanks in advance for your input.

nzseries1

I don't think you'll get much sympathy from around here. I bet that the majority of people will say that since you owe £1,400, then you should pay £1,400. I am one of those people.

lucie_abc

i'm not looking for sympathy, but some advice would be nice!

bethanyrayne

lucie_abc wrote: »

I'm posting here as I have no idea what to do for the best.

I missed about 4 cc payments on my BOS visa, and received a letter from Apex credit management asking me to phone them to discuss the debt. A day later another one came from them saying I had been selected to receive a discounted settlement rate, and to call for more info. My debt is £1400ish, and they offered to accept £1250. I then counter offered £1k a few days later, but they have said that BOS will not accept that and £1250 is as low as they will go (apparently the woman said they have a figure on their screen and anything lower will not be accepted by BOS?) I asked her to go back to BOS with the offer and she refused, saying they wouldn't accept it, and that the offer of the £1250 settlement would be witrhdrawn on Tuesday. She was hassling me to give her all my details so I could be put on a payment plan then and there but I refused as I was at work. My parents are (very kindly) bailing me out by paying the debt so I don't want to risk them having to pay the full amount because I'm being greedy for a greater reduction, should we just pay the £1250 or offer £1k in writing? Thanks in advance for your input.

If, at the moment you are just 4 months in arrears I would just pay the balance in full.

It will avoid your credit file being marked with partial settlement which, is worse than 4 payments missed and then settled.

lucie_abc

thanks for the response - anything i paid would be on the understanding that my file is marked as settled, not partially settled.

nzseries1

You're being quite authorative, but I fear it won't get you anywhere. The bank holds the power. If you tell them that you want to only partially settle your account, but want them to mark it as settled, you will be laughed out of the bank.

You can "understand" all you want - you can be on the understanding that they will come and pick you and your payment up in a limousine, and throw you a party at the Ritz. It ain't gonna happen!

battyboimatt

I got a F+F settlement figure once from henderson booth and snell for a old Barclaycard debt which was £1350 they said they would knock it down to £800 I said I couldnt get my hands on that much cash, she then shocked me by saying how much could I get my hands on, I said £500 she said fine she would accept that, I asked for it in wrighitng and it came the next day, saying it would be a full and final settlement and no one else would come after it and would be marked as settled, I sent the cheque and they did as promised so I was well pleased, am much better educated now and have my debts under control

lucie_abc

nzseries1 wrote: »

You're being quite authorative, but I fear it won't get you anywhere. The bank holds the power. If you tell them that you want to only partially settle your account, but want them to mark it as settled, you will be laughed out of the bank.

You can "understand" all you want - you can be on the understanding that they will come and pick you and your payment up in a limousine, and throw you a party at the Ritz. It ain't gonna happen!

the offer of a reduced settlement CAME from the bank's dca. i'm sure you don't mean to come across as rude as you are, so thanks for your comments.

bethanyrayne

lucie_abc wrote: »

the offer of a reduced settlement CAME from the bank's dca. i'm sure you don't mean to come across as rude as you are, so thanks for your comments.

It doesn't matter where the offer came from.

If you pay less than the FULL balance in an F and F arrangement your file will be marked PARTIAL SETTLEMENT. Sorry.

lucie_abc

battyboimatt wrote: »

I got a F+F settlement figure once from henderson booth and snell for a old Barclaycard debt which was £1350 they said they would knock it down to £800 I said I couldnt get my hands on that much cash, she then shocked me by saying how much could I get my hands on, I said £500 she said fine she would accept that, I asked for it in wrighitng and it came the next day, saying it would be a full and final settlement and no one else would come after it and would be marked as settled, I sent the cheque and they did as promised so I was well pleased, am much better educated now and have my debts under control

thanks matt, that would be my best case scenario! i've read on the boards that this happens to quite a few people, but apex seem to be resistant.

lucie_abc

bethanyrayne wrote: »

It doesn't matter where the offer came from.

If you pay less than the FULL balance in an F and F arrangement your file will be marked PARTIAL SETTLEMENT. Sorry.

I did a fair bit of research on the boards before I posted and lots of people said that they paid less and the bank still marked it as settled. I have never been in this sitution before, so I'm relying on what others have posted about their experiences. Can anyone clarify?