Full and final settlement help thread

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  • Weggy,
    There is light at the end of the tunnel. I started to go into debt about 9 years ago and before long, had run up debts of around 50K. Sounds a lot but much of that was borrowing from one company to repay another. (Sound familiar to many?)
    Anyway, I talked it through with my partner whose mum was a Citizens Advise Bureaux advisor. She put me in touch with a financial advisor from the CAB who basically did what all those companies who advertise on the TV charge for.
    Last year, I was still about 46K in debt when a mortgage company rang me to see if I wanted a mortgage!!!!!
    During the conversation, I said I was in no position to be able to apply due to my debts and my repayment programme - I went into detail and she basically told me to ring the companies who I had these arrangements with. This I did and I managed to get that debt reduced from 46K to 24K. It took a day but who can argue with being paid 22K for 7 hours work?
    And to top it all, that company then gave me a mortgage at a pretty good rate so I am now a proud home owner.
    My outgoings have reduced by about £700.00 per month and I am the happiest I have been in a long time.
    Companies I dealt with are Barclays, Lloyds, RBS Advanta, MBNA, GE Capital and 2 collection agencies - Moorcroft and BLS.
    Go for it Weggy, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

    Ched
  • Weggy
    Weggy Posts: 462
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    Thanks Ched!
    I've managed to negotiate with some, and agreed full and finals but others are being very stubborn..... Mostly Wescot but 1st Credit and Intrum Justitia are also being unhelpful!!
    You seem very lucky that most were still in house... all of mine have gone to DCA's.
  • No problem Weggy,

    To be honest, I think it was the fact that I made contact with the banks etc via the information I got free of charge through the CAB rather than going through companies who are only making money out of other peoples crisis'
    For anybody esle in a similar situation, don't ignore it. I know you have probably heard it all before but I can tell you from personal experience, the longer you leave it, the worse it becomes.
    As soon as you make contact, in most cases, the banks will help.
    Ask them to freeze interest while you negotaite.
    Give them all the information they need - don't be embarrassed about the amount of debt - I have had people on the phone in some banks / credit card companies telling me that 50K is nothing compared to some.
    That in itself is a frightening thought as these companies were / are lending irresponsibley.

    Good luck.

    Ched
  • Does anyone have any ideas on how to get Bank of Scotland Mastercard agree on some sort of reduced payments or a F&F.
    I'm currently over my limit therefore they are charging me £25 a month plus around £39 repayment cover plus my monthly payment, so I'm paying around £99 per month which only taking about £30 off my balance of £4900, £200 over my limit! When I have contacted them they said that I need to contact a debt company, but I have only got a problem with this 1 credit card! Should I cancel my direct debit? Sooo many questions, its getting me really down I cant believe people have got 50% off there outstanding bills!! Please help :confused:
  • Weggy
    Weggy Posts: 462
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    I dont think they'll take any sort of settlement offer until you've fallen seriously behind or have even stopped paying completely.

    Not being rude, but if you can only pay £99 a month on a CC of nearly £5000 then maybe you need to look at your income and expenditure? Even without taking interest into account, that would that 50 months to pay off, at that current rate of payment.....
  • I am in the same position , I am in the process of making an offer of £5,000 to pay of £12,000 to one creditor. What do you think the chances of this happening are? I am not too confident myself but it is the onl amount I am able to give so I thought it would be worth a shot.

    Your opinions would be appreciated
  • digp
    digp Posts: 2,013
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    F&FSs are unenforceable at law subject to a few exceptions!
  • HI delaney,

    It depends how far the debt is along. If your have missed many payments and the debt is quite ole then you may be lucky, but if it is newer and has only recently been passed over to debt collectors, 5k maybe too little.

    If they dont accept it, you could just leave the debt as it is, and try and save more and add to the 5k and then in 6m make another offer. I do not know if this is even allowed/ the norm, its just an idea.

    Good Luck.
  • Weggie

    Yeah thanks for the income & expenditure lecture!! Feel cack as it is, recently been made unemployed & husband in the middle of Iraq, so I am well aware of the amount of time its going to take to pay off! The are hundreds & thousand of people in debt hence this forum!!!
  • fatbelly
    fatbelly Posts: 20,342
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    bham-dave wrote:
    MBNA recently offered to settle for 30% of my debt. (Yep folks, 70% off immediately with no quibbles :eek:)

    Saw a letter today from MBNA offering to settle for 40p in the £. That was an unsolicited opening offer so 30p should be possible with a bit of negotiation there too. Unfortunately the person with the debt has no way of meeting the sum.
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