Please Can You Help?!

bluenoze22 · 23rd February 2007, 10:11

Morning All,

I had a student overdraft account with RBS which i no longer use (£1400), which was sent to Moorcroft Debt Recoveries as i wasn't paying anything into it; i think i had been receiving letters but to be honest due to moving addresses i never saw them.

I have been paying Moorcroft £30 per month for a few months and am now in a position to pay it off, i spoke to one person who said who said they can give me about 20% off the debt (which at 1st i thought, that is good!) but yesterday i spoke to a lady saying that it would be best for my credit history to pay it all off as it honors the original debt.

My concern is that (**i guess**) have already received a default for this debt so wouldn’t my credit rating be shot for the next 6 years anyway?! (**Please advise me**)

My basic question to you all is do i pay the full settlement or do i take the discount?

Many Thanks in advance

Bluenoze22

Glenn UK · 23rd February 2007, 11:28

Before making any hasty decisions the student debt does it have a substantial amount of charges on it?

If it does then it may be worthwhile disputing the account balance and submitting a counter claim for the charges.

Even if it doesn't pay off the whole debt it will help. then you can settle the outstanding balance or not as the case may be.

With respect to the default, if you have charges attached to the debt and they are more than or equal to the value of the debt for which you were defaulted make settlement of the claim subject to the removal of the default.

Ultimately pay the money, ask for a bigger discount (as a rule no one ever offers the discount they are prepared to give up front, if they offer one they will accept less, if they don't offer then they may take less but i wouldn't bank on it, your company has offered 20% which means you can probably get 25, 30 or maybe more if you haggle hard).

If you have already been defaulted then its unlikely they will remove it without a fight, on this basis you don't have anything to lose and something to gain by disputing the account balance and reclaiming the charges.

Also if you have already been defaulted then negotiating a short settlement will make no difference to that default, only thing is that it will be marked as such.

JMHO

Glenn

bluenoze22 · 23rd February 2007, 11:42

Thanks for the information Glenn, with regards to charges i dont think there have been many. The overdraft limit was that of £1400 so is basically just the amount of the overdraft and maybe about 2 or 3 charges so nothing really to write home about.

My only issue is the fact im not the most confident of people on the phone and ive a feeling i may be weak at negotiating! Is there anything specific i need to say? apart from say ive only got £500 available and thats all i can offer sort of thing?!

Thanks again mate.

Glenn UK · 23rd February 2007, 11:57

not a lot really but i would put it in writing anyway especially if you're not good at negotiating.

And re the charges if your happy with the status quo its your choice -personally i would reclaim its better in your pocket than theirs.

Glenn

bluenoze22 · 23rd February 2007, 12:15

Yes, i think it would be the best way; i've the money in my account so i surpose i can make some small interest on it!!

Glenn I can see lots of documentation on the site regarding bank charges etc but is there any good words/quotes i could use in offering a settlement to these people at all?

Cheers

Glenn UK · 23rd February 2007, 12:21

i dont think theres a template for this anywhere, if you want to draft something and post it then we can comment if it would help

glenn

bluenoze22 · 23rd February 2007, 12:59

Something like this????????

Address Line 1

Address Line 2

Address Line 3

Moorcroft Reference:

To Whom It May Concern:

I am aware that Moorcroft have been dealing with my account for a few months now and I am currently encountering difficulties. I am hoping in the near future to be able to pay as much as I can but it is no way feasible for me to settle the full balance of **balance**

However, I will be able to guarantee a settlement offer of **amount** by your requested date. I am aware of credit implications and the fact that not being able to fore fill the full balance may have a detrimental effect on my credit rating but unfortunately this is all I can offer.

I await your response to my offer.

Regards,

Glenn UK · 23rd February 2007, 13:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by bluenoze22

Something like this????????

Address Line 1

Address Line 2
Address Line 3

Moorcroft Reference:

To Whom It May Concern:

I am aware that Moorcroft have been dealing with my account for a few months now and I am currently encountering financial difficulties. I am hoping in the near future to be able to pay as much as I can but it is currently not feasible for me to settle the full balance of **balance** .

However, I may be able to raise some funds privately and therefore can make a settlement offer. At this time I an not certain exactly how much I can raise, however, i feel confident that I could raise **amount** by your requested date and would therefore be comforntable making you this offer of settlement

. I am aware of credit implications and the fact that not being able to fore fill the full balance may have a detrimental effect on my credit rating but unfortunately this is all I can offer.

In the event that this offer is unacceptable then i will continue to pay the current monthly payment until the debt is repaid.

I await your response to my offer.

Regards,

I have made some suggested alterations.

1st off they have to have a reason to short settle and this is primarily to get a lump sum back today rahter than wait for months/years to get their money back.

Secondly if they think you can repay x then they wont accept x-1. so you have to suggest that if they dont accept the offer then they wont get any more than they are getting now.

Your offer should be lower than what you can afford so that if/when they respond with a counter off/rejection then you can respond positively.

I short settled five creidtors a while back and its a gem, they wont tell you how much they will accept, by the same token to tell them exactly how much you can afford is deafeatist in my view.

In my case i had to raise some funds privately and some via a remortgage so i genuinely didnt know exactly how much i would end up with.

in the end i offered 65% which was accepted and it saved me a 7 grand on a 24k debt. If i had known then what i know now i might have managed to save more but thats life.

HTH

Glenn

bluenoze22 · 23rd February 2007, 14:25

Glenn,

That is a great help that is, thank you so much. currently i am paying them £30 per month which when i offered that to them a while back they where very happy as they are used to £1 per month! Do you think it would be wise to say at the end of the letter where you have put...

In the event that this offer is unacceptable then i will continue to pay the current monthly payment until the debt is repaid.

maybe change it to....

In the event that this offer is unacceptable then i will have to reduce my monthly payment to £5 per month until the debt is repaid.

Just an idea, what do you think.

And again many thanks for you views

Glenn UK · 23rd February 2007, 14:29

Only if you can justify the decrease based on your income and expenditure schedule.

In truth the offer of the majority of the sum up front is a draw for them, there are some issues re making sure they cannot chase you for the rest of the debt.

basically when you have agreed the figure they will settle for, when you pay them add another £1.00 on to the sum.

when you right to them with the cheque tell them you have paid £1 in cosideration that the settlement is a full and final settlement.

basically in law you cannot be forced to accept less for a debt that you are owed, this may have changed but i cannot remmebr where i saw/heard this, so to be on the safe side if you pay 'some consideration' then you can 'buy' the full and finla settlement.

HTH

glenn

bluenoze22 · 23rd February 2007, 14:35

Ok Glenn,

So the plan is this, send the re-vamped letter that you have done offer say half? £700? ---await response

and basically take it from there?

Glenn UK · 23rd February 2007, 14:37

thats a plan i think.

I should add that be optimistic but in the end you may not save that much, you wont know without trying though, i saved 35% of my debt others i have heard of saved more and some less.

good luck

Glenn

bluenoze22 · 23rd February 2007, 14:38

excellent, ill just be cheeky tongue in cheek they can only say no!

ill will keep you posted and thanks again.

bluenoze22 · 26th February 2007, 09:52

Letter will be sent recorded delivery this morning, i will post my findings!

bluenoze22 · 26th February 2007, 16:54

Hi Glen

I think i made a bit of an error when sending that letter to moorcroft, I have only offered them £500 rather than the £700 i was going to originally offer them! Is this going to cause them to tell me to "Do 1!"?

Glenn UK · 26th February 2007, 16:57

LOL

I expect they would tell you to DO 1 as you put it if you had sent them an offer of £700, now at least you can haggle upwards a little and still be within your ffer.

In turth haggling ias a bit of a black art, what works for some doesnt for others.

JMHO

glenn

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