Quite a few people are looking at this option to clear their debts, but what is a reasonable amount to offer?

If you've cleared a debt in this way, how much was accepted (per centage is fine if you don't want to give numbers) and by which creditor or DCA?

Hopefully we will get some replies in for this, it is something i am very interested in.

Snap,

I offered 40% to HSBC in house DCA and they ignored the letter

Dont offer more than 50%. Ask for a settlement figure, than keep negotiating down.

Something I have been toying around with but waiting for the right moment is an offer to the DCA to give them a 100% profit on a debt they purchased, we all know they pay peanuts for the debt so something along the lines of...

I would be happy for your company to receive fair reward for your work and as such am prepared to ensure you receive 100% profit on the amount you have paid for this debt. Subject to suitable evidence being provided of the amount paid for this debt I am prepared to raise funds to cover your actual cost plus the same amount again in full and final settlement of this debt. Suitable evidence would be a copy of the sales document non-redacted of course or a signed statement from a company director would suffice.

[Add in the usual pleasantries and the full and final statements]

I doubt very very much if any will take such an offer but I think if I find myself in front of a judge it cant but help my case tbh.

S.

Apex - accepted 10% (on account purchased from MBNA)

Equidebt - accepted 20% (on account purchased from MBNA)

Have recently been offered 30% F&F by LTSB

Thanks Landy. Just the kind of info I was looking for.

How were these agreed? Did you make the first approach or them? Did you have to haggle?

Hi Caro,

Glad to be of help!

Having confirmed via SAR comms log that both accounts had definitely been sold I approached both in writing with an offer of 10%. Apex agreed straight away - I just had to satisfy myself that they were going to abide by my conditions..........being released from all liability, remaining balance not to be sold on etc. Equidebt haggled and eventually agreed to accept 20%. Both agreed to update credit reference agency files to 'satisfied' with a zero balance and said I was released from all future liability, which I was happy with. Third party cheques were sent.

At the moment I'm negotiating in writing with LTSB (who approached me with a 30% settlement offer) who are only prepared to mark files as 'partially satisfied', which may be the best I can get with them unfortunately. I did hear of someone else who paid a 20% F&F to Lloyds but only as 'partially satisfied' so this may be as good as it gets............

Landy x

it is almost impossible to give a guideline since the type of debt and the individual circumstances of the case viz paperwork and failures to comply will all impact

the golden rule therefore can only be ALWAYS start LOW ( you can up and offer- you will never get away with reducing one)

The Directors Office (Creditors) have told me a couple of accounts have been sold, but they are still with CSL and RMA, they haven't been sold, I'm considering offering a low amount to settle. One account has got charges/credit card cheques/ unenforceable. The other has credit card cheques/unenforceable.

i'd be inclined to keep my powder dry and send s78 requests to the new owners for copies of the agreement first - they notoriously just buy the debt and no paperwork

When you offer a Full and Final to a DCA would it be worth putting in your letter the history of the account .eg. that it has been pushed around three or four DCAs to show that none of them could collect and maybe force thier arm to accept your offer rather than resell it and get nothing. thanks maxedout.

I asked my car finance company to write off a debt for £2300 for which they'd previously had a charging order. They accepted and wrote it off.

Thanks for the reply Landy. That's brilliant and well done.8-)

I believe you sold your house didn't you Tingy? So what happened with the charging order?

Thanks for the reply Landy. That's brilliant and well done.8-)

 

I believe you sold your house didn't you Tingy? So what happened with the charging order?

I sold my house to repay Kensington Mortgages who had the first charge on our house. In order to be able to do this we had to negotiate a repayment plan with the finance company for them to remove their charging order. We did this successfully and managed to stick to the required repayments for about a year. After that we just could not afford to pay them, so I wrote and asked them to write off the remaining debt - they did. It was made very clear to them that realistically there was no way they were ever going to get their money due to an illness I have which means I can never work again, and I did grovel a bit, but it paid off!

Well if it paid off I guess it was worth a bit of grovelling. You got what you needed out of it.

Well if it paid off I guess it was worth a bit of grovelling. You got what you needed out of it.

To be perfectly honest I was gobsmacked!

Does any one think it would be worth while putting in a full and final letter to a DCA that if the agreement was at all enforcable they would not be dealing with the account.So it would be in they interest accepting your offer rather than sell it on and get zero.thanks maxedout.

I am playing devil's advocate here, but my question to you would be if you know the agreement is unenforceable, why would you offer any payment on it at all?

To nip it in the bud and to save futher agrro from any more DCAs phoning work letters to house etc. Plus there could be a chance if it went to court the DJ could find in they favour. thanks maxedout

I am playing devil's advocate here, but my question to you would be if you know the agreement is unenforceable, why would you offer any payment on it at all?

because even if it is ruled legally unenforceable - it is still a debt- you do not want a court to think that once you got that ruling you would have no intention of trying to settle it

the way around the problem would be to tell the OC/DCA that when they confirm that they accept that the debt is legally unenforceable- you will then seek to come to a mutual resolution of the problem

that way- if shown to a court it does you no harm

Any thoughts on post 18 thanks maxedout.

OK. Devil's advocate hat taken off.

I have no idea how far you've pursued this debt and whether or not you've established it is unenforceable. If you have established this you could try offering a settlement if that's what you want to do, though if it's unenforceable I'd let them whistle for their money. How much to offer is a difficult one. As they can't enforce it anything is better than nothing, but if the original debt is for say £1000, where do you start? If they paid 5p in the pound for the debt, then they have bought it for £50, 10p in the pound £100 etc...

I would start with trying to guesstimate how much they would have paid for the debt and offer that as a starting point and see what they say.

I did read somewhere on here recently (I think in dickys alternative to debt management) that most debts are actually sold on a sale or return basis, so if DCA 1 can't collect they pass it back to the bank and get their money back, the bank then resells it to DCA 2 and so on.... Don't know whether that's right or not, but it would mean you had to make the offer a bit more worth their while if they can just hand it back and get their money refunded.

Hope this has given food for thought - a very interesting and tricky question!

Does any one think it would be worth while putting in a full and final letter to a DCA that if the agreement was at all enforcable they would not be dealing with the account.So it would be in they interest accepting your offer rather than sell it on and get zero.thanks maxedout.

It depends what you call enforceable. If you're looking at the CCA and all its intricacies then maybe it wouldn't be enforceable, but if you look at case law and the way the courts are ruling, how sure are you that it wouldn't be enforceable if put before a judge?

I'd be more inclined to say you want to resolve this, but your circumstances mean that you aren't in a position to settle this in full, but you can make an offer of £xxx. Assuming you have other debts, send them a list of what you owe, as well as your income and expenditure to demonstrate that you're doing what you can.

It depends what you call enforceable. If you're looking at the CCA and all its intricacies then maybe it wouldn't be enforceable, but if you look at case law and the way the courts are ruling, how sure are you that it wouldn't be enforceable if put before a judge?

 

I'd be more inclined to say you want to resolve this, but your circumstances mean that you aren't in a position to settle this in full, but you can make an offer of £xxx. Assuming you have other debts, send them a list of what you owe, as well as your income and expenditure to demonstrate that you're doing what you can.

Caro - I could hug you every time I read one of your posts! So sensible - send in IE sheet. Not a popular view on this site, but one I've argued ever since the day I joined.

Brilliant advice!