Help! F&f Offer From 1st Credit

[debtmouse]

We are currently in a dmp with payplan and have been harrassed to the point of dispair by 1st credit, I have negotiated a final settlement of £14000 on an outstanding debt of £20000. I rang payplan and explained that, as this company is harrassing us we would like to take them up on the offer, they said I cant pay this as all the other comanies will be after me and start charging interest.

 

He further advised to get a remortgage of an additional £90k and pay off all my debtors in full. At this point I gave up, they obviously do not live in the real world and have never been in debt.

 

The offer says it is in full and final settlement and they will not persue the debt further. They want it paid by today by card. What do you advise?

[Hopeful1]

Hi Debtmouse

 

I'm surprised you are being advised to remortgage for such a large amount. Don't let anyone (particularly 1st credit) pressure you into anything. It will help if you can post up some more details about the original debt - was it a loan? Who with? etc etc. There may be steps you can take with this or your other debts that will help you to reduce your outgoings.

 

Are any of your debts credit cards with charges, these can be recliamed now? Claims for bank charges can still be sent off, they just won't be dealt with yet. Do you have any catalogue debt?

 

Many people on this site have experience of dealing with 1st Credit, so there will be plenty who can offer advice.

 

Best wishes

[debtmouse]

The debt was originally with citibank and was a credit card, they kept giving us higher and higher limits, we cut up the card and they started sending very tempting cheques, which as each month the repayments for all our cards and loans got bigger, we used the cheques to pay other credit debts etc. We then had a new baby and again the companies threw money at us as up until the time we contacted payplan, we had always paid or perhaps were only a week or two late which then incurred more charges.

 

On top of this my business had a cash flow problem which we bailed out, and now it is closing and we will then have more debt.

 

People ask how can you spend so much money, we do wonder where it all went, we certaintly dont go on loads of holidays, run an expensive car etc.

 

We thought we were getting somewhere and the dmp seemed to be working until 1st credit demanded immediate settlement or higher payments.

Many thanks - debtmouse:-|

[rory32]

When was the credit card originally taken out? Are there any CCJ's on your debts? 1st Credit can demand away. If you don't have the money they get what you can afford. Have you asked for a copy of the credit agreement? How are you being harassed by 1st Credit?

[debtmouse]

I cant remember when the card was taken out, it was prior to 2003, i think, we have not asked for the origiinal agreement, should we? If we pay the full an final by card can they still ask for more? is it a good reduction?

 

They have sent us numerous letters, some offering help from their debt dept and another from a solicitor, then another from them offering f&f, calls on our mobiles and home numbers threatening if we do not pay we can have a co on our property, attachment of earnings so employers will know and bailiffs gaining entry to our property to seize goods!

 

If we sell our property, do we tell them this?

we have no ccjs.

 

Many thanks - debtmouse

[PriorityOne]

I cant remember when the card was taken out, it was prior to 2003, i think, we have not asked for the origiinal agreement, should we? If we pay the full an final by card can they still ask for more? is it a good reduction?

 

You should definitely ask for a copy of the original Agreement... as without it, they cannot pursue you for anything. Once the request has been received by them, they have 12 working days within which to supply it... or they will be in default of a legal request. One month later it becomes a criminal offence for them to continue pursuing you for payments against a disputed debt. I will be back with the link in a minute.....

 

They have sent us numerous letters, some offering help from their debt dept and another from a solicitor, then another from them offering f&f, sounds a little desperate to me. From now on, keep hold of everything they send you. calls on our mobiles and home numbers threatening if we do not pay we can have a co on our property, do not enter into any discussions over the 'phone.. it's their main way of telling you a complete load of bowlarks. If they ring again, just hang up... or walk away to get "you" and take ages doing it, until they get fed up with talking to fresh air and hang up themselves. attachment of earnings so employers will know and bailiffs gaining entry to our property to seize goods! The do not have the power to send bailiffs round. They would need a court order first and they haven't got one. This is a typical example of the bowlarks mentioned earlier....

 

We have recently sold our property, do we tell them this? No, it's none of their business.

we have no ccjs. Excellent !... the road is clear for a CCA request then....

 

Many thanks - debtmouse

 

I will go and get the link for you....

[PriorityOne]

Ok... here is the link.... Creditors and DCAs - Letter Templates & Budget Planner

 

Scroll down to Letter N.

 

Enclose a Postal Order for the £1 fee (not a cheque).... and do not sign the CCA request with your normal signature, just in case they are tempted to forge it onto an Agreement.

 

Make sure it goes off by rec. delivery and make sure that you keep the receipt....as this is your proof that a request has been made.

 

If they write/send something back to you.... come back on here for advice on what to do next.

 

[nuke em]

quote from debtmouse 's original

"........He further advised to get a remortgage of an additional £90k and pay off all my debtors in full. At this point I gave up, they obviously do not live in the real world and have never been in debt...."

 

We have recently sold our property, do we tell them this?

we have no ccjs.

 

Many thanks - debtmouse

 

 

How can you get a remortgage if you have sold your property?

[powelll]

Also if you are in a DMP the creditors should ALL be dealing with PayPlan. Under OFT debt collection guidance they cannot refuse to deal with an appointed 3rd party. If they are harrassing you they commit a criminal offence. Rather than offering F & F which will potentially mess up arrangements with other creditors I would strongly suggest complaining to them in writing then taking it up via trading standards / OFT.

 

The problem is you are basically reacting to their bullying tactics rather than dealing with the situation as a whole ie whoever shouts the loudest at you is going to get the most money. I realise I'm not in your position so it's easy for me to say but I do speak to lots of people in your position and much worse. You are not obliged to use any lump sums ( from property sale or otherwise ) to pay unsecured debt. If you choose to then great but don't feel backed into a corner as you do have avenues to complain.

 

Needless to say remortgaging to pay unsecured debt is never usually a good idea even if you are in a position to do so. Effectively you are securing unsecured debt against your home.

 

National Debtline England & Wales | Debt Advice | Factsheet 03 Harassment

[tagal]

Hi we were also in a DMP with Payplan. After receiving two charging orders and then First Credit started threatning us with a third, it all became too much for me as when we tried to defend first two charging orders the judge didn't want to listen to us and they were granted.

 

Anyway I was able to double my hours at work and was in a position to remortgage which enabled us to offer all our creditors 60% for F&F which they have all but one accepted and have now been paid - First Credit being one of them. We did get all CCA's before making payments. Payplan could not help us as would only offer creditors 75% which we didn't have. So we had to come out of the DMP and contact all creditors ourselves, some accepted more quickly than others but things are a lot better for us and my health especially. This was right for us, I know the advice is not to borrow more money, but in our situation the stress I especially felt was too much for us as a family and I was worried I would be so ill I woudln't be able to work atall as my job is very stressful (nurse). But I am under the impression you have to offer every creditor the same percentage and if they don't accept you carry on as per the DMP. Therefore the one creditor that has not accepted (smallest amount!) we will carry on paying them the amount they have accepted on the DMP, but will do this ourselves. Again, this is only what we have done after looking into all the options. X

[debtmouse]

Thanks for all your comments and advice, I wish I had found this website 3 months ago, when they started to harrass me.

 

I feel better now that I dont have to talk to their mechanical sounding staff. I have been dealing with all the debt matters as my husband can't cope with it, he hates being in this mess and we have both been working long hours just to keep up repayments on these cc and loans.

 

I will send the cca to 1st credit and let you know what happens.

 

:|Debtmouse

[tagal]

Just another point. We said to first credit that we needed a letter from them in writing accepting our full and final offer also stating the the debt wouldn't be sold onto a third party, the balance would be written off, and our credit file would be updated to show this. We got this in writing from them before sending a cheque, I wouldn't think it is a good idea to pay by card over the phone, this certainly would worry me as once they had my details what would be stopping them taking more out, but I may be wrong. After they received our cheque they wrote confirming payment had been received and that file had been closed.

[sequenci]

Debtmouse, can you please consider a complaint to The OFT and The FOS about 1st credit, especially where they tell you to take out more credit to pay off your debts. It's important that you consider it as the more people that do, the more likely the powers that be will investigate.

[powelll]

Useful link below if you do want to consider F & F also:

 

National Debtline England & Wales | Debt Advice | Factsheet 24 Full And Final Settlement Offers

 

Some of it reiterates what tagal rightly points out re written confirmation etc but some other useful pointers as well. Best of luck whatever you decide to do

[Hopeful1]

Hi Debtmouse...well the cavalry have certainly arrived

 

I'm in the same boat as you with regards to dealing with the situation alone - my hubby can't cope either and has added to my stress at times. I've only been part of this site since May, but i cannot tell you what a difference it has made.

 

I know there's a lot to take on board, but keep reading around the different threads, it helps to make sense of it all.

 

Obviously 1st Credit are your priority, but when you are ready, i would also consider sending CCAs to your other creditors too. The other thing to look at is, are there charges you can reclaim from your credit cards?

 

This is just more food for thought. One step at a time.

 

1st Credit..look out!

 

Best wishes

[Chesterexpress]

My understanding of this is that the OP, spoke to payplan regarding the F&F with 1st credit and it was payplan who correctly told them that they couldn't just make an arrangement with 1 creditor as they are all involved in the DMP and they all have to share any payments. Also it sounds as though it may have been payplan who suggested taking out the re-mortgage rather than 1st credit.

 

Also has the OP notified payplan that they have sold their house and by the sound of things have surplus cash from the sale?

[PriorityOne]

If Payplan advised a re-mortgage in order to pay off debts, then IMO... this is bad advice, since OP would be taking on secured debt in order to repay unsecured debt.

 

It's also a bad idea to notify anyone that there is surplus cash floating about.... as you are likely to get mugged for it (DCA style).... in other words, they will go after as much as they can in a F&F.

 

[powelll]

Also has the OP notified payplan that they have sold their house and by the sound of things have surplus cash from the sale?

 

They are not obliged to do this - A DMP isn't like an IVA ie there is no 'windfall' or equity clause. As the debts are unsecured the creditors have no automatic rights to the proceeds of a house sale ( although of course OP can offer this if they wish )