JIG & Wife v MBNA Partial Settlement

[JIG]

As advised I have started my own thread to track responses from all of the experienced Caggers on here.

 

Anyway, here goes....

 

My wife and I both have MBNA CC accounts and owe combined c£21k. Have for ther first time spoken to MBNA on the phone as have previously ignored phone calls following some quite nasty calls to my wife.

 

My wife is currently off on long term sick and is suffering depression and a very difficult time for both of us as we have always paid our way and not defaulted on any payments, but since her good salary has stopped we are in a terrible financial fix.

 

To this end following my various dicsussions with MBNA today (I am speaking on behalf of my wife) they have offered a partial settlement of 25% and they have categorically stated that the remainder will be 'written off' and not pursued by any other party and will be registered on credit file as partial settlement, which I understand to mean whole value of outstanding balance minus any payment in partial payment in 'settlement' of the account.

 

I have requested MBNAs offer to be sent on email and by hard copy letter outlining the offer and hope to negotiate down from the 25% start point to a value we can realisitically pay off to settle the account.

 

I have stated that I had written to them on 3 occasions highlighting our current situation along with a budget plan and stated that if they wanted to take me to court they would not really have a leg to stand on.

 

For the record I have CCA'd them also on separate letters, but have not received anything to date.

 

All we want is peace of mind as these are not the only CC debts we have, but they do make up a significant pot of the debt we owe and would be a huge relief to take a step in the right direction.

 

Any views would be greatly appreciated and thanks for reading(listening)

 

 

P.S. is there an easy way I can track any responses other than using the search function??

 

Thanks to all.

 

:grin::grin:

[joemay]

Hi JIG - You say you have cca'd them, has it gone over the 12+2 days, if so the account is in dispute, and they shouldn't be chasing until the CCA has been supplied. You never know they might not be able to supply it which would mean the debt is unenforceable and you would be in a much better position to negotiate.

[JIG]

Thanks Joemay

 

My only concern is that I have other CC debt and I want to reduce this to relieve some of the pressure from our lives. Obviously we would want to negotiate as low a settlement as possible so that we can then focus on the next unpaid CC bill.

 

I will see if I can negotiate on available funds which will be far lower than the 25% offer from MBNA.

 

I just want these guys off our backs

 

Good to know someone is watching in to see if we need support. Cheers

[davey77]

JIG, be very careful about the wording in a settlement offer. Partial is never the same as Full and Final and what they say over the phone is always different to what they will put in writing.

 

Also be aware that any letter (no matter how good it looks) that is headed 'without prejudice' is useless to you as that cannot be produced in Court as evidence. You'll pay the money and after a month they will demand full payment saying they never sent the other letter (which cannot be shown in Court.)

 

I would post up any letters you get making an offer of settlement before you accept to make sure you get some opinions before you commit yourself.

 

MBNA are well known for this and one of the many things that could happen is that they will say 'we won't pursue you for the remainder' where after they sell the account to a DCA and THEY pursue you for the rest.

 

Partial settlement also means they can screw your credit file up much more than a F&F would so just be wary.

[JIG]

Hi davey77

 

You mention letters headed 'without prejudice', does this also cover emails.

 

The reason for asking is that I have a number of emails now direct from MBNA that do not mention without 'prejudice' and confirm within the email that neither MBNA nor any third party will pursue for any further monies.

 

I know this seems to counter the posts on MBNA and the underhanded tactics, but at this stage I do not seem to have any reason not believe what I am reading.

 

I really appreciate you looking in and for your support. I do have a lot more to sort out so hope to see you checking in on my posts from time to time. Thanks

[davey77]

Apparently, from what i can gather, Emails are as legally binding as if they were written on paper and sent to you in the post. Always nice to have the email 'header' informtion that shows the path the email has followed to arrive to you and i would ask for written confirmation (as in my case with Cap1) as it's nice to have the offical letter head/logo and a signature (albeit a digital one) to go with it.

 

I'd check out my Cap1 thread (post 93) here to see where i was going along those lines of email vs letter:

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/dca-legal-successes/171391-davey77-capital-one-5.html#post1975786

[JIG]

Great info on your link, this has really given me some food for thought.

 

I especially liked post 114 referencing that banks go home at the end of the day...spot on...I will ber this in mind when dealing with MBNA.

 

Cheers

[citizenB]

 

 

P.S. is there an easy way I can track any responses other than using the search function??

 

Thanks to all.

 

:grin::grin:

 

 

YOu just need to clcik on the USER CP button at the top of the screen and you will see all the threads, including your own, that you ar subscribed to.