Whats the lowest full & final settlement?

[Winston44]

hi all

 

being nosey here, just wondered who had been on DMP's and offered a full and final settlement to unsecured creditiors, what is the lowest percentage of the outstanding amount have any of you been able to pay?

[blueda]

I have had settlements through debt management from as low as between 40% and 50%.

[Winston44]

can you say which smp co you went through? or did you sort it yourself?

ta

[blueda]

I was paying the creditors through a private debt management company from Newcastle.

[Bigdebtor]

hi all

 

being nosey here, just wondered who had been on DMP's and offered a full and final settlement to unsecured creditiors, what is the lowest percentage of the outstanding amount have any of you been able to pay?

 

I got MBA to accept 35% and Barclaycard to accept 45% F&F - but on reflection the agreements were probably unenforceable. That was before I had read up on this site!

 

Everyone seems to offer 75% pretty quickly once they accept frozen interest and reduced payments - but they always come down - although some are sticking at around 60% at present - so no deal for them - and they're now getting CCA'd.

 

Two things I found you need to be aware of:

1. The F&F letter from MBNA said something like "if you don't accept and pay the accept 35% F&F within 4 weeks then you'r eback on to full interest and 2% minimum payments chum!" - so it was lucky I had the 35% available (from a relative) to pay it PDQ.

2. Connaught/1st Credit offered 50% F&F then changed it to 69% when I said I might be able to do 50% but I needed a few more weeks to get it organised- so make sure the offer stays valid until you can get the cash together. I have now CCA'd them (Goldfish) and hope I can end up paying 0% by being unenforceable.

 

Hope this helps

 

BD

Edited October 22, 2009 by Bigdebtor
typos

[Bigdebtor]

Another thing which I have just learned (from this site) is to get all unfair charges refunded or taken off the balance ASAP - and THEN go for a low F&F on the much lower balance left. I am pretty sure the written off balances I "won" would have been entirely composed of charges and associated interest! And I can't gpo after them for more now I have settled.

 

BTW - the wording of the F&F deal is VITAL - anyone got a good template?

[Bigdebtor]

Having recently CCA'd my OC's and DCA's I have just got a "special offer" F & F deal from one - 30% off for next 7 days then 20% for 8-30 days and then 10% off for 31-60 days. Surely unless someone is already activele getting the money organised, a debtors with arrears etc. is not going to get the cash togethe rin a week? Given I was offerred 50% before from te same CCA who then reneged is this not boredering on sharp or unfair practice? Would OFT, FO or FSA be interested at all?

[loobyloo85]

I would suggest offering a lower amount first, to see if the creditors are willing to accept this. If they do not, you can then offer a higher amount.

[Dotty50]

Hi Bigdebtor,

 

Who did you get your F & F's agreed with?

 

I have just tried with the Halifax at 35% but not accepted.

 

I have however got the interest rate drastically reduced from 29.3% to 12.69% for 12 months and no more late fees providing an agreed reduced payment is made.

[IdaInFife]

i got one for 10 %

 

 

always start low so you can always go up if you have the funds

 

dca's tend to accept lower than original creditors

 

and it always help to reclaim back and unfair charges and PPI to help reduce it

 

ida x

[Winston44]

deleted

Edited October 27, 2009 by IdaInFife
deleted due to quoting spam

[Winston44]

do you know how soon you can offer F & F's after setting up a DMP?

[Bigdebtor]

Hi Bigdebtor,

 

Who did you get your F & F's agreed with?

 

I have 35% on 2 MBNA Platinum Cards and on 2 Alliance & leicester Cards - at that time A&L had been taken over by MBNA. The total I paid was around £11k - saving around £21k! I think they may have been concerned by the amount they had let me build up (mainly using 0% MBNA or A&L credit card cheques to fund my business which then hit problems).

 

I also got 45% on a Barclaycard through a DCA - but the same DCA refused to go under 75% on a 2nd Barclaycard - don't know why - so this is still being paid at £60 per month and I have just CCA'd them.

 

I suspect these agreements - all taken out around 2000-2001 might well have been lost or be unenforceable if I had known.

 

I have also paid out a fortune in interest and unfair charges over the years - so probably I could have got down to that figure by claiming back charges etc. in any case.

 

I have also settled a LLoyds TSB Visa and an Abbey Loan at 50% - both via DCA's.

 

I still have several debts where with CCCS help they have agreed to freeze interest and take between 0.7 and 1.0% per month - but no decent F&F's yet. ,

 

The only creditor refusing to take around 1% per month and threatening to sue is RBS/Direct Line on a loan taken out in 2003 where the agreement seems to be water tight. The only F&F they offered was 75% - but they refuse to consider an affordable monthly repayment - so currently stalemate - I am paying nothing but not sure what will happen about interest which might be accruing.

 

Any advice on how to stop RBS being so intransigent would be welcome.

Edited October 27, 2009 by Bigdebtor

[Dotty50]

Hi Bigdebtor,

 

thanks for that info, very interesting.

 

I have 2 MBNA cards, one sent a dodgy CCA and the other is yet to respond from my request in April! I have reluctantly stopped paying, to see if it puts more pressure on them to produce anything but nothing seems to make any difference to them.

 

At what point did you get them to agree, had you defaulted at the time the F & F's were agreed?

 

Did you get written confirmation that they would not pass the shortfall on to a DCA to collect out?

 

This sounds like a 'grilling' from me sorry, it's just that I would love to get these off my back asap.

 

I have no experience with RBS sorry but if you have made a reasonable offer through CCCS then I fail to see what they think their alternative is.

 

I am sure someone else will come along and give you some tips on them.

[Bigdebtor]

Hi Dotty

 

I had been struggling to keep up with the minimum payments to MBNA for quite a while - with a few missed paymnets and then more late and over limit charges imposed. I did get default letters and then agreed to make the usual monthly minimum payment and got the arrears" reset" so the cards seemed to be back in order. The 35% MBNA and A&L letters came without prompting - and I then sent a letter saying I would accept but only on condition this was a F&F settlement and the rest would NOT be chased up by them or passed to any 3rd party. I got this letter from Martin Lewis's web site. At that point MBNA wrote back as "OK - but if you don't pay the 35% by XX/XX/2007 then the deal's off and interest and charges will be started up again. It was therefore important to pay the 35% by the due date. I got a relative to pay, confirm F&F terms by phone and then wrote to confirm deal. I did get an acknowledgement.

 

However I also settled a £4k Abbey loan at 50% in late 2007 through BCW (who were previously sticking out for 75% and offered 50% at one time without prompting by me). I did the same and got a letter from BCW. However just in July 2009 I got chased by Link Financial for the £2k balance. To be fair to BCW they did promptly e-mail confirmation of the deal and Link backed down by phone. I chased them for 3 months to put this in writing and have just got an apology in writing.

 

BTW I seem to remember someone telling me that when you are in default all interest and charges are suspended - so if your credit rating is shot in any case then I don't see any downside as everything will come off 6 years after you get totally sorted out. It seems to me the key thing is to get sorted out in total ASAP which is why I am so hacked off by RBS/Direct Line - as this means the 6 years can't even start. I don't recollect them ever sending me a default letter - which is possibly why they may be able to impose further interest and ccharges. Anyone know if this is correct?

 

BD

Edited October 28, 2009 by Bigdebtor
typos

[Dotty50]

Hi Bigdebtor,

 

Thanks for that information, very encouraging.

 

I have some time this week to get some letters done and try and move things on a bit further.

 

I assume BCW is a DCA, I have not had any experience with any yet, some Caggers say it is easier to negotiate a F & F with original creditor, then others say it's more likely to be accepted after the debt has been sold on.

 

I think, at the end of the day, we all have individual circumstances and need to use as much information we find on this site to our advantage and obviously give as much help and advice to others from our own experiences and success.

 

I didn't want to stop paying and haven't stopped all of them but there comes a point when you realise the interest hikes are totally unacceptable and you need to fight back. As you say, it will all disappear in 6 years but my intention was to re-mortgage but this will not be an option now.

[Bigdebtor]

Dotty

 

I did manage to remortgage even with a lot of late Credit card payments a few years - as I had never missed any mortgage payments - so worth a try, although may not be as simple in current climate.

 

However get all illegal charges and contractual interest refunded before agreeing any F&F, and CCA and SAR them to ensure your agreements are actually enforceable.

 

I think these two prior actions are the best way to ensure the lowest possible F&F - and you may not even need to re-mortgage - just perhaps take a short mortgage holiday or move on to interest only for a short time to fund much lower F&F deals.

 

Good luck!

 

BD

[PriorityOne]

The only F&F I've ever made was on an ex-repossession debt of £52K, which was halved to £26K because it was joint liability.. although a creditor doesn't have to do this. It was settled for £500 (five hundred) after paying £5 a month in token payments for 4 years.... and never went to court. The creditor was actually quite decent throughout... yet had they known the full story of my personal circumstances at the time, it probably would have gone to court.

 

None of my other creditors had any CCAs, let alone enforceable ones.... so they got 0%. A bad credit file was always the least of my worries and I've never cared about it..... defaults drop off after 6 years anyway.

 

Each situation is very different and some people are more bothered by a bad credit file than others....

[Dotty50]

Hi Bigdebtor

 

Thanks again, yes I will be looking at getting any charges back but to be honest, until the last couple of months there should not be a lot. Although I do have PPI on Cap 1 card which I don't think I would have ever signed up for. If only they would send a copy of the CCA!

 

I take your point about re-mortgage I am employed in the right place for this but getting them with any adverse on your credit file is like trying to find rocking horse p**. Sorry don't mean to offend.

 

As Priorityone states, it really depends on everyone's individual circumstances as to how we approach the problems.

 

I will keep on at them all!

[bobdauilda]

Hi Bigdebtor

 

Thanks again, yes I will be looking at getting any charges back but to be honest, until the last couple of months there should not be a lot. Although I do have PPI on Cap 1 card which I don't think I would have ever signed up for. If only they would send a copy of the CCA!

 

I take your point about re-mortgage I am employed in the right place for this but getting them with any adverse on your credit file is like trying to find rocking horse p**. Sorry don't mean to offend.

 

As Priorityone states, it really depends on everyone's individual circumstances as to how we approach the problems.

 

I will keep on at them all!

 

Dotty- have you had any defaults yet? Are you planning on doing an F&F offer or CCA request?

[Dotty50]

Hi Bobdauilda,

 

I have CCA'd 5 of my cards so far, some replied, some not at all. Currently waiting for SAR from Cap 1 to calculate PPI and go from there.

 

Only offered 1 F & F so far to Halifax but they have refused, they have however, reduced the interest rate on the card from 29.9% to 12.6% with provisions on a reduced payment for 12 months, still appealing to them though.

 

Reluctantly stopped paying some of these, but yet to be defaulted, just regular notices of sums in arrears and continuous telephone calls from Cap 1 and the odd one from MBNA

[bobdauilda]

thanks dotty- when you sent the cca did you also do the subject access request too? I am confused on whether you send just the cca first or the both together. What is a PPI- is it payment protection insurance?

[Dotty50]

Hi,

 

I did the CCA requests first, this is generally the advice on here and there is a specific time in which they have to respond.

 

The SAR is a request to reveal all data held on you and they have to respond within 40 days. This should reveal a CCA if they have one and have not sent it in request to the CCA.

 

What you do really depends on what you are trying to achieve, I am still learning lots from this site and it is really a case of reading threads and getting as much information as possible.

 

You can then post from your own experiences and help others.

 

Yes PPI is Payment Protection Insurance.

 

Some of the important things to remember is not to sign any letters that you send, always send recorded delivery, get proof of delivery of the PO website.

Any letters received, keep the envelopes that they come in as dates can be crucial for specific default notices.

 

I have used an A4 folder to keep everything in all in date order, then you can always refer back, should there be any queries on what is sent.

[Dotty50]

Hi,

Further to previous post, you do not appear to have any Threads started yet.

 

It is best practice to start your own, in the relevant forum and you will get lots of advice from the experts.

 

Good luck

[bobdauilda]

Thanks Dotty, I will keep searching the threads for answers.