HSBC/D&G - Full and Final Help

[whataboutyeah]

Hi Guys,

 

It has been a while since I have needed to post anything on this forum as it is so rich with info, but I am now having problems with D&G/HSBC. I have been helping my father with his debts and sent a full and final settlement offer to D&G Solicitors (part of HSBC) the debt was for around £14,500 and I offered £7,200. I received a letter accepting the offer, so I then sent a cheque with an accompanying letter and written on the cheque that it was for full and final settlement, the cheques was cashed, end of story? No, about 6 weeks later I received another letter from D&G saying thank you for the payment but this is not the whole amount of the original agreement and that they want the rest (£7,300) to be paid ASAP. Now, I'm pretty sure that I have all the copies of the letters that I sent and received, I'm just a bit unsure of how I should approach this or what I should write back to put an end to it? Any help would be MUCH appreciated.

[johnnymitch]

Hi way, welcome back

 

Have you got a letter from them accepting your £7200 as "FULL AND FINAL SETTLEMENT". If you have then write to them , enclosing a copy of the letter ... and ask for their interpretation of F&F .

 

If it doesn't specificaly state that , then they may try to weasel out of it ....in fact they'll probably just say that they "accepted your £7200 as a part-payment - thank you very much , now where's the rest ?" And I'm not sure there's much you can do about that ......

[emandcole]

Hi,

Sure you probably know what to do but expect you'd appreciate the extra opinion of others on this eh?

 

First off you state you have their letter confirming that they acknowledge this amount as being a full and final? Does this letter say that specifically and beyond question or is their letter more vague and you read into it?

 

Secondly, if the account is in your fathers name, whos account was the cheque sent from to pay this money? E.g. was it from his own account or did you or someone else pay the money on his behalf on a cheque with a different name to that of your father?

 

If they cashed a cheque from someone else you have got them right where you want.

[whataboutyeah]

Cheers Guys, very helpful, basically I don't think they use the wording " Full and Final" in their letter back to my father, they do mention in their the receipt of the original F&F and they do mention that they accept the offer of settlement, I'll need to dig it out for further reading, but one thing is, Yes, the account is in my fathers name and I made the payment from my account NOT my fathers account, why does this have relevance?

[emandcole]

If the payment was clearly sent as an offer of full and final settlement and it was paid by a third party, which the creditor then cashed (thus accepted) the account is finished.

You may want to refer to Bracken & Anor v Billinghurst [2003] EWHC 1333 (TCC) (10 June 2003) for this.

 

HSBC absolutely suck, I detest them, so as long as your payment was included with the cover letter stating it was full and final and they cashed it you're good .

 

I hope your letter stipulated this payment was in full and final, preferably with reference to the enclosed payment?

[whataboutyeah]

My father sent the original offer of F&F as per the template on this forum, they sent back accepting the settlement (I will dig out the letter as to the wording they used, although it did not say the words "full and final" it did state they were accepting settlement, it definitely didn't say partial settlement or anything like that). My father then sent a letter which stated full and final settlement on the enclosed letter AND the cheque itself, the cheque was written by me, from my account. Surely if that went to court it would be seen as misleading if the creditor tried to weasel out of it.

 

I'll post the actual reply for you and others to have a look at tomorrow, and see what you think, but I'm also sure they actually state in the/acceptance letter acknowledgement of my fathers original F&F offer.

[emandcole]

I think they'd be on very shaky ground with that. Yes, dig out what you've got and we can have a look, I'd say they haven't really got a leg to stand on

[whataboutyeah]

Excellent, I will post the reply from D&G on here tonight/tomorrow and also a draft of the letter I intend to write on behalf of my father.

 

Thanks for all the help

[emandcole]

[whataboutyeah]

Right here goes.

The letter I received in reply to my fathers F&F settlement offer from DG Solicitors said the following:

We confirm we are prepared to accept £7,200.00 in settlement of this account.

A Bank Giro credit slip is printed at the bottom of this letter, etc, etc, Cheques and postal orders must be made payable to DG Solicitors.

You must ensure this payment reaches us as follows:

£7,200.00 by the 24/12/09.

Failure to make this agreed payment maty result in the offer of settlement being withdrawn.

The letter from D&G that I received about a week ago made no mention whatsoever of the previous full and final settlement offer nor any mention of the letter they sent above, it basically just thanked for the payment of £7,200 and then said that the original credit agreement was for £xxx's and that £xxx's was still outstanding. Basically looked like a standard letter.

So now I am going to send something like this, what do you think?

Dear Sir/Madam

Account No. xxxx

I am writing in reply to the letter you sent dated xxx in which you request further payment for the above account. I would like to point out that you have previously accepted a full and final settlement offer on the above account for the amount of £7,200 that has already been paid. Please see enclosed a copy of my original Full and Final settlement offer (labelled letter A), a copy of your reply accepting the offer (labelled letter B) a copy of my letter that accompanied the cheque for £7,200 that was written by my son (labelled letter C). I would like to point you to the case “Bracken & Anor v Billinghurst [2003] EWHC 1333 (TCC)” and you can see that I have clearly stated in all responses that the payment of £7,200 was for full and final settlement and that you have accepted this offer.

Please could you send me confirmation that this account is now closed and that I will not receive any other correspondence on the matter.

Yours faithfully,

xxx

[johnnymitch]

Absolutely spot on , way ..... let's see what reply you get to that ... I think they're on a hiding to nothing .......could be a case of the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing .... which is par for the course with them .........

[emandcole]

Yep, that ought to do it, couldn't be clearer. As it's HSBC who really are useless it's very likely that the left doesn't know what's happening with the right, except HSBC also have two spare lefts, two spare rights and a couple of down belows as well. Let's hope that's the end of it for you both .

[whataboutyeah]

Brilliant, cheers guys, I will send the letter and keep you updated as to what the outcome is.

[whataboutyeah]

Just to keep everyone in the loop and to ensure you that I will post ALL the correspondance with DG/HSBC. I have sent the letter now and I am just waiting for a response. I will post this as soon as I get it.

 

Also having problems with IQOR/Halifax, they will not accept an F&F, I went back with a slightly better offer, and now they want to see a budget planner, which I am just filling out for my father, but I suppose this part should be in the Halifax forum.

[emandcole]

Just to keep everyone in the loop and to ensure you that I will post ALL the correspondance with DG/HSBC. I have sent the letter now and I am just waiting for a response. I will post this as soon as I get it.

 

Also having problems with IQOR/Halifax, they will not accept an F&F, I went back with a slightly better offer, and now they want to see a budget planner, which I am just filling out for my father, but I suppose this part should be in the Halifax forum.

 

Ideally yes, best to keep seperate to avoid confusion. Onwards and upwards though eh

[whataboutyeah]

UPDATE:

 

It worked, the letter I sent (details above) worked. Yesterday I received a letter from DG Solicitors that stated the Account had been satisfied and was now closed, showing in the top left hand corner "balance £0.00". I have kept the letter, so basically if it ever happens again, I can just send them a copy of that letter and tell them to go jump!!!

 

Now I'm going to concentrate my efforts on IQOR/Halifax now, just sent them my fathers budget planner and reiterating his full and final settlement offer, or basically take a couple of £'s a month, we'll see, but I won't put details under this forum.

 

Thanks for all your guidance guys, very, very helpful.

[johnnymitch]

Great news, way !!

 

Well done ....... that is a result !!!

 

Glad to have been able to help....... now go get IQOR/Halifax

[emandcole]

Nice little victory there I'd say . Make sure you start a fresh thread for the other issue.

[orielrose2013]

Hi All

 

I am planning to write similar letter of F&F settlement however couldnt find the template mentioned in this post, can someone please direct me to that.