Help with Settlements & CRA Alerts

[Lakeside1]

Hi All,
Welcome to my first ever post....

Just a quick question.

Are there examples of forum members obtaining a 'settled' marker on their CRA records when they've paid a reduced amount as part of a F&F settlement?

The reason I ask is because I've made a full and final settlement offer to my credit card company (the account hasn't actually defaulted yet but is due to at the end of the month) - and they are insistent that they will mark the account partially settled. This appears to be a sticking point for them.

Any views are gratefully received.

[Never-In-Doubt]

Re: Partial Settlements

Hi All,
Welcome to my first ever post....

Just a quick question (I don't want to hijack the OP's thread so please let me know if I need to start a new one).

Are there examples of forum members obtaining a 'settled' marker on their CRA records when they've paid a reduced amount as part of a F&F settlement?

The reason I ask is because I've made a full and final settlement offer to my credit card company (the account hasn't actually defaulted yet but is due to at the end of the month) - and they are insistent that they will mark the account partially settled. This appears to be a sticking point for them.

Any views are gratefully received.

If you pay an account off using a settlement, ie not 100% of the owed balance you'll get a Partial Settlement update trigger on your credit file.

This is not exactly a good thing, but it's not bad either. If you pay it before the default then the account would go to settled but show a note with "partial settlement - the account is settled but a lesser amount was accepted to close the account" or words to that effect!

If they accept the offer they cannot then go and default you - they must default you prior to the offer being paid, or you refuse the offer. how much are you offering and what is the balance? Finally, who is the lender?

[Lakeside1]

Re: Partial Settlements

If you pay an account off using a settlement, ie not 100% of the owed balance you'll get a Partial Settlement update trigger on your credit file.

This is not exactly a good thing, but it's not bad either. If you pay it before the default then the account would go to settled but show a note with "partial settlement - the account is settled but a lesser amount was accepted to close the account" or words to that effect!

If they accept the offer they cannot then go and default you - they must default you prior to the offer being paid, or you refuse the offer. how much are you offering and what is the balance? Finally, who is the lender?

Thanks Niddy,

The lender is Capital One, the balance £10,500 and the offer (which has been accepted - but not the part where I insisted on a settled marker) is £2,500.

Do you think there is any mileage in continuing to push for a settled marker? Ideally I'd like my credit reference report to come out as unscathed as possible.

[garlok]

Re: Partial Settlements

Hi Lakeside,

Niddy and I had a discussion about this very recently on another thread " Heading in the Right Direction".

My first reaction was yes it must form part of the terms and conditions of acceptance. However Niddy has convinced me differently and there is no lawful way of forcing this hence they know you would lose if you took action to achieve it. If you are not too bothered about your CRF I would not bother take their acceptance of your offer and put it to bed would be my take now. the reasoning is explained on that other thread as this is a credit card, personal to you hence CCA1974/2006 and DPA will apply. Or as Niddy says they can't default you after the event if it is not already there. It is probable, out of malice, they will spin this out to get that deafult on your file.

We did achieve the full "settled" on ours but that was for a business OD and loan hence those bits of legislation did not apply.

Niddy will probably be along shortly to ad his comments as well.

regards
Garlok

[brando69]

Re: Partial Settlements

Agreed if they mark it as partial settlement, then that won't help your credit score, best tell them to stuff it. Especially if they are deemed unenforecable. Only worth F&F settlement offer if they agree to do all the things on Niddy's excellent template letter.

[garlok]

Re: Partial Settlements

Hi Brando again,

yes but take a look at the discussion Niddy and I had on that other thread. When I sat and thought about what Niddy had said there and tied in with his post here I think I would go what lakeside has.

This are not CCA and County Court issues in F & Fs. This is Common Law of Contract and ANY litigation you try to bring is going to cost an awful lot of money. I actually know someone who was considering a piece of Common Law -Contract litigation and to get a barrister good enough to take it on was £50K up front for the case reviews alone. OK it was a bit complex but you have to to take stock and think rationally despite the rights and wrongs of the issue.

And I am known for my militancy by the way.

regards
Garlok

[Lakeside1]

Re: Partial Settlements

Hi Garlock

Thanks for the pointer to the other thread - very very informative.

What I was aiming to do was to try to get them to commit (in writing) to a settled in full marker as part of the f&f negotiation process - i.e. 'unless they agree to it beforehand - the settlement won't go ahead'. Am I understanding it correctly that even if they do agree to it - they could still register a partial settlement marker and it would be very costly / difficult for me to enforce what they originally agreed?

As a more general question - in the absence of any other adverse elements ona credit reference report - just how 'damaging' is a partial settlement marker - and for how long?

TIA

Lakeside1

[garlok]

Re: Partial Settlements

No problems Lakeside. I do think that is what Niddy was saying as they know you would in all probability lose if you brought what is going to be a piece of expensive litigation. As he says there is not a lot you can do as the data being processed is factual. It will in my view be there for the next six years I'm afraid. However if the default does not exist at the time the F & F is finalised then no marker at all other than settled should appear. But by the end of the month malice will creep into the way they deal with this. You could if it is after the event send outline deatils to the CRA itself to get it removed.

In all of our troubles, we were told by sols that we should not worry about crfs they will get trashed anyway--- better that than carrying on paying.
regards
Garlok

[Never-In-Doubt]

Re: Partial Settlements

See this - brand new part of our brand new (not live yet) website - freshly added about ten minutes ago - this will assist you and comes complete with template.

---> http://www.all-about-debt.co.uk/page...aking%20Offers

Can I check, have they actually accepted a £2500 offer on a £10,500 debt? if so then mate, for the sake of a partial settlement i'd bite their hands off! No questions asked, sod your credit record, it will affect you for no more than say 3 years after which most lenders won't pay attention to the status.

Point is, it does NOT state the settlement amount therefore it can also be lied about, ahem! I mean if you apply somewhere and they decline you you can say listen, they (crappy1) increased the APR - I wasn't happy so we agreed on settlement to close the account... it's plausible but my logic bases around an £8k saving, why are they so keen to knock £8k off?

I suspect they don't have an agreement in which case you would not have to pay anything, but risky.... Tell you what, you can pay me the £2500 and i'll make them disappear for good - deal?

Have a wee think, personally i'd be tempted to pay it - but that depends on past history as I don't know much about it, however on the flip - Crappy1 don't often have compliant agreements, if they can provide one at all...

so worth thinking about... no?

p.s. I was joking about paying me the £2500! Just in case you wondered

[Never-In-Doubt]

Re: Partial Settlements

In all of our troubles, we were told by sols that we should not worry about crfs they will get trashed anyway--- better that than carrying on paying.

Exactly - totally agree mate

[Lakeside1]

Re: Partial Settlements

See this - brand new part of our brand new (not live yet) website - freshly added about ten minutes ago - this will assist you and comes complete with template.

---> http://www.all-about-debt.co.uk/page...aking%20Offers

Can I check, have they actually accepted a £2500 offer on a £10,500 debt? if so then mate, for the sake of a partial settlement i'd bite their hands off! No questions asked, sod your credit record, it will affect you for no more than say 3 years after which most lenders won't pay attention to the status.

Point is, it does NOT state the settlement amount therefore it can also be lied about, ahem! I mean if you apply somewhere and they decline you you can say listen, they (crappy1) increased the APR - I wasn't happy so we agreed on settlement to close the account... it's plausible but my logic bases around an £8k saving, why are they so keen to knock £8k off?

I suspect they don't have an agreement in which case you would not have to pay anything, but risky.... Tell you what, you can pay me the £2500 and i'll make them disappear for good - deal?

Have a wee think, personally i'd be tempted to pay it - but that depends on past history as I don't know much about it, however on the flip - Crappy1 don't often have compliant agreements, if they can provide one at all...

so worth thinking about... no?

p.s. I was joking about paying me the £2500! Just in case you wondered

Hey Niddy,

I just read your post edit after coming back from the postbox - can you just pop my £2500 cheque back in the post to me when it arrives.....

I'm going to start another thread in a sec as I'm keen to get your considered view on some of the specifics of my situation and I'm conscious I'm hijacking the OP's thread.

[Lakeside1]

Re: Help with Settlements & CRA Alerts

Doh,

Apologies Niddy, I only just got your PM advising of the thread move....

You invite me into your house and the first thing I do is make the place look untidy...... :/