Final Settlement Paments

[bodyboarder]

have been paying off debts incurred thro overuse of credit cards. have been paying thro a DMP with stepchange and would like to pay off 2 out of 8 accounts. these 2 accounts are with same company and individually are less then £1000. what percentage do companies usually consider for a final settlement, and are the other creditors likely to object. the 2 debts i would like to clear are both charging interest, so the result of a final settlement will mean increased payments to others. i have been paying now fro over 6 years thout missing a singlr payment and am paying slightly more than the minimum required. i will be 80 yrs old on my next birhday and want to clear the debts before i go.. as i surely will!!!

[Richard1966]

If your working with Stepchange then you MUST speak to them rather than take independent action. They will be able to negotiate settlement payments on your behalf, but all creditors have to be treated fairly. Paying one off above others is giving preferential treatment to one creditor and Stepchange would not sanction that and if you do it without their knowledge they will find out and may stop acting for you resulting in these creditors turning back on you for immediate repayment. Given your age Im surprised they haven't tried to get write offs from creditors given the length of time you have ben paying. Discuss this with them.

[Buenchico]

The percentage that will accepted as a one-off payment seems to vary greatly. I owed one company £3,600 and they wrote to offering to accept only half of that. At the time I would have been hard pressed to find a spare £18, so there was no chance of me finding £1800. When, many months later, I came into some money, I assumed that the £1800 offer had expired, so I paid them the full £3600, only to be told that I could have just paid £1800. (An expensive mistake!).

Later on, I wanted to pay off three credit card that I'd been making minimum payments on. The amount on one card was so small that I didn't try to negotiate. I offered both of the other lenders 50%. One dug their heels in and said it had to be 100%, whereas the other agreed to accept 80%.