Thanks dx, I'm going to spend the next few days getting those bits of information together... Watch this space

I haven't reclaimed the fees yet. Would you tell me the best process? I'm managing the debt with 123 Debt Solutions. I know, I'm a noob! I'll be switching to a free DMC in the next 20 days.

Really enjoying managing my debt, now I feel ready to tackle an old one... I have an old £600 outstanding overdraft balance with Lloyds from about 3 years ago. I've been paying it off in a DMP for that time at something like £7 / month. I want to get rid of it entirely now. The debt is still with Lloyds. Was thinking of offering a F&F ... But do you all think there is a better way to go about this?

So just got off the phone for the first round. Here's what happened. I offered £2k F&F, they said it was too low (You were right Renegade Imp!) They actually said they would only accept offers of more than 50%. They said they wanted to do a 'partial settlement' instead of a F&F, which they said means they will stop bothering me and consider the debt written off. Still £2K is too low. They then proposed that I do a 'repayment proposal' where i open up the last 3 months of bank accounts to them and submit a budget, then they would freeze the interest rate and accept a lower payment. (sounds like a rubbish version of a DMP to me??) I proposed a DMP, and said my (free) DMA would be in touch. They put my account 'on hold' for 30 days, which only means they won't bother me, but interest is still being added. Hope that's useful. Would love to hear your feedback

OK, so I've done a lot of research over the last 3 days and I'm ready to tackle my startup loan. I'm going to offer them a self managed DMP at £10 / month on the basis of a personal budget statement I'll have with me when I propose it. However, I will also say that my parents have offered me £2,000 for a full and final clearing of the debt if that's what they would prefer. (Do comment if you think this a bad move) The loan itself is £12,000 I'll report back and share what I've learned, that way other people may benefit from this experiment.

Thanks for the great information. OK, so potentially the best thing for me to do would be to explain my lack of income, then set up a small monthly repayment. It would be nice to clear the debt in one go. I wonder if a lower % Full and final payment would work?

Thanks Stu. I've heard this scheme was designed with lots of defaults in mind. I'm sure there must be an elegant way through this.

Hi everyone! About a year ago I took a £12,000 government sponsored business startup loan. My business didn't work out, and now I'm not in a position to pay back this loan. I wonder if anyone has had any experience dealing with these people before. I'm currently 2 months without payments, they say with one more month my debt will default. I was thinking about offering a self set up Debt Managment Plan, or perhaps offering a small percentage of the total amount as a final settlement. Love to hear your thoughts.