Hi, I tried to get my head round dualcalc and searched here for ages but I'm stumped! Im trying to get a settlement figure from MoneyBarn for a Car HP and they keep giving me conflicting info so I want to try work it out myself as I got a settlement figure two payments ago and comparing it to the one now it's £50 less which is bizzare, after numerous phone calls they are telling me the previous one they gave me is wrong? sounds like they've made a right hash of it. They said they will send me a statement so I can work it out and query them if I think it's wrong, er wtf? So here goes (from the statement they just sent) Loan amount £6795 Initial payment £400 APR 30.3% Term 48 mths Total payable £11,437.95 1st payment 8th Mar 12 £234.85 and I've made 10 payments since Their total paid so far is £2748.50 which is all the payments I made plus £400 deposit. How does that £400 come into affect because that was what I gave the car dealer? i.e the car cost £7195. Are they saying I've borrowed 7195 and made a first payment of 400? as that's naughty isnt it? could someone please dualcalc that and let me know how much I actually owe as a settlement as I have no faith in these cowboys. I've attached my statement hashing out personal info if someone can help and I'll donate you a coffee/beer/lunch!

I found out a couple of months ago that I was being chased for £2866 from a CCJ. It was to do with a work overpayment a year ago. I have recently received a letter from the court saying it has to be paid by the end of Jan. I am going to take out a loan to pay it and suggested a settlement. The debt recovery agency has asked me to suggest an amount. How much should I say? The debt is for £2866, some of that was added to it which I think is unfair as the company I worked for never contacted me before I heard from the CCJ. Also as it was overpayment I feel that I want to suggest half of the original amount which would be about 1300. I think this will be rejected though. What should I do? Does anyone know how much the agency will have bought my debt for and what is likely to be accepted? I want to get this out of the way but obviously taking a loan out I dont want to pay any more than I need to. Thank you

Can anyone explain me why COT3 agreement (brokered through ACAS) does not require the claimant to take an independent legal advice and Settlement Agreement does? The ACAS conciliator does not provide any advice on the terms of settlement, so it must be a clear disadvantage for an unrepresented claimant to go via ACAS(COT3) then?

Hi all, I am now in the process of agreeing amounts with my 5 creditors for sum of around £30k. I have received first response back from 1 of them today. Please see below. Should I respond back and state that it is upon goodwill I am able to clear the debt or should I offer slightly more than my original offer amount? Also the part where it says it won't be removed from my credit file, assuming I do not have a default against that or any given creditor it will only show as 'partial payment' as they are putting it? Many thanks! Neo.

Hi all, I am hoping someone can help or let me know of someone who can help. Last year I raised a case of discrimination to the employment tribunal. Case background: In 2009, I was attacked (outside work) and suffered PTSD and depression. 2012 employer implied I was weak because of the attack (e.t.c) and asked me to find another job (I had a very public breakdown whilst being told this & it was very belittling). I subsequently found myself having a re-occurrence of PTSD/depression. I accepted a settlement based on the figures below (figures separated in COT3) £30,000 compromise agreement to end employment (redundancy) £15,000 to settle claim. My questions are: 1) Do I pay tax on the £15,000? I consider this 'hurt feelings' for what I suffered. I haven't been able to work since and my career is over. How will HMRC see this figure? 2) During 2012, I was paid 40% tax on 3 months salary and paid 4 months statutory sick pay, and no other income. Would I get a tax rebate to bring the tax to 20% (3 months salary doesn't put me in the 40% tax bracket). 3) Can I claim tax back for legal fee's associated with the claim? If you don't know the answer, do any of you know how I find out? I contacted an accountant 6 weeks ago but have had no response after much chasing. I have searched the internet and some sources say 'taxable' and some say 'not taxable'. Many thanks for your help.

Hello, I'm new to the site and I do appreciate people are volunteering their time. I am under time constraints though because the company say they will take further action if I don't reply within 14 days of the date of their letter, since it took 7 days to arrive that gives me a very short turnaround period. So here is my problem. In 2009 Wescot agreed to accept £1500 as final settlement on a credit card debt of £2500, thus leaving £1000 unpaid. I asked Wescot for a letter confirming this was a Full and final payment but they only partially complied. The letter they sent me says it was a final payment and that Wescot will not be pursuing the unpaid £1000 portion of the debt. I don't have proof but from memory I think Wescot were acting on behalf of Arrow Global. A company called rossendale have now written, they say on behalf of Arrow Global, seeking the unpaid portion of the debt. I wrote back explaining my circumstances and that a final settlement had been paid. They asked for proof, I wrote back with partial quotes from my Wescot letter and suggested they go back to Arrow Global and ask them to look up their files. Interestingly Arrow Global are able to quote the date and amount of my final payment, but say they need proof that this was a full and final settlement. I could just send them a copy of my Wescot letter, but I smell a rat and think they may try and say that just because Wescot said they wouldn't pursue the balance it doesn't mean they won't. Is there any legislation that covers a circumstance such as this? I'm tempted to write and ask them for copies of the information they have on file. I've been approached by rossendale out of the blue, I don't recognise the reference they use to identify the debt and I dislike the intimidating suggestions about 'taking this further' and whatever that implies. I really need to make this go away as quickly as possible, and I couldn't deal with the stress of fighting a court action. When I made this payment I had just been diagnosed with terminal cancer a nd was trying to clear as much debt as I could and put my affairs in order. My terminal illness hasn't gone away of course and it's still vitally important to me that my affairs are as clear of debt as possible as well as being free of any on-going issues. Were my cancer curable they'd say I was in remission, it's not, and I'm living on borrowed time. I don't want to seem melodramatic but I would really appreciate some help and advice Many thanks Iola

Hi, I would be grateful if someone can give me a better insight into this matter. I will try to simplify it.although its a little complex: I have a Full merits hearing set for next Thursday. The respondent's team tried to strike out both my claims: Unfair Dismissal- due to lack of continuous service I only received a contract in May 2012, although I have written evidence that I was to receive a 'salary' from April 1st..and my April pay is not a round figure..suggesting deductions were made. I had prior to that, been working full time, self-employed. Unlawful Deduction of Wages-due to the claim being Out of Time My claim relates to a proportion of commission that was not paid. My argument is that the contract did not set a deadline for payment..and even after part of it was paid, the MD at least promised to look into it. I made the claim within 3 month of my final salary payment. Last week, they turned up to the Preliminary Hearing late and unprepared, so the judge decided to proceed to a full hearing which would deal with the preliminary issues as well. I have irrefutable written evidence that my commission claim is justified. (due to a last minute witness whose participation in effect forced disclosure). The other side have offered to settle on a figure based on this commission..but not the Unfair Dismissal.. My original ET1 claim and subsequent settlement proposal amounts to about 1/5 of the total schedule of loss...so I think its pretty fair. The original bundle included meeting notes that had been altered by the Respondent... Upon hearing that the original note-maker (currently still working for the Respondent) may be appearing as a summonsed witness, they resubmitted the notes in their correct version...both sets are in the bundle:further indisputable evidence of dishonesty... The danger is, that I may not win on the preliminary issues, despite the evidence confirming my claims are justified.. If the preliminary issues are borderline, would the actual facts regarding the veracity of the claim and the dishonesty of the Respondent have an impact on the panel ruling in my favour (on the preliminary issues)? The commission issue is a formality if the Judge rules that it was In Time. Unfair Dismissal is more complicated: Despite being Head and the most experienced member of my Academic department, I apparently came bottom of a dubious test, that the Respondent designed himself, meaning that I was chosen for redundancy despite being willing to take a teaching role at the same pay rate as my staff. The test showed that other staff had 0% lateness and 0% sickness and also scored me lower on teaching skills, despite no actual observations having been done. I did question the scoring, but never got a clear response. The Respondent has included many documents in the bundle to try to discredit me. Some of the allegations are fair, others are not. Can I perhaps use those allegations in my favour to suggest (as I believe) that I was made redundant because of these issues? I have other evidence to back up my credibility including an excellent reference from my current and previous employer..and an award won by the dept I managed... Many thanks!

all my defaults from my DMP are now more than 6 years old. I still owe money to those creditors and I imagine they could and would pursue CCJ etc to damage my CRA for another 6 years if I stop paying. So I would like to make settlement offers to get rid. What's the general view on this? I did send out a bunch of circa 35% F&F offers a few years ago and cleared two of my accounts back then for slightly more than that but the others all said no. Are they more likely to accept now that they know their account is no longer reported on my CRA files?

Hi All, I had a default registered against me by a bank in 2008 because i changed address and did not receive their letters requesting back their overdraft. The debt was sold to a debt collected and i paid the debt off in 2011 and it was marked as settled with the CRA. just wondering when the default will drop off, is it 6 years after default or 6 years after settlement. thanks.

After 2 years with a Barclaycard PPI claim through the FOS I finally received a cheque for £1,925.00. I banked it immediately. On receipt of my October Barclaycard statement the amount outstanding was £1,399.00 - this led me to believe that they had deducted extra PPI reimbursement from my outstanding balance. I assumed they had refunded far more. On the back of this, thinking I was much better off than I actually was, I had a mild spending spree and probably spent about an extra £250. Just received my November statement and I am horrified to see that they have applied £1,925.00 to my outstanding balance with no explanation as to what this figure means at all. In the "description" against this figure is just "199199". They have led me to believe that they had not only refunded me an amount in the form of a cheque but that they had also reduced my outstanding balance. Is there anything I can do? I am a Pensioner and have a very meagre income. Many thanks for any advice.

Hi, I've got two barclays bank accounts that were closed in 2009 and they called in the overdrafts. At the time, I was complaining about charges, although I had not gone as far as a court claim. Latterly, I have settled the smaller of the accounts to its full value, but I have not paid anything to the other since it was closed. It has now been passed on through several debt collection agencies. At the time of closure, Barclays registered two defaults with the CRAs and, as my financial situation has improved in the last few years, these are now causing me some inconvenience. I have discussed removal with various customer service reps over the years, but they have been unwilling to concede. I previously believed that Barclays had correctly followed the necessary processes before registering the defaults, but I think there's a chance they only sent me a termination notice and there is no specific mention of a default - I still have these letters and believe I would have kept anything else sent at the time. If I'm correct about this, I understand this would be grounds for removing the defaults. However, since the debt has been sold on but is still outstanding, I'm not sure whether there would be the possibility to issue a further default with the correct documentation? If so, it seems like the best strategy would be to attempt a percentage settlement with the collection agency (~25%) and simultaneously send in a request for the default documentation? If the debt was settled with the collection agency, I guess there is no way that a further default could be issued? My other question is whether a written offer of settlement constitutes acknowledgement of the debt and would start the clock again on the statute of limitations? It would seem prejudicial if it did, but I would like to make sure before I start going down that route. I had previously been thinking of eeking it out until the 6 year mark, as it's only two more years. However, if there was the opportunity to clear these 2 defaults off my file for a reasonable cost, I would definitely go for that. FYI, I also have 2 other accounts that also show defaults from the same time (BT and barclaycard). I think there may be similar options with these, so it makes sense for me to take them all through the same process now - I will start separate threads if I need help with these. Thanks, James

Hi, I have gradually over the last 7 years gotten more and more into debt on two credit cards. One I stopped using 3 years ago but continue to pay the limited amount each month which does nothing but pay off the interest -the amount owing of £3000 remains the same. The other I have continued to use because my salary does not even cover my living expenses and is now on £9000. I am also currently £900 overdrawn and so when my salary hits the bank it will disappear. I can only see my financial situation getting worse. I had a serious RTA in 2002 and due to chronic pain and PTSD I had to leave my career. Although I found another job this is more than half my original salary. I am a single parent with a 13 year old daughter. I receive working family tax and tax credits. I have been using my credit card to cover all the things food shopping, things for school, petrol, uniforms etc. However the repayments have now gotten so high that I can no longer afford to make them. On Thursday, following a year of ill health I was diagnosed with multiple schlorosis and life seems pretty terrible at the moment. I broke down emotionally at the weekend with my elderly parents because I really am my wits end. They very kindly offered to lend me (to be repaid as and when I can) £5000 to help and after spending a lot of time researching debt solutions I am wondering if I would be able to negotiate with the two debtors to make a settlement offer? My MS is progressive and I can only assume my health will deteriorate fast. I don;t know what is the best way forward??? Any advice would be gratefully received. Thank you:smile:

Hi All I had a leak in my flat which damaged the floor and carpet, so I had to move out for 2 months whilst they took the floor and plaster out. I got a call from the Housing Association giving me a moving in date I contacted my insurance they passed me on to renew carpets and they could only time they could visit was 2 weeks later to give a quote, problem was I had to move back in the day after they were coming. I called my insurance and explained I have to have it fitted before I move in the advised it was ok it will be a cash settlement, I requested an email confirming this. It cost £1850 for all the floor covering from a small local carpet shop the flooring was about £14 m2. I recieved a call from the insurance company saying that they were going to send me a cheque for £760 as my excess was £350. I advised them to hold the cheque as I wanted a breakdown of the costs. The quote sent was for a price £7.54 m2 and at the end of the quote they have two prices retail price total £1630 and scheme discounted price £1110. The carpet was fitted me when I first moved in as a moving in gift unfortunatly that person is no longer with us and I have no way of knowing which company fitted it but it was a really nice twist patter carpet I cant find it anywhere. The HA have agreed to pay the insurance excess but I still dont have £700. How can the flooring quote have a retail price £1630 and a scheme discounted price £1110 which is 32% different and on the discount price it shows discount of 10% What can I do?

If I was to make a full and final settlement offer, should I state in the letter that once the amount is paid I expect that the account be marked as satisfied in the credit report and get them to agree to this before I make the payment. This is just theoretical at the moment as building up knowledge before actually doing it. If my credit report is then marked as satisfied against this default, will it still affect me negatively if I apply for credit?

For some years my wife has been paying off various store and credit card debts via a debt management company who, naturally, take their percentage before paying the creditors. I have now intervened and contacted Step Change (formerly CCCS) and requested that they take over from the debt management company. Once transferred she may within a couple of months be able to clear all outstanding debts in one payment. I have seen a recent statement from the debt management company as well as an up to date statement from Noodle credit reference agency. Her liabilities are with four well known bank/store card creditors. Prior to paying them off is it customary to see if they will negotiate a full and final settlement figure less than the current amount outstanding ? If so what sort of percentage is the norm ? I appreciate that Step Change can advise us on this but it would be interesting to have some guidance from members here.

AMEX have written to me offering full & final settlement out of the blue and unsolicited. The offer taken from the letter : "If you pay just 40% of your outstanding balance still owing, we'll waive the remaining £0.00 of your balance in full and final settlement. In order to accept this offer, please call Amercian Express on 0800-etc. This opportunity allows you to repay a reduced amount from which you otherwise owe us. From Michelle Upton Manager American Express Address Amex House Brighton." They call this a 60% Balance Forgiveness. In brief this concerns an Amex credit card taken out in 1995 inclu. PPI and is in dispute since 2009. They closed my account July 2009 after i tried to make a claim on the PPI. They then had many different DCA's chase me as the debt was passed around without notification . Each DCA have been dealt with via CCA letter etc following the correct time-lines none have provided the information requested hence all are in dispute. Further oddities they lost my details on a laptop believed stolen, have had Amex letters advising i contact there insurance people only to be confronted with AIC and a rude aggressive French lady who told me PPI will not pay out until i am bankrupt etc etc Then all went went silent for many months until the settlement letter arrived this week. I need advice on dealing with this development please help

I had a car loan through First Trust bank approx. 18/19/20 years ago. I know I paid PPI on it. I tried to reclaim the PPI off the bank, but I kept being put off for longer and longer periods of time, so I contacted the FOS. This complaint is pending with the FOS. I bounced a direct debit with the bank a few weeks ago, and eventually got sick of the nuisance calls coming from the bank about when I was going to pay the outstanding amount. I penned a very cheeky letter, explaining that , at this time, THEY owed ME considerably more than I owed THEM, and if they would hurry up and sort the money that they currently owed me, I would certainly forward any arrears owing to them. I wasn't really expecting a reply, it was sent just to get them off my back for a while. I then got a reply saying they had checked the loan in question and had found they were NOT at fault, however they had reviewed ALL my loans and discovered I had been mis-sold policies on two different loans from the same era. That I had a habit of clearing loans early and should have been sold a monthly policy, rather than a lump-sum policy. to that effect they had calculated the difference between what I SHOULD have been sold and what I WAS sold, and were willing to give that as a settlement (with interest) for ALL of the accounts. I have 2 questions from this;- 1. I have paid bank fees in the period in question, that I would not have been subject to, had I have had that money in my bank account. Am I entitled to a refund of bank fees for that period? 2.They have admitted I was mis-sold PPI on two loans, they have offered a settlement figure for the policy I WAS sold minus the amount for the policy I SHOULD have been sold. Is this the correct way of calculating or would the FOS have a field day with this? To be 100% honest, I don't even recall HAVING these loans and certainly don't remember knowingly taking PPI on them. It's all very suss to me. Any thoughts guys?? Thanks in advance

Hello, after some negotiation I have come to an agreement with my DCA over a full and final settlement. In the body of the letter it states 'your offer of £xxx.xx as a discounted full and final settlement has been accepted, to release your personal liability on the above mentioned account' 'Following receipt of your payment the remainder of the balance will be written off and recorded as a partial settlement with the Credit Reference Agencies. We must inform you that this may have an adverse effect on your client credit rating and will remain on record for six years. If you wish to avoid this then you must pay the full balance outstanding' Does this seem to be a bit of a mean action?, they have received 75% of the full balance as an F&F btw.

Hi All, I've been receiving letters from a DCA for a few months now regarding an old overdraft debt I have owed. Decided not to respond to any of the sabre rattling letters and just see what happens.. Got a letter today I'm a little bemused by, it is offering me a settlement figure which is way below the actual amount of the debt when ignoring charges that were tacked onto it before it went into default. As the account is not statute barred until towards the end of next year I am puzzled why they would offer this. I know the waters are a lot murkier when requesting CCA's for overdrafts so I haven't gone down that route. Surely if they had all they needed to prove in court I owe the full debt then I wouldn't get any settlement offers... Thoughts?

Hi all Seeking advice and opinion for my battle against huge personal debt. Lost my job a few months back and stopped paying back my credit cards. Even though I found employment now, I am earning just enough to survive and cannot afford to pay the minimum payment anymore. I have written to inform them. As expected , the phone calls started (3 or 4 times everyday), daily letters etc. This went on for 6 months. Then this morning I received a letter from Mercer regarding a Barclaycard for the debt of £4745. It reads as follows A FINAL OFFER OF HELP Barclaycard have agreed we may offer you a repayment opportunity to avoid the need for further collection activity. 1-Barclaycard is prepared to accept 60% of your outstanding balance in full and final settlement of your debt. Alternatively if this is not an option 2-Barclaycard will allow us to offer you a range of reduced payment options, Please call us to discuss. We feel it is important to stress to you this is the final offer we can make before your account is closed and passed to an external debt collections company to arrange repayment of the full balance. If this happens the full balance will become due immediately ............................................. What do you guys think of this letter and offer ? My dad is willing to bail me out on this one. Should I try to reduce it to 50%? Is it a genuine offer? How do I respond to them ? What safeguards do I need to made sure there is no comebacks? Thanks kingston1234

Hi I wonder if anyone can advise us? My husband has been paying off a debt from Lloyds which they sold to Cabot. Cabot have now written offering a settlement figure! W e can't afford to do this. We are now worried that if we refuse, they may threaten to take action. We do not own our own home, nor have any other assets of any worth so we are worried about what they will do. Having read other posts on sites, it appears that Cabot do not have a particularly good reputation. We are just wondering how to proceed with this, or just refuse the offer and carry on paying?

Hi guys, I am currently negotiating a settlement agreement through ACAS whilst the tribunal is pending. I need to know under what circumstances my previous employer can attempt to recover the money from me once the agreement is signed. I ask because they have stated they will not sign away their rights (but I have to). This makes me highly suspicious about their intentions and although the ACAS conciliator assures me this is normal, I'm sure he doesn't know how often people get screwed over later once his part is done! Basically, I wasn't very senior in the company so the only thing I'm worried about is that I will settle, sign away my rights and then my employer will make up some 'gross misconduct' which wouldn't be difficult to do and they've lied a lot in the past (and in the very recent!). I'm worried they will make a claim to a county court saying they wouldn't have had to pay out for my claims if they had found this earlier as they would have fired me. 1. Can they do this after I have signed an agreement through ACAS even though I no longer work for them? (would it have to be specified in the agreement or is it just assumed that they can / can't) 2. Other than what is explicitly stated in the agreement, is there anything they can recover the money for by default? Basically, I don't want to settle 'quietly' then have them turn around and claim the money back knowing that I won't be able to then make my claims public. Please can you provide sources for any advice offered (if possible) so that I know it's not just opinion and also so that I can study up on this more. Thank you very much,

My husband suffered an injury at work in October. He has been unable to work since and has recieved SSP which will run out this week.His employers (a public school) have not accepted liability for the accident and to be honest have been quite nasty. He works 3 days a week as a general maintenance man. He read somewhere that he could have holiday pay rather than SSP so he asked for 2 days from last year and 4 days accrued for this year. He received the following reply. Holiday entitlement can be requested at anytime during the holiday year but it is the employers decision when it can be taken. It would be quite unusual to pay holiday entitlement unless the contract has come to an end when we would of course factor in any accrued holiday not taken' Is this true? I cant see any reason for refusing other than making life difficult for us.

Hi Do you have to default on a credit card account in order to offer a Full and Final settlement? Thanks

Hey there, I have been on a debt management plan with CCCS for a number of years, paying a total of £48 each month to five different companies with a debt totaling around £15800. I have a mortgage on a house with negative equity, which I can currently renting out as I am living with my girlfriend rent free. She has offered to give me a lump sum of money to clear this debt (she's an absolute belter!!!), however I am a little bit worried about explaining that I am living with her and she has money. My question (number 1) is if I tell them this, is there any way that they can try and get the money from her as we are in cohabitation? (question 2) I spoke to CCCS and told them I was hoping to make a settlement offer and asked their advice for how much I should start at. They told me it should be however much I have and they would not advise on a specific percentage. The problem is that I don't actually have any money and will be relying on my girlfriend, she says she's happy to give me it but I don't want to completely wipe her funds out, after all she has her own bills to pay and children. Can anyone suggest what sort of percentage I should offer? Thanks in advance!