Clearing Credit Card/Loan Debts

mlbtheshow

mlbtheshow

mlbtheshow

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Simple question really as follows:

ie Should I for example have a loan or credit card debt valued at say £6000 today, could I call up the company who that debt is with and say, look ive got £5250... ill pay you that lump sum if you clear my debt and call it quits for want of a better word :D

Has anyone done this, what response did you get if you did? Or do you work for such a company, what sort of policy is there for this type of call?

People may think its a case of shirking some of the debt, which is true in a sense. At the same time, said companies have got their piece of pie with 'agreed' interest rates at time of taking out card/loan.

Im assuming its a no-go, and they will not clear it - but if people have done it or know its possible, why not try and save a few quid in such hard times.
 
Why would they when chances are they have a signed agreement from the customer which means they can wait for their full amount + interest for any delay in paying?
 
OP is on cloud 9 clearly. Companies that lend you money would:

a) Not ever benefit from you paying back early so normally never even offer it, unless it was an option to pay back early during the original contracted finance deal you took out (interest rates usually are higher to account for this "flexibility"). Most have penalties to pay back early to try even harder to lock you in. This benefitis them through the interest amount they gain from the gradual and longer pay off period.

b) Never EVER "let you off" a penny, let alone a few hundred. It's not Dave from the pub ya know. ;)
 
ShadowMan said:
Why would they when chances are they have a signed agreement from the customer which means they can wait for their full amount + interest for any delay in paying?
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I thought that would be the case, but at the same time 'something is better than nothing' is the route I was looking at.
 
jaybee said:
OP is on cloud 9 clearly. Companies that lend you money would:

a) Not ever benefit from you paying back early so normally never even offer it, unless it was an option to pay back early during the original contracted finance deal you took out (interest rates usually are higher to account for this "flexibility"). Most have penalties to pay back early to try even harder to lock you in. This benefitis them through the interest amount they gain from the gradual and longer pay off period.

b) Never EVER "let you off" a penny, let alone a few hundred. It's not Dave from the pub ya know. ;)
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Fair enough, im not on cloud 9 :p Just something I thought about on my way there :D

Next question - can someone declare themselve bankrupt, shed all their debt... but still have a pot of cash ;)
 
Beginning to dislike the OP. What is it that drives people to spend money they can't afford to pay back, or to do everything in their power to back out of repayment they owe? Is it so hard to control your spending?
 
they will never "let you off" when you've signed an agreement under the consumer credit act

the best you can do is pay that lump sum of £5250 off, leaving a debt outstanding of £750 which is obviously going to cost you a lot less / month in interest than £6000

this should make it easier then to pay off the remaining £750.

if your talking about ways of settling debt, you've got 3 main solutions

1) method above, pay it off £5250 in one chunk, then pay off remaining £750

2) explain to the bank you cannot pay the ammounts they are asking and negotiate an interest freeze. They will discontinue the account, terminate to such a point you cant use it anymore and likely freeze any interest / charges on the account. This will however be subject to you agreeing with them (either by yourself or with the help of a debt charity like CCCS) a monthly payment to pay off the debt. This must be made every month and must be kept to. If you skip payments and default on this they are likely to start charging interest / fees again

3) some from of IVA / bankruptcy which means you dont pay it off. This is hugely complicated and if you have any equity in your mortgaged home could lead to you being forced to sell your house off. Not advised and not to be taken lightly

If your having trouble with Debt, speak to a good debt Charity Like the consumer credit counselling service:

http://www.cccs.co.uk/

Or National Debtline

http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/
 
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Deadbeat said:
Beginning to dislike the OP. What is it that drives people to spend money they can't afford to pay back, or to do everything in their power to back out of repayment they owe? Is it so hard to control your spending?
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I pay it back monthly on time thank you very much, and although my post suggests I dont, I can afford to pay off all my debts... something I am considering as it makes sense rather than having savings doing nothing.

I only ask the question as why not haggle, thats the basis of the society we live in (or should be) - the only problem is most accept whats given to them and end up moaning how they got it.

As for bankruptcy, it was tongue in cheek - I have bricks and mortar, something id never put at risk.

Cheers all for the feedback though, if you dont ask, you never know.
 
if you wish to declare bankrupt they will force you to sell it first. Its (as far as i understand) impossible to go bankrupt whilst you still have equity in your house.

As for the haggling - you cant. You have signed a legally binding court enforcable agreement to pay them everything they are owed. If you dont want to pay the last £750, they'll just take you to court over it.
 
If its a personal loan do you have PPI on it? If so phone up and cancel it. That will drop the dept down a good chunk, and then pay it off.

*edit*

I did this, and received a letter in the post last week saying i had over payed by £600 and here are your pennies :D
 
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mlbtheshow said:
I only ask the question as why not haggle, thats the basis of the society we live in (or should be) - the only problem is most accept whats given to them and end up moaning how they got it.
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It used to be, but now the society we live in is based on contracts and deadlines. If you really ascribe to that belief, the time to haggle would have been before you signed up for the card in the first place, not once you've entered into a legally-binding agreement to borrow & repay money. You've been watching too many money supermarket adverts, methinks.
 
mlbtheshow said:
I only ask the question as why not haggle, thats the basis of the society we live in (or should be) - the only problem is most accept whats given to them and end up moaning how they got it.
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You've spent the money, have the ability to pay it back but want to see if you can haggle.

Are you a *****?
 
Neodite said:
If its a personal loan do you have PPI on it? If so phone up and cancel it. That will drop the dept down a good chunk, and then pay it off.

*edit*

I did this, and received a letter in the post last week saying i had over payed by £600 and here are your pennies :D
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Wouldn't work in most instances, the fine print of the PPI usually states that you first x amount of payments actually cover the cost of it, rather than actually starting to clear your debt.

Was the case with my loan back in 2007.
 
Deadbeat said:
It used to be, but now the society we live in is based on contracts and deadlines. If you really ascribe to that belief, the time to haggle would have been before you signed up for the card in the first place, not once you've entered into a legally-binding agreement to borrow & repay money. You've been watching too many money supermarket adverts, methinks.
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True, and I did.

I just wondered if debt companies would rather some cash over nothing. ie Heres 5k, clear the debt or ill be leaving the country, changing my name to San Pedro Domzales and you will be getting diddly zip from me.

Look im digging myself a hole by messing about - I got the answer, thanks for the debt advice, I have the full amount available to me to pay off said loan/credit.... its now a choice of doing that or enjoying having said sums in savings.

I dont usually part with cash without a haggle, but as i expected I didnt think these companies would negotiate, however why not ask a forum where people could have experience in such matters before hand. I did, I got the answer (thanks for the help) and thus have a choice.
 
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