As I’ve already stated to Barclaycard in writing, I cannot afford to make the minimum payments on my cards as I’m not earning much money, so instead am paying a small amount each month so that they always receive some form of payment.

As a result of my not having responded to these various text messages, I got a phone call on Thursday evening from Mercers Debt Collections, who are dealing with my accounts on behalf of Barclaycard. I spoke to a very nice woman who was quite sympathetic to my reasons why I couldn’t afford the normal payments on my cards and she said they may be able to offer me a settlement figure.

Now given that last month (October) I had already settled one of my Barclaycard accounts for around 30% of the balance, I was expecting this lady from Mercers to be aware of that figure, and come up with something similar for the accounts she was dealing with – I have two remaining Barclaycard accounts, one was a Sky card that was transferred to Barclaycard.

After discussing with her manager for five minutes, she came back with figures for each account. I wasn’t massively impressed – she was only offering a 20% discount on each account – this would still leave me needing to find 80% of the balance, a figure I just don’t have access to.

I explained that I would politely decline the offer, and she then stated that I should try and get onto a professionally managed debt management plan, and she gave me a number for a company.

I asked her then when the accounts would be passed to Calders Financial, as they were the debt collections agency I dealt with on the settlement last month. She stated that as the account was only three months in arrears, it would be another three months before it was passed to Calders, and so the waiting begins…

If you would like some professional advice about your debts, I can recommend using one of these guys. They will give you a FREE no obligation consultation which should give you an insight into what solutions are available to you and what it will cost.

Related Pages

• Phone Call From Calders Financial
• Debt Collection Agencies Are Buying Up Remaining Balances Of Full And Final Settlements
• How Long Does It Take To Reach A Full And Final Settlement
• Almost Settled Another Two Debts With Barclaycard
• Barclaycard Are Also Known As Mercers And Calders Financial

Apparently this is referred to as “Zombie Debt”  - I guess because it reappears years later after you thought the account had been closed.

I have looked into the legal precedents of this and found that there is case law that has set the precedent for cases such as this, in so much that if you have agreed to pay a reduced figure in full and final settlement of a debt, then the spirit of the agreement is that you as the creditor will not be obligated to pay the remainder of the balance, once the creditor has received the agreed amount under the full and final settlement.

My instinct tells me that there are just some rather careless or naive people out there that have not got a written agreement with a creditor prior to settling a debt, and as such have proceeded to repay an amount, typically less than the balance, in good faith that the payment was a full and final settlement.

Clearly if there is no written agreement, I can see that it would be very easy for a creditor to assume that the payment is simply part-payment of the debt and therefore the balance remaining would still be owed.

I would suggest that if anyone is considering going down the route of offering full and final settlements to creditors, ensure that you have a written agreement with them that your offer less than the balance outstanding is as full and final settlement, with the remaining balance to be written off. Alternatively if you are not confident of negotiating with your creditors, speak to a professional debt advisor and get them to negotiate the settlement.

Related Pages

• Barclaycard Has Passed Credit Cards To Mercers Debt Collections
• How Long Does It Take To Reach A Full And Final Settlement

I myself am in the process of writing off a portion of my debts. Thus far I have already written off two of my creditors for just under 30% of the balance outstanding. This process so far, if you start at when I first failed to pay my creditors the required monthly payment under the agreements – July 2008 – will have taken almost eighteen months to get part way through.

I still have a number of creditors to negotiate settlements with, and I expect that it may well take until June 2010 for all of my debts to be settled. It will have taken two years of contstant creditor hassle, including phone calls, letters, solicitors letters, CCJ papers, debt collectors (once) and default notices to get from being in a fairly hopeless situation to being debt free.

It’s not an easy process, you need nerves of steel and the ability to not cave in or get intimidated by your creditors. If I had my time again I would have used a professional debt advisor to help me with the process. If you want professional help, speak to these guys, they have friendly, national advisors that are able to take all of that hassle and stress away.

Related Pages

• Barclaycard Has Passed Credit Cards To Mercers Debt Collections
• Debt Collection Agencies Are Buying Up Remaining Balances Of Full And Final Settlements