The pitfalls of DIY debt settlement

It all sounds so good doesn’t it? Your creditors agree to your debt settlement proposal and you can look forward to getting up to 80% of your debt written off and walking away.

In reality however nothing could be further from the truth. Many people experience immense stress and heartache when dealing with creditors who are intent on getting you to pay 100% of the debt by any means possible. The fact that you may never have had to negotiate debt settlement plays right into their hands.

The following are some of the pitfalls that can happen if you are inexperienced at dealing with the tactics of unscrupulous creditors when attempting debt settlement. Do you recognize any of these?

Accepting your cheque and then asking for more
You think it’s over. You spoke to your creditor on the phone and they said they were happy with the idea of debt settlement and agreed to your offer of a lower lump sum. You send the cheque off with a letter with your debt settlement offer and wait for their confirmation that your debt is paid off. Instead, you get a letter thanking you for the payment and requesting a date when the rest will be paid.

Deadlines which cannot be met
Your lender has accepted your proposal for debt settlement and you have 14 days to sign the agreement they will post to you. Trouble is, the letter arrives 12 days later and you have only two days to get it back to them. Looking at the postmark you can see your creditor didn’t even put it in the post until two days ago. You quickly scribble your acceptance and get it in the post, but your  creditor ‘claims’ it hasn’t arrived in time. They demand 100% of their money back and you have to start the debt settlement process all over again.

Misinterpreting terms and conditions
You thought your letter to your creditor was clear. However, while you didn’t realise some of your comments could open to misinterpretation and provide a loophole for your creditor to wriggle out of.

For example, you promise to pay your creditor a sum of money on a particular date. You initiate a BACS transfer on that date, which will take three days to clear. Your creditor then claims you broke the terms of your agreement as the funds were not cleared on the date you specified.  However, they thank you for your payment and then demand the remaining balance.

Tying you up in knots on the phone
You phone your creditor to talk about debt settlement and are faced with a rude aggressive member of staff who claims you lied on your original application form and threatens to take you to court for fraud. Frightened, you think you filled in the form incorrectly by accident and agree to what they want. It’s only when you get off the phone you realise you you’ve been conned. You look at your copy of your application form - you haven’t filled it in incorrectly at all. They lied to get you to agree to their demands.

Hassling your friends and family
You’re finally able to offer a debt settlement to your creditors thanks to the generosity of 73 year old Great Aunt Nelly. Enthusiastically you tell your creditor about it and they sweetly ask for Great Aunt Nelly’s contact details to arrange the debt settlement with her. Suddenly Great Aunt Nelly starts getting nasty phone calls requesting she pay for the full 100% of the debt. She rings you in tears claiming the last call was so bad it gave her palpitations and she’s going to scrape her life savings together to pay off the whole debt and get rid of them.

Creditors have only one thing on the mind; to get the full amount of the debt from you by any means they can and they will employ nasty unscrupulous tactics to do so. Only attempt DIY debt settlement if you have a strong stomach, understand the tactics creditors can use and have good negotiating skills to avoid falling prey to them. Otherwise call us now on 0800 043 2027 or use our free debt settlement calculator to see how much you could save. We can negotiate a deal on your behalf saving you thousands.