Overdraft £5000 with Barclays - can I negotiate?

[kris-london]

Hi all,
I have to pay overdraft for LTD company as it goes into liquidation (personal guarantee signed).
Just one question: can I negotiate to pay, lets say xx%? Are they OK with it?
Does anyone had similiar experience?
Many thanks in advance.

 

[OldWelshGuy]

of course you can negotiate a full and final settlement, but if you have the money and/or earnings then they are unlikely to agree.

 

[UK Contractor Accountant]

For any settlement deal they will ask for a statement of assets & liabilties plus a monthly ins & outs reconciliation.

 

[Lisa Thomas]

Always worth a shot but they don't have to accept. You will need to prove that you can't pay in full and make the offer attractive - eg. cash lump sum from third party.

 

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

They will probably play hardball and just proceed legally.

If you have used your property to secure, they will be more aggressive.

 

[Lisa Thomas]

Even if they have security I doubt they will follow through with such threats for such a small drop in the ocean debt. They have bigger fish to fry.

 

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

Sadly, from experience (not a PG on me, but a colleague), I can say for a few £k more, another bank appeared to throw the kitchen sink at it. They're going for low hanging fruit! Fight it and you run up £ks of their legal costs.

We are currently going to the banking ombudsman.

 

[Lisa Thomas]

How frustrating. I suspect it depends on circumstances - if they know someone can afford to pay it back its worthwhile adding pressure but I can't see its worth getting a repossession Order for £5k.

 

[OldWelshGuy]

I have seen it done for under £3k but the guy buried his head in the sand.

 

[Paul Norman]

As above, you can negotiate, but they are unlikely to agree to anything other than a full settlement, or a charge over your house.

This is one of those times when the less money you have, the better - as at the end of the day, you cannot be made to pay money you do not have.

 

[MikeJ]

Slightly away from the OP, but when we were asked by RBS for guarantees, they specifically didn't want our house as collateral because of the bad publicity in calling them in.

 

[gogogone]

u can always negotiate be polite but also know ya rights and be firm with them don't let them dictate to you as long as you seem like you want to help and you want to settle no one will want to drag it thru courts as added expense added red tape and also added hassle, even large companies don't want the hassle or bad publicity.

Banks same as any creditor want it to be as easy and straight forward as possible offer them a repayment scheme that is well within what u can afford they will say yes or no if they say no ask them for what they would accept and go from there they will usually freeze interest if they know you are doing a repayment plan, altho also depends on your position if u have no assests etc you could go bankrupt and bye bye debt tho thats abit extreme for a smallish amount (am no expert tho).

Negotiate but don't be seen to be fighting them u have to be as helpful as possible without being a doormat at the end of the day you are technically unemployed now so any deal needs to be affordable to you and their aim is to get the debt cleared so work it between you and let us know how you get along, tho u will have to pay it back with having a PG but make sure its affordable for you.

 

[contractor999]

I had a similar experience with the 'Black Horse' bank.
12 k overdraft , personal guarantee with co-director, told bank i would negotiate for my half of debt only and they could persue co-director for the rest.Had to show all my ingoings and outgoings and debt management plan, and offered to pay 6k off at £50 per month. They said they would prefer a one off payment and finally negotiated a one off payment for £1100. This resolved me from any more debt/contact and they would persue other director for as much as they wanted. I don't know how much he had to pay as our business breakup was not amicable.
Talk to them , and be honest with them and haggle. They want a quick painless resolution just as much as you.

 

[kris-london]

Thanks for all comments. I let you know if there is any outcome.

 

[Lisa Thomas]

Good luck Kris

 

[MASSEY]

I had a similar experience with the 'Black Horse' bank.
12 k overdraft , personal guarantee with co-director, told bank i would negotiate for my half of debt only and they could persue co-director for the rest.Had to show all my ingoings and outgoings and debt management plan, and offered to pay 6k off at £50 per month. They said they would prefer a one off payment and finally negotiated a one off payment for £1100. This resolved me from any more debt/contact and they would persue other director for as much as they wanted. I don't know how much he had to pay as our business breakup was not amicable.
Talk to them , and be honest with them and haggle. They want a quick painless resolution just as much as you.

You presumably didn't have a house in your name?

 

[contractor999]

yes I had a house in my name and still do.

 

[14Steve14]

How can you have said you would pay your half of the debt, surely as joint directors you are both liable for all the debt, but I may be mistaken.

 

[contractor999]

If you don't ask the question you may never know. As I had never had a problem with my bank in over thirty years I just stated the obvious , don't just go after me ,chase my co-director. And I would think that is what they have done. Yes we were jointly and severally liable for the overdraft, but I expect the bank were glad to get a payment from me ,under the circumstances, with just a few phone calls and emails. And over that period of time they probably didn't lose anything anyway re.bank, charges loan interest etc.
As this is the only time I've had to close a business, I can only relate what happened to me.

 

[OldWelshGuy]

Effectively they accepted your 50% as full and final settlement for your portion of the debt. It makes sense, why would they trash a relationship/

 

[bluemonday]

I am in a similar situation with Barclays overdraft of 12K on a joint business account with my partner. I want to negotiate a full and final settlement for my half of the debt - any advice on the best way to start the discussion?

 

[Lisa Thomas]

First of all I recommend you look at what you can realistically afford to pay back and how. Then pick up the phone and test their attitude as a starting point.