# Unexpected letter from Ulsterbank!



## Gardin (15 Mar 2019)

Hi all,

I have a loan with Ulsterbank for circa €11,000, down from 25k. It was taken out when I was a student and paying fees - then the recession happened. Long story short, we agreed a €300 monthly repayment interest free and it’s been like this now for several years. I haven’t missed any of these payments. The loan was orgininally taken out about 11 years ago, but some of those years were interest only, etc. 

Ulsterbank just wrote to me asking to contact them to discuss ‘a mutual agreement to bring this to a close’ as the loan has been in their recoveries department for 11 years now. They note I’ve been making my repayments but point out it will still be a number of years before loan is repaid. They want to start a ‘discussion’

Haven’t heard from them for several years now so I’m surprised to hear from them now. Any ideas?


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## vandriver (15 Mar 2019)

They want to close it,so offer them a very small settlement figure.


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## LS400 (16 Mar 2019)

Or, a more mature approach might be to increase your repayments. The recession was after all a good while ago for most people. 

Offer them a small amount!! Flippen eck, What ever happened to "paying what you owe" mentality??


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## Jim2007 (16 Mar 2019)

vandriver said:


> They want to close it,so offer them a very small settlement figure.



And you would know this because.... It's an 11k balance, far more likely it is a final attempt to collect before it is factored.


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## Brendan Burgess (16 Mar 2019)

Hi Gardin
They are probably going to sell it to a vulture fund. The fund will probably pay about 30% for it. (This is a wild guess on my part.) 

Fair play to you for keeping up the €300 a month over the years. You owe €11k. At €300 per month, that is only 3 years to go. 

Are you in a position to offer them €3,000?   Can you borrow €3,000 from a friend or from a credit union?  If they say, not and agree to settle for €5,000 could you raise that? 

Your credit record would start cleaning up as well by doing so which would help you get a mortgage. 

You could seek a Debt Settlement Arrangement and end up owing nothing. I reckon €5,000 is a fair compromise between all the different issues including the moral obligation pointed out by LS 400. 

Brendan


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## Gardin (4 Apr 2019)

Just to follow up this story:

UB were seeking to have the loan closed by me making an offer to them. They suggested 25% of the loan value. Their reasoning was that the loan has been in their collections department for 11 years and they want it off their books. They didn't mention vulture funds, but I'm guessing if I didn't agree to make an offer, it would have been sold on since this is a similar figure to what they would receive from a vulture fund.
I offered just under 25% - €3000. (the loan was actually approximately €13k remaining). Credit union have advanced me the money.
UB accepted and the loan account is now being closed.

I have much larger debt which I am servicing (>1200 per month in repayments) so this is one less thing. Quite stunned and pleasantly surprised.


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## PaddyBloggit (4 Apr 2019)

Gardin said:


> Quite stunned and pleasantly surprised.



Well done... a step in the right direction!


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## Palerider (4 Apr 2019)

Delighted you got a result and all credit for your adherence to the agreement payment plan, it helped you in the end, more people like you would make this country and its recovery an early prospect.


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## MrEarl (11 Apr 2019)

Well done Gardin,

You played fair, so did they (by suggesting a reasonable settlement amount)... and everyone went away satisfied with the outcome 

Hopefully others reading about your experience will take a lesson from it and engage with their financial institutions, when given an opportunity.


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