Is it possible to get a bank to freeze interest on a CC?

PrancyElton

I have a HSBC credit card, I owe £3,500 at the moment, I have been getting it down from about £5,000 for the last 6 or 7 months which wasnt a problem as I was working full time,but I finished work in September as I started a full time degree course at uni, I have been making the minimum payments on the CC, which is about £85 and thats all I have been able to afford,but im really struggling at the moment and being at uni 5 days a week means I just dont earn enough to even make the minimum payments. The balance has stayed at £3500 for the last few months with me just making the minimum. I have missed this months payment and am being hassled by the bank. Does anyone have any experience getting interest stopped or anything similar which will give me a chance to earn a bit of money before I lose it all in late/interest payments?
Any help would be great,
Matt

exel1966

Yes it certainley is possible, but usually only after you've displayed to them that you are seriously struggling to repay the debt. That would be by defaulting on your minimum payments which of course will have a detremental effect on your current and future credit worthiness and land you with further charges.

Suggest you take a look or double post on the Debt Free Wannabee Board HERE

calibrax

Ask the bank if they can convert it to a loan. I did this with Egg, the interest rate was lower than on the CC, the monthy payments are less, and I now know exactly when the balance will be completely paid off.

Doublespresso

calibrax wrote: »

Ask the bank if they can convert it to a loan. I did this with Egg, the interest rate was lower than on the CC, the monthy payments are less, and I now know exactly when the balance will be completely paid off.

Did that have an adverse affect on your credit rating?
Were they sympathetic? Did you have to apply for a loan separately (i.e. full application, credit search etc) before they agreed to convert the loan?

calibrax

Doublespresso wrote: »

Did that have an adverse affect on your credit rating?
Were they sympathetic? Did you have to apply for a loan separately (i.e. full application, credit search etc) before they agreed to convert the loan?

No, as I already owed them the money, they didnt need to do any checks or anything. It didn't affect my credit rating as I hadn't defaulted on any payments to the credit card. The only thing they did insist on was cancelling the credit card once the loan was in place. The debt was approx £11,600 and the CC limit was £12k.

annieadvisor

woah - it sounds like you are struggling so i would not advise getting into further debt - there is a chance that this bank would not ask for the credit card back and you could run up more debt.

you can lay out your situation on paper and make a formal offer. or go to an advice centre and get them to make the request to freeze charges and make the offer of repayment for you.

in extreme cases if a lender wont play ball with you then your only option would be to obtain a time order from the court but this would be costly and is not guaranteed.

put your request in writing