Paying off credit cards

STAPES1987

In October last year i lost my job and since then i have literally lived off my credit cards and hence built up significant debt.

I have used them to pay my mortgage and basically support the £500 net weekly wage that i was on until i lost my job.

Since February i have struggled to meet payments and have been incurring huge interest and late payment fees.

I have come into a some of money from a sale of a family members house and now wish to clear the decks and get everyone off my back !

Do you suggest i pay each card off in full or do i offer a reduced settlement payment (baring in ming my credit rating can't be any good now anyway)? Is there anyway i can get any of the interest back?

I only took the cards out 12 months ago.

Can anyone give me any advice ?? I really want rid but If i pay the full balances off it hurts me to think how much relates to interest etc since i lost my job.

PLEASE HELP !!

Thank you

OMAR

how much debt is it

STAPES1987

£17,000 in total

mitrant

Ideally, you should pay off your debts in full. While you may be able to offer a partial payment due to a history of financial hardship, this will reflect badly on your credit record for the next six years and unless you know exactly what the future holds then I wouldn't take the risk of trashing your credit record just to get out of some interest payments.

At the end of the day, as I said to somebody yesterday, the banks paid your way through this period of time on the understanding they would receive their money back and all relevant fees. Bartering with them over how much of their money you've spent you wish to pay back isn't really how the agreement work and should only ever be used in the worst case scenarios.

You've been given an opportunity to get the debts off your back and not damage your credit history further in doing so. Late payments and the like become irrelevant after a year or so anyway, so I would pay them off.

Heck, if I ever came into some money, the very first thing I'd do once it was sitting in my bank is phone up all my creditors and pay in full.

Moggles_2

Since February I have struggled to meet payments and have been incurring huge interest and late payment fees .... Do you suggest I pay each card off in full or do I offer a reduced settlement payment (bearing in mind my credit rating can't be any good now anyway)?

Have you checked your credit reports to see what's on there? For help, see page 1 of the *How to obtain credit reports* sticky

There's a difference between late payments and missed payments. Fortunately, it sounds as though yours are the former.

Missed payments can wreck your credit rating for years, but late payments are viewed as negative only if you attract more than a couple in a short space of time.

Even then, the effect is fairly short-lived. The late payments drop off your file after 36 months. It's your payment history with all your creditors over the last 6 years that counts, with particular emphasis on the most recent 12 months

MartinSpoon

The banks and CC companies will not accept a sum less than total, if you have the funds to pay them back in full! Why would they take less?

lisyloo

The banks and CC companies will not accept a sum less than total, if you have the funds to pay them back in full!

They do but only in certain circumstances.

Why would they take less?

Becasue something is better than nothing.
So if the corcumstances are that someone MAY go into bankruptcy (for example) then they might be better off helping them and taking less rather than getting nothing.
However I don't think it's as simple as phoning up.
There has to be a pretty bad history otherwise hey'd be losing money left right and center.