Clearing credit card debit by agreement

mikeg1

Many apologies if this has been covered in another thread, will happily go there if someone can point me in the right direction.

My wife and I have credit card debts of £30k, and cannot see away forward to repay them as cannot re-mortgage or get loan.

I know there are various schemes you can join to help clear debt, who then act as a contact with cards to degotiate settlement. By doing this I am sure our on going credit rating would be harmed for some time, and also am neive as to whether all parties normally agree to a reduction or if things get nasty.

The other option is approach cards directly and advise we have issues repaying them again, from experience has anyone been able to get settlelement with a reduced debt. And what effect would this have again to future credit.

My biggest concern is not really being able to use cards in the future, as I think our fingers have been burnt. But when we remortgage if any of this activity causes issues in getting a decent offer from either our current or new lender.

Any help would be appreciated - stressful time.

Moggles_2

Has anyone been able to get settlement with a reduced debt and what effect would this have to future credit?

It would be marked as "arrangement to pay" on your credit file and that would affect your ability to get credit for 6 years. While you're meeting the minimum payments, your credit rating remains unaffected.

Have you tried asking each of your cc providers to reduce the interest rate? (You can do this over the phone.) You may be able to cut your costs considerably. For tips, see Martin's *Credit Card Shuffle*article.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/car...-card-interest

Your post raises some other issues and you may want to post again on the *Debt-Free Wannabe* board. You'll get lots of advice and support there from users who have faced similar situations

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.html?f=76

NickX

Can you apply for some decent 0% Balance Transfer deals and get the debts moved across thereby saving you interest and reducing the Minimum Payments that you have to make ?