asking a credit card to freeze interest

twinkley_2

My hubby and I have credit card debts which have spiralled out of control. We are not in arrears but are at the stage of robbing Peter to pay Paul, and only making minimum repayments. Has anyone had any success writing to a credit card company to ask that interest is frozen and nominal repayments are accepted, without doing an IVA or similar?

Any success or pitfalls would be appreciated.

nicnacnoo

i rang last week to ask Lloydtsb if i could do just that, I said i was making payments in time but was worrying i might struggle soon, the woman told me that the only thing to do was miss a couple of payments then it would be handed over to the collectors before i could ask for interest to be freezed. This wasnt an option for me because i didnt want to get a bad credit report for missing payments so ive opted to just carry on with the payments for now.

twinkley_2

nicnacnoo wrote: »

i rang last week to ask Lloydtsb if i could do just that, I said i was making payments in time but was worrying i might struggle soon, the woman told me that the only thing to do was miss a couple of payments then it would be handed over to the collectors before i could ask for interest to be freezed. This wasnt an option for me because i didnt want to get a bad credit report for missing payments so ive opted to just carry on with the payments for now.

Thanks for your reply. What do you mean by collectors? Internal to the credit card company - i.e. their collection department, or external as in debt collectors?

nicnacnoo

she didnt actually say but i took it as internal. She offered me debt help, and im thinking, (no im ok cos ive got MSE...lol)

Shoe_Gal

twinkley wrote: »

Thanks for your reply. What do you mean by collectors? Internal to the credit card company - i.e. their collection department, or external as in debt collectors?

Just so you know, Lloyds are known to be one of the hardest banks to deal with - there are a few stories on here :mad:

You may get a more sympathetic hearing elsewhere, I found M&S Money very helpful

twinkley_2

Thanks nicnacnoo - anyone else?

twinkley_2

Shoe_Gal wrote: »

Just so you know, Lloyds are known to be one of the hardest banks to deal with - there are a few stories on here :mad:

You may get a more sympathetic hearing elsewhere, I found M&S Money very helpful

Tell me more...how were they helpful? Did they freeze the interest?

Numpty_Monkey

Glad you found the new thread button:D

Credit card companies are very hit and miss,
you can talk to one person and get a helpfull person or get you get a a***hole
I've been there and had both :rolleyes: sometimes in the same day

Card companies don't have to freeze intrest, and often they won't unless you can show you are struggling to repaying or getting advise from a debt charity, and that can take time

Post your SOA on here, we'll see what and where you ca make a cut backs, pay things in the right order, use this link
http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html

Don't worry youare with friends :T:A

twinkley_2

thanks numpty monkey. still getting used to how this forum works. Inbetween working all day and looking after the kids in the evening, we shall sit down and list it all this week. ... fitting it all in sometimes is impossible,:o

westiedog

I was in your position everything was up to date but was robbing Peter to pay Paul as well. I sent all companies a letter (unsigned) and explained the reason why I was in such difficulties and sent a reduced payment to each. Most just accepted this but a couple asked for SOA and the Halifax would not even talk to me the insisted I dealt with Payplan which I did and they have been a godsend. :A

Im about 8 months down the line and everything seems ok at the minute the only nightmare being Santander who insisted they hadnt received anything from Payplan - I had to resend it all my self. They finally agreed to a reduced payment and to freeze the interest then 2 days later transferred debt to an outside collections agent. When I spoke to a lady from collections agent she said dont worry that they would accept the reduced payment and they would definately not charge interest. :T

Hope you do realise as well if you pay less than the agreed amount etc etc it will go on your credit file. I dont really care about this as I never ever ever ever want credit ever again :mad:. Good luck xx

twinkley_2

Thanks Westiedog. Your experience is useful to hear. It sounds to me like you feel better about things.....do you have any regrets at all? How were Payplan?