Credit card repayment plan - min £47/m?

TonyTheSuperPerson

Hello,

Due to a time of unemployment, my credit card went over it's limit. I recently got a letter from Natwest and called them - they offered me a credit card repayment plan to get the card back under the limit, and asked me how much I could pay per month.

I now have a job, it's only a minimum 4 hours a week contract but I tend to do more than that, up to 16/20. I offered them £10 more than my minimum payment a month (so £30 a month) and figured I'd pay whatever additional I could afford depending on my hours via online banking. Since the payment plan means I won't be getting charge late payment fees, this is at least £22 more than I'm currently paying per month.

They turned this down and said the only offer they could make on a short term was £47/month and the only other option was to default my card, which they said would impact my credit rating for up to 6 years.

Are they allowed to turn down a payment based on what I can afford like that and how should I progress?

Thanks!

TonyTheSuperPerson

Please help, they said I need to phone them tomorrow morning at the latest.

cifpower

Do you have any other debts or is your credit card the only one? Have you completed a SOA to see what you can afford?

TonyTheSuperPerson

I have a loan with Natwest (just under 70 a month) and a Style card (not much on it though). Not completed an SOA (what is that?) they just asked me how much, I said £30 and they refused it and anything under £47.

Thanks

cifpower

An SOA is a Statement of Affairs.

http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html

Fill it in, print it off and send it with your offer of payment in writing to NatWest

TonyTheSuperPerson

cifpower wrote: »

An SOA is a Statement of Affairs.

http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html

Fill it in, print it off and send it with your offer of payment in writing to NatWest

Thanks, they said i had to make a decision by tomorrow though.

cifpower

Ring them and say you will be sending in a statement of affairs to back up your £30pm offer

TonyTheSuperPerson

Ok, I phoned them for that reason and spoke to someone who one was 1) nicer 2) seemed to have more of a grasp of what they do, unlike everyone else I'd spoken to there and I'm actually ok now. I'll be paying £44 a month now for a few months and I won't have any other payments aside from interest.

The threat of defaulting was also misrepresented, it was just an internal one - but I'll be doing it the short way now anyway.

Thanks very much for your help.