Cant afford to pay this months minimum payment

Any

veryunsure wrote: »

If you read other threads they are full of unhelpful comment like 'why did you spend so much you stupid ...' & 'didn't you read the t&c'

I simply thought it was a change to see comment that was helpful rather than the unhelpful rants and adult-child ticking off.

Never mind.

You mean like you are doing now??
You cannot advise but come here just to have a look if someone can.. And then comment on it.
Very adult.

Tixy

Clowy2 wrote: »

Hi, thanks for your reply. I am on the brink! I've reached the limit as to what I can afford to pay each month, which is why I cut the cards up but due to paying half my salary on loans and minimum payments, I usually end up transferring money off the card into my bank.... its not good I know. I've have helped out my partner by getting a joint loan and also Ive been paying the minimum payment for him on one card (as the balance owing on that card is what he owes me), but from this month he will be in a position to start paying me back. We feel we have got through the worst and can now start paying off our debts.... but this month he was hit with a revised CSA bill and I've had car repairs and vets bills which were unaccounted for (not that I had the spare cash anyway). As you can see I'm teetering on the edge. I just need some breathing space but realise the cc companies are not going to say oh its ok dont pay us this month!!! I have never missed a payment with them, but I did miss two on another card, not because I couldnt afford, but because the dd didnt go through and then i changed bank accounts, so I was charged for 2 missed payments. I dont want to affect my credit record as its always been quite good, but when I applied for a credit card back in April, in order to make use of the 0% balance transfer rate, it was declined?! If I could get a card and transfer the £4500 currently on MINT to a 0% deal things would be better, but I'm wary about applying for another in case i get declined again.

Hi Clowy

Have you worked out a detailed income & expenditure account for both you and your partner (if you live together). If you do this it should tell you if you can just about cope and things will improve enough soon that you will be able to meet your repayments with taking on further credit then it will be worth doing eberything you can to preserving your credit rating.

But if you find that once you have included all expenses including 1/12 for annual costs such as car tax, car servicing and christmas presents you fall short of being able to make your repayments then you might want to consider going over to the debt free wannabe section of the forum, they may be able to advise on ways to improve your situation or the options available to you going forward.

If you do an income & expenditure account this is a useful calculator http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html and shows you how much you should have left after paying out all costs and minimum payments (or how far short you are of meeting your minimums).

chattychappy

About your credit record - sure 3 missed payments will be worse than 2. But the 2 may not have been why you were rejected previously. It could just be the rest of the record - ie the amounts outstanding compared with your income, housing situation etc.

Frankly if you're paying standard interest on your cards then missing a payment will just result in an extra £12 being charged. The interest will be the same. Of course you'll still have to pay up asap to avoid further trouble.

I think you just have to make a judgement about your situation. Unforeseeable events do occur .... If you are on standard rates maybe it's time to get a debt charity to help and there could be a lot to be saved by freezing interest. There is another part of this board that deals with this (debt free wannabe or something??). I had a friend who was a volunteer solicitor at once such charity. They'd take anyone with consumer credit debts up to 50K. They'd do a plan and then write to the credit providers requesting interest set to zero saying they are helping the client get their affairs straight. She said they'd generally agree - but this was 3 or 4 years ago.

Your credit record is worth something, but in the end how much? No need to be a slave to it, and it sounds as if it could get messed up anyway. If you come to an arrangement sure it's not good for the record, but in the end it could help you getting on top of things. And then you rebuild the record.

I really don't have experience of these matter.. hopefully you'll get some other answers. [Edit:Looks like you did, from Tixy]

exel1966

veryunsure wrote: »

Sorry I haven't anything useful to add to your post...

Well that says it all really !

Why bother to post then or are you trying to stir something up here ?

feedme

woody01 wrote: »

Congratulations on the most useless post in history.
Oh.....and i would say anything to anyones face.

Wutang wrote: »

Where you going with this? This is seemingly meaningless...

Can anyone else spot the irony here (I'll give you a clue, I'm guilty as well) Don't hate me, just sayin.

Back to the OP. You say that if you miss this payment it will affect your credit rating, but you can't afford any more credit, so why do you need a good credit rating?

If, as you say, you only need to miss this one payment and then things are going to change in the future then what's the problem? Miss the payment. By the time your in a position to ask for credit again the missed payment won't matter. Don't apply for any more credit either as declined applications are recorded on your credit report and can be viewed by other credit companies.

It seems to me your making a big fuss over nothing. Is the problem worse than you're letting on? Will things really be better of next month or are you just trying to convince yourself?

When I was in a similar situation to yours I created a spreadsheet in Excel and I accounted for every penny I earned, spent and owed. One month I spent £15 on ATM charges alone. That was getting money out in the shop where I bought my lunch, on which I spent about £5 a day. It was only when I accounted for everything that I could see the extent to which I was wasting my money, £110/mth on lunch??? after that I took sandwiches. I also got cheaper car insurance, cheaper phone contract, reduced my TV package etc... and by keeping a record of everything I could see even the small changes making a difference.

Maybe you've done all that already but that's my 2 penneth.

chattychappy

feedme wrote: »

Back to the OP. You say that if you miss this payment it will affect your credit rating, but you can't afford any more credit, so why do you need a good credit rating?

I think it's reasonable. I had a close shave a while back, but getting new 0% deals meant I was ok. Then my income improved and all was well by the time the 0% deals ran out. If I'd had a bad rating then I wouldn't have got the deals and probably wouldn't have kept up.

TFD_2

Clowy2 wrote: »

whats the best thing to say when I ring the cc company - MINT (RBoS).

I dont want to affect my credit score but I dont have the money to pay it this month. I'm trying to get myself straight and have cut up all 3 credit cards a few months ago, but have been paying minimum payments.

Advice appreciated?:)

Short and sweet answer - your credit score shows your ability to repay credit. You can't afford to pay the minimum payment, which is an issue. It's only right if you miss this, that your credit file reflects this, and other lenders can make a decision to lend to you knowing these facts.