Natwest credit card help please!

helpkitty

Hiya
I have a credit card with Natwest which I've had forever and is over the credit limit at £6200. The minimum payment every month is £145 and I cant afford to pay any more than this and the balance is going up every month!
Due to "associated credit" I am unable to get a new loan / credit card to switch this too.
What would happen if I asked them to freeze the interest on this card and how would this affect my credit rating? (as it doesnt currently show on my credit file?)
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks
K x

mdr86

What's the current credit limit and APR?

helpkitty

Hi the credit limit is £6000 and i think the interest rate is 29.9%?
Thank you

mdr86

OK, so the interest is ~£137/month, presumably there are charges due to being over your limit which take the monthly cost over £145?
I'm definitely no expert, so hopefully someone else will reply to this! My thought is, whatever will happen to your credit file, you need to talk to your bank to sort this out, otherwise it'll only get worse. Do you have any other debts currently? Actually, it would probably be helpful to have an SOA (statement of affairs) - see https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/107280 - if that's possible, the more information the better people on the forum can help

Tixy

Hi

First you need to work out if there is anyway you can afford to pay more each month. As mdr says the best way to do this is to complete a statement of affairs and post the results on here. That way people can see if they can suggest other areas where you can save money using money saving tips etc. If you can do this you might then be able to pay enough extra to get back under the limit.

Also do you have any other way you could raise some extra money to put towards this debt just to bring it under balance? any things you could sell to raise some cash?

If you cannot do this then you would need to write to your bank, ask them to close the account and accept reduced monthly payments and freeze interest for you. They will likely want to see an income & expenditure account before they agree to freeze interest, to see if they consider you are paying all you can afford and not spending too much elsewhere (another good reason for doing the SoA on here first as we can point out anything the bank may take issue with).

If they do agree to a reduced repayment plan this will affect your credit file as you will either be marked with a default or an arrangement to pay. Are you sure its not being reported to any of the 3 credit reference agencies currently? Have you checked all 3 reports?