Advice needed

kezzygirl

Hi All, we have a barclaycard each and fell into difficulty paying it.We went on a dmp approx 3years ago,however we then changed it and are doing it ourselves. On Hubbys we pay £42 per month min payment-the interest is £20 a month give or take a quid.We pay £30 a month off mine,interest is £13 a month.

I need advice regarding these credit cards.Barclaycard have removed the credit limit,we have been unable to spend on them for years(the cards are cut up and disposed of ages ago). They are still charging us interest every month and in reality we are getting nowhere fast(we are paying off on higher apr credit debts first)

Am I right in thinking we can close the barclaycard accounts and interest is frozen and we continue to pay at the rate we are paying until it is paid in full?Or have I dreamt this?lol.As this seems a sensible solution considering we are not ever going to be using them again.Any advice appreciated!

dancingfairy

I believe you have the right to cancel the card and continue to pay off the debts at the current rate if they had threatened to put your interest rate up but given that you are not spending on the cards and they haven't threatened to put the rate up I'm not sure this applies to you.
I don't think I've heard you can cancel the cards and pay off the debts at no interest.
I would write them a letter and point out that you started off on a dmp with x,y,z company and that you are now doing a self-administered dmp , send them a current budget sheet and ask that interest and charges are frozen and ask for previous charges and interest to be cancelled during the time you have been on the dmp - I presume you told them you were going to self-manage the dmp and have sent them budget sheets already as otherwise they may not have twigged that you had set-up your own dmp and might just have thought you were sending them random payments each month.
If you don't get any sense out of them you can complain to the ombudsman that you don't think they are treating your fairly after all this time and that you are doing your best and see if they can help at all.
Another option would be to appraoch barclaycard and try and get some kind of settlement offer and perhaps try and squirrel away a little to be able to settle?
df

Tixy

As you can afford to pay more than the minimum payment on this debt then its unlikely they will agree to freeze interest (as in effect you are not actually on a DMP anymore).