Credit Card, Debt Advice!

James1980

Hi All,

First post here so please go easy on me, I received a lovely letter today from my credit card company (its my fault and i know it)

It was a Default Notice Letter.

They have advised me, that I need to pay £900 within the next 8 days (bit short notice if you ask me and the letter was dated 01/04/2011 and only arrived today)

Hopefully some of you experienced ones can give me advice.

As said they want £900 within 8 days. this is a Clearance of the Arrears.
My Credit Limit is £5500, but they have let me spend £6400 (why did they let me do this anyway) and I am near sure its been over £1000 above the limit in the past.

The most I can afford to pay them is £600 before the date they have mentioned, and they've threated me with court action and also they will request the full amount if the £900 is not paid by the said date on the letter (8 days from now)

Can anyone give me some advise on how i should proceed.

Kindest Regards
James

CH27

Ring them & offer the £600 & set up a proper payment plan.
Why did you overspend & why haven't you kept up payments?

James1980

Hi CH27,

thanks for the advice, I will give that a go and see what they say, if anyone else has any other options please advise.

reason for overspend, because they let me (foolish on my part, but why give a limit if they let you exceed by so much ).... in regards to the payments, i've been paying between 200-300 each month across a few different payments, what sometimes may happen is, depending on the date they print there statements that causes an issue, seems to be a black hole between 1st and 7th of each month.

What has also annoyed me a bit about this letter. it was dated 1st April.
and states on it my card has been suspended and cannot be used. BUT

on 2nd of April, they let me take out £30 cash from a cash machine.. WHY!

Regards
James

Tixy

It could be it allowed you to use your card because they didn't actually stop it until they expected you'd have read the letter.

If you cannot afford the full amount then they can register the default at the credit reference agencies and this will seriously impact on your ability to get credit for the next 6years. Its probably going to be difficult to change this if you can only afford the £600 not the £900 but its worth knowing the impact this will have (could you borrow the money short term from anywhere?). If you cannot then when you offer the £600 see if you can negotiate them not filing the default.

ironlady2022

Harsh but has to be said it's written in the terms and conditions regarding going over the limit. You are responsible for your own card and debt and you receive a statement every month so surely you will have noticed you creeping up to the limit. Banks cannot be expected to 'inform' you when you go over as that's where they make the most money. Whether you agree with this or not when you signed on the dotted line you agreed to the t and c whether you bothered to read it or not.

chanz4

I wouldnt pay them, tell them you only agreed to your credit limit not above it. I would then send a cca letter.

ironlady2022

chanz4 wrote: »

I wouldnt pay them, tell them you only agreed to your credit limit not above it. I would then send a cca letter.

You can argue OP only agreed to the limit but the money over that is spent or in the form of interest, it's legimate I'm afraid.

James1980

mayling03 wrote: »

Harsh but has to be said it's written in the terms and conditions regarding going over the limit. You are responsible for your own card and debt and you receive a statement every month so surely you will have noticed you creeping up to the limit. Banks cannot be expected to 'inform' you when you go over as that's where they make the most money. Whether you agree with this or not when you signed on the dotted line you agreed to the t and c whether you bothered to read it or not.

mayling, thanks for stating the obvious

as i said already yes i know, its my fault, but still whats the point in them giving you a limit if they let you go £1000 over that said limit, surely there is no point then to that limit. Its not like its a bank account and i asked for an overdraft. Where does this over the limit end. if I had been making probably slightly more payments or making the payments on the correct dates of the month it may not have came to this. but they'd still be letting me spend over the limit. its not like i was £100 off my limit and then bought a £1200 TV which then took me over my limit, this additional 900 would be loads of small payments ranging probably from £10 to £50, and then interest being lumped on.

i questioned them over a year ago about why they let me go over the limit and what was the point the poor call centre staff did not really know what to say and changed the subject several times.

anyone tips on a loan of £300 with low interest over 2-3 months, i've no bother paying stuff back, its just as explained, had not been paying above and beyond on this card and probably had been just meeting minimum payments each month, with slipping up on dates, is where the failure to meet payment came from

Thanks for the advice so far guys

Regards
James

SnowTiger

James1980 wrote: »

anyone tips on a loan of £300 with low interest over 2-3 months, i've no bother paying stuff back, its just as explained, had not been paying above and beyond on this card and probably had been just meeting minimum payments each month, with slipping up on dates, is where the failure to meet payment came from

Seems to me that you're in denial about the seriousness of your situation. Perhaps it's time you contacted one of the debt charities. You're obviously not managing your finances as well as you think you are.

James1980

Snowtiger, thats not the case this is the only debt i've ever had an issue with..

Yes, there is the debt that is bad, but for years its been managed

bouncydog1

Don't wish to delude you, but you clearly cannot manage your finances. Financial management means knowing exactly, to the penny, how much you have in your bank account, how much you owe and when payments are due. It means ensuring that you never, ever miss a payment, and don't go over your limit. You organise your affairs by ensuring that there are direct debits set up and you know the date they come out of the account and make sure your bank account has funds in it to support the payment!

It does not involve trying to blame the credit card company because you have overspent on your limit.

Now rather than keep being in denial, you need to address the issue. I would suggest in the first instance that you work out a proper budget of income and expenditure, writing down every single debt with the interest rate including overdrafts (if any).

You can get help with this by going over to the debt free board and using the statement of affairs link. The people on there will help you set up a proper budget and will also offer assistance on dealing with the credit card company. You do realise I hope that this is serious and could affect your ability to obtain further credit.

You are already on the way to addressing this by accepting responsibility.