Advice please, how to stop credit card interest.

birmanza

Hi,
I am a mature student at uni. I am friends with a foreign young (22) student who has been looking worried lately. Yesterday she confided in me that a few months ago she took out a credit card and withdrew £500 pounds on it... she understood that there was 3 months interest free and that she would pay it off in full when her student loan came through. She didn't realize she had to make minimum payments and now owes 1200 pounds (probably due to charges and interest etc...) she is very worried and I feel so sorry for her. I have told her to bring me her statements and she will phone the company and authorize me to speak on her behalf. Some years ago I too found myself in debt and managed to freeze the interest, and pay back £20 per month. Is this the best suggestion to make, obviously I want to make the best deal for this girl, any advice?? Is the company likely to accept such a proposal??
Paying it off with her student loan is now impossible as she has also had difficulties in paying for accomodation etc...
Thanks
Angela

lynzpower

1. she can reclaim her charges, look at the new bank charges forum
2. withdrawing cash off a card is never 0%, its usually 20 odd percent from what I can gather.

birmanza

yes I realize that, I think there was probably interest free on purchases but that she didn't know... I knew you can reclaim bank charges, didn't know it applied to credit cards.

yeslek

birmanza wrote:

yes I realize that, I think there was probably interest free on purchases but that she didn't know... I knew you can reclaim bank charges, didn't know it applied to credit cards.

i'm in the middle of claiming the remaining £200 odd off a barclaycard

oakdale_minx

Yes, you can definitely reclaim the charges from a credit card. I've had my Capital One charges refunded and I've got my court date for my Citicards ones in February.