Advice - can I get Interest frozen on CC's for 12 mths?

benjamin1977

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household.........
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1200
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1200

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 370
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 40
Council tax............................. 70
Electricity............................. 45
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 30
Telephone (land line)................... 30
Mobile phone............................ 40
TV Licence.............................. 15
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 25
Internet Services....................... 20
Groceries etc. ......................... 160
Clothing................................ 50
Petrol/diesel........................... 90
Road tax................................ 20
Car Insurance........................... 50
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 40
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 10
Contents insurance...................... 10
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 20
Haircuts................................ 5
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1140


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 75000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 1000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 76000


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 55000....(370)......5.2
Total secured & HP debts...... 55000.....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
AA.............................3200......80........24
Virgin.........................3200......80........24
Barclaycard....................2800......70........24
Total unsecured debts..........9200......230.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,200
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,140
Available for debt repayments........... 60
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 230
Amount short for making debt repayments. -170

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 76,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -55,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -9,200
Net Assets.............................. 11,800

Created using the SOA calculator at
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using other browser.

[Deleted User]

There is no set answer to your question.

You need to confirm if and how much you are in arrears. If you are not in arrears then most won't even consider reducing interest and will certainly not freeze interest.

I know the big players often put interest at 1%, if they do put it at 0% it's often only until three contractual minimum payments have been missed, they then often default you and put your account with their collections company as a start. Interest will then be frozen and the process of repayments will begin, you may even get full and final settlement at this stage, if not they may be happy with what you pay or sell the debt on to another collector.

Hope that helps, but you have to ask for what you want and see what they come back with...

Either way you will not keep a good credit history for the next 6 years. But if you don't mind then why not, just don't do it to a bank where you need to remortgage anytime soon, thats what I did :-(

Tixy

Its certainly possible to ask creditors to freeze interest and explain to them you don't feel you can meet your minimum payments. Some will agree to if they think you are paying all you can afford - though this does have a significant impact on your credit file.

If you can meet your minimum payments then sometimes its worth a phone call to ask your credit card providers if they will consider reducing the interest rate, or sometimes they will agree a 6month freeze on interest and might agree to only mark this on your file as an arrangement to pay, rather than as a default (though that said an arrangement to pay still looks bad on your file.

From your statement of affairs it does look like you could make some cutbacks, and if you sent that to a creditor to ask them to freeze interest then there are certainly some areas that they would likely consider to be possible to reduce (clothing / media etc).

I've put some comments on your SoA below.

benjamin1977 wrote: »

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household.........
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1200 anyway to increase this? overtime? could you get a second job around your main employment
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1200

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 370
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 40
Council tax............................. 70
Electricity............................. 45
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 30 is this metered or unmeasured? if not on a meter it should work out cheaper. If on a meter then check for leaks and see if you can reduce your usage (1 person living alone on a meter would usually be less than £20).
Telephone (land line)................... 30
Mobile phone............................ 40
TV Licence.............................. 15
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 25
Internet Services....................... 20 landline, satellite and internet are £75 a month, look for a combined much cheaper deal, or consider ditching/reducing your tv package and looking for combined landline/broadband.
Groceries etc. ......................... 160 its possible to manage on less than this if you need to. Quite a lot on here can manage on £100-120.
Clothing................................ 50 this seems high every month.
Petrol/diesel........................... 90
Road tax................................ 20
Car Insurance........................... 50
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 40
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 10
Contents insurance...................... 10 B&C looks high compared to your house value, try shopping around at renewal to find cheaper.
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 20
Haircuts................................ 5
Entertainment........................... 0 probably need a small budget here to be realistic.
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1140


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 75000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 1000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 76000


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 55000....(370)......5.2 is this a fixed deal? if so when does it finish? and do you know what rate it will be after? (it looks like quite a high rate)
Total secured & HP debts...... 55000.....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
AA.............................3200......80........24
Virgin.........................3200......80........24
Barclaycard....................2800......70........24
Total unsecured debts..........9200......230.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,200
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,140
Available for debt repayments........... 60
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 230
Amount short for making debt repayments. -170 how have you managed this shortfall so far? have you had a recent drop in income? have your debts been increasing?

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 76,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -55,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -9,200
Net Assets.............................. 11,800

Created using the SOA calculator at
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using other browser.