struggling to make minimum payments

Lexx_2

Dear all,
Need your advice. Got three credit cards at the moment (2 x Santander + Bank Of Scotland). I'm nearing the limit on all three (between £3-3900) and finding it increasingly difficult to make minimum payments every month. My main problem is that I am not earning as much money as I did, my income is around £1000 per calendar month. My question is, can I contact Santander/ BOS and ask them for some help/relief, let's say I only pay £30 per month for the next 6 months? I'm quite desperate at the moment, I use credit cards to pay for my living costs, building up debt while paying astronomical interest.
Thank you in advance!

YorkshireBoy

Unless you're missing payments, say up to 4-6 in succession, they're unlikely to look at giving you some relief.

After all, why would they?...if you're only making minimum payments, and then spending what you've paid off the following month, you're their ideal customer!

CLAPTON

any failure to make the minimum payments required will count as a default which will adversely affect your credit rating for the next 6 years

I would suggest you post up on the debt free wannabe board ..lots of support and advice there from people in similar situations

agrinnall

Both YB and Clapton are correct. I would say with CC debt in the region on £10K and a monthly salary of £1K you are going to find it very difficult to ever pay that off. You should certainly post on the DFW board but it seems likely that your credit rating is going to be shot whatever happens, in which case you may well be advised to stop paying them altogether.

pqrdef

What you need is cheaper credit - a 0% balance transfer, or failing that, a consolidation loan. This may have been possible earlier, though probably not now. But the position might not be irrecoverable, so long as you protect your credit rating. You need a serious blitz on the living costs to get the card balances down.

Screwing up your credit rating by missing payments or entering an arrangement will make it so much harder to get out of the hole. Push the credit card payments to the front of the queue, not the back.

bankhater_1965

pqrdef wrote: »

What you need is cheaper credit - a 0% balance transfer, or failing that, a consolidation loan. This may have been possible earlier, though probably not now. But the position might not be irrecoverable, so long as you protect your credit rating. You need a serious blitz on the living costs to get the card balances down.

Screwing up your credit rating by missing payments or entering an arrangement will make it so much harder to get out of the hole. Push the credit card payments to the front of the queue, not the back.

your credit rating is the last on the list , buy encouraging someone to borrow money to pay borrowed money is on the road to trouble and you are just increasing the debt and isnt a long term fix as you will still be paying interest on a loan and for what i can gather on aloan over 5years or more , arrange a payment plan with them and sometimes they will freeze the interest failing that let things go farther but always pay something , to a ccj that way you pay no interest and usally offer you a very reduced amount off the debt to settle , a ccj will stay on for 6 years, the same time period it will take you to pay off the loan but alot cheaper and it aint the end of the world haveing acouple , failing that you will have the debt for a long long time

CLAPTON

bankhater_1965 wrote: »

your credit rating is the last on the list , buy encouraging someone to borrow money to pay borrowed money is on the road to trouble and you are just increasing the debt and isnt a long term fix as you will still be paying interest on a loan and for what i can gather on aloan over 5years or more , arrange a payment plan with them and sometimes they will freeze the interest failing that let things go farther but always pay something , to a ccj that way you pay no interest and usally offer you a very reduced amount off the loan to settle , a ccj will stay on for 6 years, and it aint the end of the world haveing acouple , failing that you will have the debt for a long long time

Without knowing the full financial details of the OP I think your post is irresponsible.

One needs to know the details of their income and spending to know whether it is worth trashing their credit rating for the next 6 years and perhaps stopping them get a mortgage etc.


The general principle of reducing the interest payable on the debt is a very sensible proposal so 'moving' debt from one card to another or from a card to a loan can be the right rational thing to do.

I think you could be a litttle more balanced and cautious when posting to people in this type of situation.

webbhost

if you're unlikely to be getting any credit relief, maybe you should look at some other areas to see if you can save your cash instead...

- Make sure there is no money sitting in any current or old savings accounts, if you have any, use it all to make a payment on your most expensive card, thus reducing the monthly minimum + interest..

- If you have sky or virgin TV, look at any packages you may be able to drop, or even better if you're willing to go without for a while, cancel and switch to freeview. You could even try phoning sky (for example) and saying you wish to cancel because you cannot afford it, and they might opt to drop your monthly rate which may mean not needing to cancel all together but saving money (but by sounds of your situation, cancelling all together and going freeview is the ideal way to go).

- Downgrade your broadband to its basic package, and dont be afraid to look at other suppliers to see if they do a cheaper deal.

- Review your direct debits, cancel anything that is unneccesary such as a old gym membership that has gone on.. Any direct debits that you need, as above with broadband and TV, consider if there is a cheaper package or alternative that could save money.

- many more little tweaks you can make to save money... change expensive pop with squash... bottle costs the same, but you get much more out of it, change your shopping habits with food, get supermarket own brand, or "value" products.

I'm sure people can mention many more ways.. I'm considerably new to MSE to be fair, ive been around alot but not paid an immense amount of attention.

- Another great way to save would be to get a new credit card and write off another - BE CAREFUL HERE. if you are going to do this then you MUST ensure you don't put yourself in a worse situation than you are in now. If you can clear another card with an interest free balance transfer (on the card with the most expensive interest rate) , then CANCEL it with immediate effect... also agree that you are not going to go into the new credit limit if it is higher than your existing one.
- With regards to this, if you get declined a new card with a company: We found that because of my brother I could not get a new credit card, however this turned out to be on "Mastercards"... If you get declined on a mastercard, try a Visa credit card instead. This worked for me within the last week, accepted instantly and with a good credit limit. Barclays have a good interest free deal going at the minute which is the one I signed up to, and its on Visa, not mastercard. Look on moneysupermarket which is where i found it or I'll post you a link if you want.

If you're up for money saving ideas to help you manage the payments, tell me and I'll try and think of some more to post.

By the way, all of the above at your own risk... I'm not an expert or financial adviser, just giving my 2 cents so don't come back to me if it goes wrong, just sayin


The general impression I'm trying to make here is - rather than fix the problem of only just being able to afford your credit card payments.... concentrate on the problem that you're spending too much.

- Addition to the aforementioned, turn your heating down by 1 or 2 C, turn lights off whenever they are not used and start switching things off by the plug as soon as you're finished with them. If you are going to come back to your computer in 30 minutes, put it in standby or shut it down rather than leaving it on because it's all wasted money.

bankhater_1965

it wont thrash there credit with a ccj (have you had a ccj ) and the debt as it stands is unafordable , are you suggesting taking out a debt to pay a debt so its more affordable then take out more credit in the meentime because thats what happend here which is why theres 3 credit cards , to pay off each other until the limits have been used, this is a good example of how debts spirals out of control , instead of being iresponsible and facing up to the origanal debt !! your comments are all based on credit on every line , dont you think paying for things with your own money and not other peoples is a better option ?? the credit card deals you mention are only a short term % , with this debt its along term paying debt your way and a expensive one at that,
also your method doesnt work if your made redundant
as regards to affecting getting a mortgage , if you cannot afford pay the lowest amount on a credit card , how can you possibly pay for a mortgage , it doesnt add up