I can't pay my credit card - what do I do?

alan2001

Hi folks,

I've been out of work for about a year, and during this time I've been living/contributing to the household from savings etc. (I'm married.)

It's come to the stage that there just isn't any money left for my credit card bill. I certainly don't want to (and can't) put this additional burden on my wife, who is currently working financial wizardry to keep us afloat for now.

It's a Virgin MBNA Mastercard with £4800 on it, and the next minimum payment of £150 is due in a couple of weeks.

I tried to open an Amazon Visa card last year so I could transfer the balance and take advantage of 9 months interest free on the transfer, but for some reason I was refused. (Possibly because I'd not been in that particular job for long and had changed from homeowner to tenant... I dunno.)

So... before I phone the CC company, can anyone give me some pointers on what to do? What options are available and what are the consequences of simply not paying it? Obviously bank charges & late charges will be made, but how quickly and how often can they be applied?

Many thanks for any help here.

Louiseoc

I would call the C/C company and see if you can agree a fixed regular payment plan that suits your budget, I understand you say you have no money left, believe me my husband and I are living on the bread line too but in a year from now who knows where you'll be? small regular payments will soon get that interest down and then they will really begin to make the difference on that £4k bill. Good luck

dalesrider

alan2001 wrote: »

So... before I phone the CC company, can anyone give me some pointers on what to do? What options are available and what are the consequences of simply not paying it? Obviously bank charges & late charges will be made, but how quickly and how often can they be applied?

Many thanks for any help here.

Charges will be applied every month you miss a payments as will added interest.

So talk to them straight away.

Advise that you cannot afford the payment at the moment, but offer to make a payment. They will block the card, but they would if you failed to pay anyway. But may waive any non payment/interest charges.

Coeus

Hi Alan.

This is the start of a dangerous path to go down. Handle with care and plenty of fore-thought!

Negiotation with your CC company is not a bad option providing you have a repayment plan pre-prepared (i.e. interest freeze for X months paying £X amount per per month for X months).

It may be beneficial to post a SOA so your finances can get a review - I'm sure we can shave £150 off!

Consequences of not paying will likely include harrassment, penalties, credit rating de-grading etc. Your aware of this an penalties usually are applied to your account immediately (depending on T&Cs) and follow up shortly after.

You have only tried with Amazon VISA per your post - have to tried other credit card companies to secure a 0% interest free period?

Lastly I understand not wanting to put this additional burden on your wife but whats the point in being married if you cant share your burdens together? It will affect her regardless as it affects you so Id suggest a joint effort (arising from a SOA review).

DebtClearer

£150 sounds a lot for a minimum payment on that balance?

I have the same card and a similar balance but they only want 1%. Can this be altered?

Seanymph

Does your wife not know then? What have you put on there you don't want her to know about?

(Cynical? Me?)

Are you paying payment protection? I know that's an obvious question, but I was on a loan and never realised I should claim until I told them I couldn't pay - then they told me. I'd been struggling for months!

So, have you insurance to pay it?

Are you claiming benefits? Getting everything you can?

Tell your wife, so she has the FULL picture, and can work with you on this.

The credit card company may well be reasonable - in the short term, can you ebay anything? Car boot? How much do you need a month?

There is a making money thread here somewhere for extras - but you could perhaps write 'how to' articles, grow and sell herbs (farmers markets, car boots), repair other people's computers, buy clothing from charity shops and ebay it for more money ...

If it's, say £80 a month that's only £20 a week - perfectly doable.

Look at what you did before, is there any way you can use your skills to raise some revenue?

YorkshireBoy

DebtClearer wrote: »

£150 sounds a lot for a minimum payment on that balance?

Not really. See below.

I have the same card and a similar balance but they only want 1%.

You're probably on a 0% intro rate?

The MBNA min payment is 1% + interest.

So the interest is around £102, which equates to 2.125% per month, or 28.7% APR. That's quite high so maybe they've been rate-jacked? Or PPI is inflating the min payment?

YorkshireBoy

alan2001 wrote: »

I tried to open an Amazon Visa card last year so I could transfer the balance and take advantage of 9 months interest free on the transfer, but for some reason I was refused. (Possibly because I'd not been in that particular job for long and had changed from homeowner to tenant... I dunno.)

The current Amazon card is also run by MBNA. Was it the same back then? If so that wouldn't have helped!

[Deleted User]

alan2001 wrote: »

It's a Virgin MBNA Mastercard with £4800 on it

...

I tried to open an Amazon Visa card last year so I could transfer the balance and take advantage of 9 months interest free

You wouldn't have been able to do that anyway. Both the Virgin and the Amazon cards are MBNA cards, so you can't BT from one to the other.

Also, that might be why they refused you.

techspec

Nothing you can quickly sell on Ebay? Free listing today.

I recently went over my limit on one card. It was caused by my limit being lowered for no reason (barclaycard are always doing it - its up and down like a yo-yo).

But this meant i lost my lower interest rate of just 6% - backdated!!! They added £3600 to my card !!!!

I rung then to give them a piece of my mind - and was shocked that they reinstated my 6% rate, scrapped the charges AND gave me a month of free interest as an appology. The point i am making is - talk to them - but only as a last resort - as they will mark you account as being in trouble.

Agree with others - most none mainstream bank cards are MBNA - the likely reason you were turned down - and you cannot transfer between them.