Will Barclaycard really reduce our interest rate...?

louby40

My partner lost his job last week which means our income has been halved. We have been working hard to reduce our credit card debt and have one card with Barclaycard left with £6000 left on it.

This week we have cancelled some DD and looked at ways to cut our outgoings.

Have also been on here to pick up any tips.

So will they really reduce the rate?

Louise

sharpy2010

louby40 wrote: »

So will they really reduce the rate?

No.

Sorry about that.

sistafromanothermista

Sharpy....that was very blunt :rotfl:


OP, i very much doubt it. Why would they? What makes you think they would?

chattychappy

The general answer is no they won't reduce the interest rate and if you let on that you are struggling they might even restrict the account.

On the other hand, if you get into serious trouble then interest might be frozen, particularly if lenders are approached via a debt management charity. This does entail trashing your rating though. (Best to ask for advice on the Debt Free Wannabe forum.)

Having said that, there has been the odd post from people reporting they have persuaded CCs to reduce rates - perhaps against the threat of transferring the balance elsewhere. No harm in trying, but don't let on that you're in trouble.

If you are still working, can you get a new card with a 0% BT deal and transfer the balance to that? (Usual health warnings about the debt becoming your legal responsibility - depends on the state of your relationship as to whether you want to do this.)

You said you cancelled the DD. Presumably you are still meeting minimums by paying manually?

Look out for any rate hikes in the post and exercise your opt-out rights.

Good luck!

Shelldean

do call and speak with them, generally they wont help until you default.
However we ran into problems with finances a couple of yrs back, I called and got a really sympathetic lady who actually listened and helped.
She put both mine and hubbys cards onto 0% for 6 mths and told me if I was still experiancing problems to call her back after that.
I did call her back and she put both cards on a really low rate for 24 mths, said it was the best she could do. I almost snapped her hand off accepting.
This was HSBC tho not barclays, and all our banking is done with HSBC.

Virgin on the otherhand, with whom OH had a credit card were awful. Told us to default then maybe just maybe they'd help, but no promises.


Edited to add... I only got the nice woman as I'd called orginally to sort the finances and the orginal woman hadn't put us on a % as she'd agreed. I made verbal complaint and was put through to the nice lady. So it wasn't the usual customer services, but it does show they can help if they choose to

louby40

Calling to reduce the rate is what I have read on here, on one of Martin's suggestion pages it's under 'Credit Card Shuffle'.


We can still afford to pay this card off but obviously if we can reduce any costs/interests with anything we will.
I have stopped DD for things we weren't using e.g mobile internet dongle at £6 a month and other things but not for my credit card.

Thanks for your help