Trying to pay off credit card debt?

MadMac_2

A member of the family has run up nearly £11k on one credit card (HBOS), who appear to have just upped and upped the credit limit until it was reached and then dropped it down. Nice of them to run up more charges that way!

The family have only recently found out, and between us we've raised nearly £7k to help pay the debt off. We've offered it to the bank, but it has been rejected in a very brief letter.

Any advice from those in the know about what we can do next? I personally feel that as most of that extra £4k is charges then it was a fair offer to make, but we don't know what to try next!

mrs-d_3

hi sorry I can't tell just bumping up your post. It sounds really unfair.

mrs-d_3

I meant help not tell!

Mozette

You can claim the charges back, same way as with bank charges - have a look on the board for reclaiming charges.

Lucy1982_2

Can't you just pay the £7,000 off now and work out a plan to pay off the remaining amount?

CAFCGirl

Do you have any statements that show the limit was going up and up and then was lowered.

It might be something to send them copies of those statements to say you increased the limit we're trying to pay back, please stop interest and charges.

I would also send a letter to Financial Ombudsman and get them involved, as Im sure they cant just decrease it without writing to you.

I would also say maybe pay off the 7k that you have got, so that it brings it within its credit limit and stops any more charges!
I would then start proceedings to claim back any bank charges.

You sound like a very close family, is anybody in a position to get a 0% BT card to transfer the outstanding amount and then the person who ran up the debt (are they taking responsibility?!) needs to pay that off!

I would also start asking why they ran up such debts to ensure it doesnt happen again. May have been circumstance, possibly emotional etc.

Good Luck with it. I think the member of your family responsible should be very very thankful for what your family has done for them!

angelavdavis

Has the family member been making any payments to the card company? Usually they don't take an offer unless it is seriously in arrears.

MadMac_2

Hi all, thanks for such a speedy response! No, family member hasn't paid anything to the card company for the last three months - that was how we got alerted to the financial troubles, in fact. So we spent over a month scraping money together and have written three times to ask them to accept the offer as he is now on long term sick leave, which I suppose is when the financial trouble started. A sorry situation is turning in to a bit of a nightmare for the family now and arguments are starting to flare up as tempers rise.

But thanks for suggestions and I'll raise these when we all meet up today, hopefully more calmly than last week!

Hope78

Firstly I'd like to say what a fantastic family you are and that the person in question is lucky to have you. I agree about paying off the money raised so far to try and bring things within credit limit. I'd also recommend reducing the credit limit after that all it takes is a phone call or few clciks if they're signed up online. Then a plan can be formulated based on what the account holder can afford. Cutting up the card sounds like a good idea too - that's one thing I resorted to. It might also be beneficial in the long term to point the account holder in the direction of this site as it helped me with my spending, which incidentall was with same company and kept creeping up every six months when they increased my limit.

Dylanwing

Just a thought, but if the card-holder puts together a full budget setting out a realistic Monthly proposal plan, if it doesn't look good, they might then accept the £7,000 offer. After all, it is only the card-holder they can hassle for payment, and it sounds like that might be pretty fruitless. From what I have heard, HBOS are not the best to negotiate with, but if you get the Ombudsman and Citizens Advice involved, they might well back down.

Has the account been defaulted? From my experience many years ago, they cannot freeze interest or accept a reduced offer until this has been done?

Good luck!

MadMac_2

Well, an update - and not a good one! Yes, defaulted for months with credit card payments, but have now found out there is also a loan in the picture (up to date on payments though using an overdraft on the current account) all with HBOS. But crikey - no idea what to do next with such a muddle!

So thanks for all the suggestions - will get drafting more letters and see if the Ombudsman can become involved. Also I think I'll see if we can get things frozen as they are. But that £7k is spreading more and more thinly - oh dear!