Credit cards

Paintyboy

I think I'm in a bit of a strange place , I'm not out of my depth with my credit cards although I pay minimum amounts each month it has risen to £300 per month , if seems there is help if you can it afford your repayments or have a high enough credit rating to balance transfer , although according to equifax it is 928 , not enough for a interest free card , I bank with Halifax and have done for over 25 years never miss a payment on any card so was also looking for a personal loan to start repaying , was only offered half the amount owed and nit at the advertised 5.9% but at 23.9% , any advice would be greatly recieved! I'm sure there are a lot of people in my boat .

YorkshireBoy

There are 3 ways out of debt...


1. Earn more
2. Spend less
3. Restructure the debt


It seems option 3 is a no-go (at the moment), so what are you doing on the other 2 options?


If you could answer the following it may help provide more suggestions...


What's your total debt?
Total available credit?
How many cards?
Income?


Why are you not paying more than the minimum payments? If it's because you can't afford to then I'd disagree with your assertion that "I'm not out of my depth with my credit cards".

Paintyboy

Ok maybe I'm out of my depth , with my other outgoings I'm left with £400 a month, out of this I have to pay trave costs of £200 leaving me £200 for all other expenses such as insurances car running costs although less now I use tfl , I owe 14,000 on three cards , 2with Halifax and barclaycard , I payed off £150 a month on barclaycard when interest free with the intention of moving to another interest free card when that deal ran out but have not been accepted for one although I have no missed payments against my name going back many years , I know it's a loop the cc companies love as it might take me 25 years or so to pay them back at this rate

Paintyboy

My available debt is probably about £1000 more than I owe at the moment

vicfe

hi i found myself in the same situation last year. Spoke to my credit card company and told them i was struggling to make the minimum payment (£250) spoke to a really helpful chap. Told him what i thought i could afford. he asked the usual questions (earnings, car, util, etc) he was more concerned about the fact that according to his calculations i couldn't even afford to pay what i was offering (£100) per month. I was honest. The card company accepts the new payment. every now and again a letter drops through and i just ring them (don't ignore them).

The full £100 is paid off the sum, although the statement shows interest this is credited back (eg interest of £40 shows as credited £140 inc my payment).

My advice is always to ring them.

forgotmyname

But reducing the payments has probably trashed your credit file for the next 6 years.

Paintybot, You say you have £200 left. But if thats for the car insurance and running costs then you dont have £200 left.

You need to do a SOA (Statement Of Affairs) where you list all your incomings and outgoings. Dont forget anything then people will advise you on what steps you maybe able to take.

I got nowhere when i phoned my CC companies up. But that was sometime ago now. I had to ignore them totally. They wouldnt offer reduced payments unless i paid £££ now. I was on sick leave at the time so no chance of paying them anything.
I ignored them and when i did accidently pickup the phone i would say sorry i cannot speak on the phone write to me. They would say they have and i dont respond to those either.

I just mention bankruptcy soon and hung up. Trashed my credit file but at the time Bankruptcy was looking very likely.

Luckily i didnt need to.

Bartelmy

As a general rule, our financial difficulties department would be able to talk to people who have not made any non-essential purchases on their cards within the last three months, and who are struggling to pay the minimum payment. As mentioned above, they'd go through a budget with you, and determine an amount you're able to pay. This most likely would reflect on your credit report, but it'll disappear after a while, and you most likely wouldn't want to apply for any new credit in that time anyway.

If you didn't qualify for their help, for instance, if you were able to cover the minimum payments, they'd direct you to a debt advice company like StepChange.

You've probably already thought of it, but going through all the articles here on saving money and possibly earning more could help. We obviously don't know your exact circumstances, but I don't know if selling your car would be an option? If you're using alternate transport options on a day to day basis, them perhaps phasing it out on the other occasions could save you a bit?

With loans, btw, the representative interest rate only has to be offered to 51% of customers, so the other 49% can and often will be offered a different rate, as happened to you.