offering reduced payments......

spurs501_2

Evening everyone.

Just wanted to find out if any of you have had much luck in asking credit card companies to accept reduced payments / and freeze interest?

Are some companies more understanding than others?
What period of time will they accept reduced payments?
What sort of figure will they accept per month?

Would really appreciate ANY info / opinions.

Thanks Guys.

rayday2

Your best bet would be to check out the National Debt Helpline website and use there payment calculator to see what you can afford and put in the totals you owe and it will work out what you offer to pay.

Also on there they have template letters you can send out to the companies.

I used this and so far all have accepted and stopped interest but its very much an individual circumstance thing.

First thing you need to do is make sure you have a bank account that is not connected to any of your credit cards as they can take money out your account to pay the card which would leave you struggling.

Leixlip1

As above - plus I found Capital One, Citi, Goldfish to be very helpful. MBNA/Abbey were difficult but I eventually got an agreement to freeze interest & charges etc and Barclaycard have been so unhelpful/obstructive and basically lied to me so I've made a complaint against them via the Financial Ombudsman Service.

EmptyPockets

Hello,

Well we did this some time ago without too much trouble. We got all but one of our creditors to accept reduced payments on a pro rata basis, and the credit cards were receiving no more than about £5 from us. MBNA were really, really good with us, the most understanding of the lot: they agreed to let us pay £5 a month for a whole year, while others agreed to it based on a review of our finances after 6 months. HFC Bank were also very understanding and helpful, HSBC would not accept our offer of £5 ish a month, but we came to an agreement and they let us pay £21 a month, which was a reduction on the usual monthly payment of roughly £70.

We are currently setting up a DMP with CCCS though, as after the 6 month period was up, a lot of our creditors started shouting for full final payments, which we obviously couldn't pay :mad:

Good Luck,

EP x

izzybusy23

spurs501 wrote: »

Evening everyone.

Just wanted to find out if any of you have had much luck in asking credit card companies to accept reduced payments / and freeze interest?

Are some companies more understanding than others?
What period of time will they accept reduced payments?
What sort of figure will they accept per month?

Would really appreciate ANY info / opinions.

Thanks Guys.

Also bear in mind that sometimes they pass you to a DCA. My OH couldn't afford the full repayments on an AA loan.. he tried to negotiate with them but instead of dealing with him direct they passed him to blair, oliver, scott who now manage his payments so his credit rating is now affected.

spurs501_2

Thanks for all the responses so far, anyone else got any experiences?

spurs501_2

* Just wanted to "bump" this thread to the top of the list, any more info / opinions? *

poptart1_2

i have only been 1 week into a dmp, i am with a not for profit company, citi financial have already frozen interest and charges, 1 down ....6 to go . i will let you know if others do or their response. good luck

ScorpioLady_2

I am interested in the replies to this thread.

Also, once you go down that route..............does it automaically then affect your creidt rating??

Thanks

Glittermonkey

I wrote off to my creditors at the begining of July offering reduced payments. Nothing is really sorted with them yet though.

BOS - Accepted my offer if I paid them £5 more a month than I originally offered. I agreed but then my recent statement asked for the normal minimum payment, added late payments charges and interest.

Marbles - Haven't replied to me at all.

Capital One - Asked for various things such as payslips, bank statements etc, sent them all in. Got a letter today asking for the same stuff again. It seems I have to send every letter twice to them before I get anywhere. But their letters are probably the nicest, informing me of CCCS, payplan, national debt helpline etc.

HSBC - Ignored my letter, took all my tax credits from my account. Wrote to me today refusing my offer but asking for £100 more a month. They cant have it as what they want is all I have available for ALL my creditors.

Its taken 2 months and I still haven't really got anywhere with them but I will keep on, hopefully it will be sorted soon.

Good luck.