Contacting Creditors

ar246

Hi,
I have accumulated quite a high amount of debt on 3 separate credit cards. I've stopped spending on the cards and I've made a monthly budget so I can afford to make the minimum repayments on each card. However the interest rates are pretty high and I've tried applying for a consolidation loan/balance transfer credit cards to reduce the interest rates but have been unsuccessful.
I was advised that I could think about contacting the credit card issuers to see if they would be willing to reduce the interest rates on the cards, even though I can make the minimum monthly repayments. So I was wondering if anyone else has had experience of doing this and could give some guidance in how to and/or what outcomes you had.

Many Thanks in advance

sourcrates

Hi welcome to MSE.

Yes you can write to the card companies and explain your struggling a bit, and ask them to reduce, or freeze interest for you.

Lots of people on this forum are in similar positions, it's very common these days unfortunatly.

Be aware that this will be recorded on your credit file, possibly as an arrangement to pay, just something to think about if you are bothered about things like that.

dancingfairy

Of course you can ask but I'm not sure why they would consider it unless you can't meet the minimums. Banks aren't exactly known for their charitableness I'm afraid.
Basically your main options are increase income and/ or scrip and save as much as possible to get the debt down or default on your debts and come to payment arrangements. There are different types of payment arrangements from a DMP to a dro, an iva or bankruptcy but basically they are all arrangements of some kind and all involve defultjbg on your debts.
You could always pop your soa up here and see if people can spot any savings for you. It sounds like you are in that middle ground where you cant really make much above the minimum payments but don't want to default necessarily. It is definitely a hard place to be and very much a personal decision which way you go. Some people are determined not to get any defaults or miss payments, others realise that if it's inevitable for them the sooner they default the sooner they can get payment plans and the sooner they can start rebuilding things. Like I said, its not clear cut and a personal decision either way.
Df

dancingfairy

If you go to the debtcamel website there's a good article on a slow snowball ( ie paying the minimums and trying to just overpay a tiny bit each time) vs comfy DMP which sums up the options. It also has loads of other help and advice.
Df

ar246

Thanks very much for your replies and information - the slow snowball option sounds interesting so I will definitely read more about that to see if its something I can do too.