How to repay huge credit card debt

nannoo1955

Happy New Year all. Have just moved this post from the Credit Card forum, where it didn't seem to get answered. A question - my brother has maxed out on his credit card and now cannot pay it back. He has no other debts, but paying the monthly repayments is putting him in arrears. I only just found out and he is frantic. I phoned the National Debt Helpline, but they said he had to have at least two creditors before they could consider helping him write off part of the debt. Do you guys have any suggestions as to how the interest on this could be stopped and if possible if the debt could be even partly written off (he was using the card for living expenses, nothing else), or if not at least the repayments reduced minus interest. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

sourcrates

Hi,

It's always difficult giving advice on behalf of someone else, but if , as you say, this is his only debt, he should write to the card company and explain his financial position to them.

They will not go mental, they will not call him a plonker, or anything of that nature, most credit card companies will be sympathetic to his situation, however writing off the debt is unlikely.

He should ask for interest to be at least suspended, for say six months, it's difficult as it's the only debt he has, a debt management plan would normally be advised, but as its only one debt it's tricky to organise.

How much does he owe all together ?

nannoo1955

The total debt on the card is £12,000

Puddylove

It's really hard to give advice without more details of your brother's situation. Could you persuade him to complete a Statement of Affairs so the lovely MSE people can help him further?

(Could someone post the SOA link, please - I'm useless)?

nannoo1955

Puddylove wrote: »

It's really hard to give advice without more details of your brother's situation. Could you persuade him to complete a Statement of Affairs so the lovely MSE people can help him further?

(Could someone post the SOA link, please - I'm useless)?

You are very kind, but we have gone through all his accounts, reduced everything possible, worked out how he can increase his income in the future ... The ONLY problem is the £12,000 credit card debt at 16% or whatever, which is currently costing around £250 a month, which he does not have. That's it! So ... we need to find a way of reducing the monthly payments greatly and removing the interest so that he can manage.

January2015

Have you looked into whether he qualifies for a debt relief order (DRO)? As you say "he was using the card for living expenses, nothing else" it is likely he does not have more than £50 left over each month after he has paid his household expenses.

As mentioned above, without the full information of his income and expenditure it's difficult to give advice.