Balance transfer or debt settlement?

CzechMate

Hi,

No bashing please!

I have been struggling with a credit card debt for almost 4 years (mostly due to illness and bad decisions on my part) the last 2 years I have been in a payment plan with the interest frozen and very low monthly payments.

It has been almost 12 months since they last contacted me about the reduced payments and have recently sent a letter saying it's been 12 months, they want to unfreeze the interest and begin full repayments.

The amount outstanding on my credit card is just over £1800. In the last 6 months, I have managed to save almost £1000, although my circumstances have recently changed meaning I won't be able to afford high monthly repayments.

Should I phone the credit card company and offer to "settle" my debt? If so, is there anything I should be aware of? (I.e will settling affect my credit score? How much should I offer?)

Or, should I consider doing a balance transfer? I don't really know much about either and have been trawling through google and finding a lot of conflicting information.

Could anyone offer me any advice please? I don't mean to come across as stupid, I know I've been ignorant/stupid and I'm just trying to get things sorted!

Thanks

[Deleted User]

Your credit file is presumably already trashed, so you could try a settlement.

You're unlikely to get a BT offer from anyone, due to your credit history.

CzechMate

I just did the Experian credit report and it's 926 out of 999

CzechMate

Although on ClearScore it's 328 so I'm not sure

[Deleted User]

The scores are fictional. Ignore them.

What actually appears on your credit files.

CzechMate

Credit files?

I only have a credit report

[Deleted User]

You have three credit files/reports.

Experian
Equifax
Noddle

They all contain a) details of your credit history and b) a random credit score number which has has been typed in by a chimp.

It's a) which is important.

CzechMate

It looks all positive

[Deleted User]

No defaults, missed payments, arrears or arrangements to pay on any of the three for this account?

Do you have other credit agreements showing? Is so, which ones? Are you carrying debts? How much in total? What's your income?

All of this will give an idea of what your options may be.

CzechMate

The arrangement for my credit card is showing, everything else is up to date, no missed payments etc.

Yeah, other things like my mobile contract, my parents mobile contract, BT broadband, my current account, a catalogue, but they're all up to date

Other than £100 on the catalogue (I've got this down from £1200 in the past year) but the minimum repayments are £5 a month but I'm paying almost 5x that and it will be paid off in the next 4 months.

No other debts

Income is a tricky one, circumstances have changed rather dramatically in the last couple of weeks, looks like I'm gonna be earning £9000 per annum because of this

[Deleted User]

The arrangement to pay is a huge negative. The chances of getting a BT offer are slim to none.

I'd offer a settlement figure and try to put an end to it.

At least then you'll only have another 6 years before it falls off your file, rather than the endless arrangement, which will remain for 6 years after you eventually clear it.