friday asked lenders to freeze interest > now family can help can i go back to normal

jimlev

hello. please can you offer some guidance?

on friday i contacted my cards and loans to ask for interest freeze while i talk to stepchange to deal with redundancy (low payment).

lenders were good and most froze interest or put accounts on hold and took my stepchange reference number, as stepchange recommended temporary payments, as long as i contact them to confirm next stage.

over the weekend family have helped so now can pay 6 months normal payments while i get a new job, so i can get the right one and not just the first one.

i'm a few days late with one payment but haven't missed any other payment dates.

will cards and loans undo the freeze and not report bad markers (defaults or arrangements or plans) to credit agencies?

if this is possible, what do i need to say when contacting them on monday morning, 3 days after asking for a freeze?

sourcrates

Hi,

When will family want repaying though ?

You have already triggered the interest freeze with your creditors, its best practice to now follow through with that, you may not get another job for a long time, keep any money you have, or family money that's offered, as an emergency fund.

To many times we see people throwing all they have at there debts, but leaving nothing to live on, you only need read some of the threads on here to understand that.

jimlev

hi,

before redundancy my debt free date was 14 may. so i can pay them back at 0% for jan-may in the rest of the year with the money that i'm currently putting towards clearing debts.

they're happy to help me but it's on condition that it's used to avoid any bad markers on my files. i want to be able to buy a home in future and they said things like arrangements delay the process by 6 years.

i phoned some of the lenders today to ask if they could undo the holds on my accounts. most said yes, but one (wonga) said they could only do it and not report anything adverse to the credit reference agencies if i paid my balance in full today. so i felt i had to and did it. it saved about 500 in the long run (off the 6 month budget) but cost about 500 extra on this month's budget, so i'm not sure if that was the right thing to do.