Capital One are crucifying me - can you help??

littlegirlblue

I'm in a ridiclous situation.. partly my own doing though I admit. I've had £200 owing on a capital one card for about 4 years, where I had a direct debit set up for the minimum payment which should have covered any interest so I never went over my limit. About 18 months ago I went over my limit so since then I've had £12 charges added every month. I didn't open my bills so didn't realise that this had happened. When I did realise about a year ago I called them asking them to take off the charges which they said no to so I stupidly stopped my DD for the minimum payment. So now I'm being charged another £12 per month for not meeting the monthly minimum payment. I now owe about £550. They are phoning my house every 5 minutes {i've unplugged the phone] and my mobile 8 times a day [i don't answer]. I really want to sort this out but everytime I've spoken to them they say I need to pay the charges. This is the only debt I've got and I'm finding it a bit scary!! If anyone has got any advice I really appreciate it. Thank you! x

lindens

OK a bit more information
Whats your credit limit and whats the APR?
Can you apply for another card, maybe with 0% for BT's and transfer the lot over?
Maybe you can ebay a load of stuff to get a lump sum together and get it below the limit, set the minimum payment back up again and over pay this by £10 per month so you are making in roads into the interest.
Have you reclaimed the charges back from the CC company ( like bank charges)?

littlegirlblue

Thanks for this. my credit limit is £200 and the apr is 18.5% I think. I did try and get another card to transfer the balance but I think my credit rating has been affected by all of this and it was refused. I don't really want to transfer the whole lot or pay it off to get myself back within my credit limit because then I will be paying the charges that I object to. Or is it better to pay it off and then try and claim the charges back?

CLAPTON

its best to pay the debt off and then reclaim the charges

also I'ld suggest you get a copy of your credit files to see what they say.

lindens

Yes do both!
I would get it below the limit asap, set up minimum payment, and if you have internet banking ( best thing i ever did) pay off little bits extra every so often or as and when you can afford - say you sell something on ebay and sell it for £20, pay off £20 extra off the card.
At the same time send off the first letter to claim your charges back. That money then will come off your balance as well.

Zebedee69

I would try and pay off the card asap. Then send off the claiming back charges letter and get your money back.

Dont forget your credit rating. Check it out as Cap One do register info with them regularly. If you havent kept up payments for a few months you might bre in trouble.

Good

tomjeffery

firstly speak to them! it's not that scary - the person who speaks to you deals with cases like this every day so it isn't going to bother them + you're never going to meet them!

you can't just not pay them or the adverse effect on your credit rating will get even worse (i.e. they put a default on your account)

don't pay back the minimum amount only either, otherwise it will take years to pay back.

can you afford £100/month? if so, talk to them, explain your situation and agree to pay that back and then try and reclaim any unfair charges (charges for just 'not paying' may not be able to be reclaimed)

take this as a lesson not to bury your head, if you had dealt with this a year ago the debt would be half

hope you can get it sorted

auburnfan23

I Agree with the other Posters, Just get on some kind of payment plan and get this paid off. Its not to much that You Can't get this gradually paid back and get it off of your credit..

littlegirlblue

Thanks all of you.. time to stop burying my head in the sand and deal with it! Thanks again x