Barclaycard - Refused Payment Extension Holiday

LisaWilcox

First time poster. I've been made redundant and asked Barclaycard to extend my payment holiday. They've refused my request and told me to contact Step Change the debt charity. I think I'm being treated unfairly because it's an interest free loan that expires in April 2021, and I've never missed a payment in over 20 years. I thought the rule applied to those who needed it the most. Can I complain? If so, who to? I'm very stressed at the moment and I don't know if I'm being unreasonable in asking for this extension.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

D3xt3r5L4b

Why is it unfair?
Wheres your backup/emergency pot to cover times when you’re out of work etc?

It’s not unreasonable for you to ask about an extension as much as it's not unreasonable for them to decline said request.

eskbanker

LisaWilcox said:

I think I'm being treated unfairly because it's an interest free loan that expires in April 2021, and I've never missed a payment in over 20 years.

So they offered to lend you money interest-free, on which they were pretty much guaranteed to lose money (fair enough, their choice to do so) but they were then effectively compelled to lose even more money on the deal because of industry-wide Covid-19 payment holiday measures (not their choice)?  You now want to cost them yet more money by further deferring repayments - obviously that makes sense from your perspective but it's not hard to see why they'd decline your request.

If you're going to be struggling just to service debt (never mind actually repaying it), then it may be time to look at your broader finances, try posting at https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/categories/debt-free-wannabe

LisaWilcox

Thank you both for taking the time to post - debt has become normalised and I need to think about reducing my debt pile.

sourcrates

LisaWilcox said:

Thank you both for taking the time to post - debt has become normalised and I need to think about reducing my debt pile.

If you pop over to the Debt Free Wannabe board, kindly linked too above, we can help you with your debts and budgeting etc.

Post your SOA there (Statement of affairs) and we`ll take a look see, oh, don`t forget to format for MSE when asked.

We are a freindly bunch over there who won`t judge you for your past mistakes.

See you soon.

jonesMUFCforever

Could you not use some of your redundancy money to make at least the minimum payments?

sourcrates

jonesMUFCforever said:

Could you not use some of your redundancy money to make at least the minimum payments?

In the world of debt repayment, debt is split in two ways, priority and non priority.

Any unsecured credit debt is what is generally termed "non priority", your priority debts are your rent or mortgage, utility bills, council tax, food etc, so its best to keep any redundancy money for your priority spending, rather than a non priority credit card.

Jobs are difficult to find right now, so this money may have to last a while.

John_

Can I ask how / why you managed to get an interest free loan for over twenty years? I’ve never heard of such a thing.

born_again

Extensions to payment holidays are at banks discretion.
I think that given you must have mentioned you have been made redundant when asking for it. They have decided that it would be in your best interest to speak to Step Change. They could have extended the period, but at a much greater risk to themselves & you. Especially if you are still using the card and adding to the debt. 
Payment holidays are not interest free. So what is this interest free loan till April 21 you are talking about?
Or is it that this is a card you wanted the payment holiday on, is on a 0% interest rate till April 21?

LisaWilcox

Sorry, I meant to say that the card is on a 0% interest rate, I've never missed a credit card payment in 20 years and except for the original 0% balance transfer I've never added to it.
I need to adjust to being made redundant, There's a lot for me to think about and I need to face reality. I'll start with preparing a SOA and formulating a plan.

MinuteNoodles

LisaWilcox said:

I need to adjust to being made redundant, There's a lot for me to think about and I need to face reality. I'll start with preparing a SOA and formulating a plan.

Yep. Rice and beans, beans and rice time, depending on how long it lasts it could involve some drastic action especially if you have things like a car on finance. Cut back on everything that you can live without and definitely pop over to the Debt Free Wannabe board.