REDUCING CREDIT CARDS PAYMENTS

michaeltoogood

Hi folks
I am in persistent debt on many credit cards, now due to lockdown it is not possible to keep payments, which i have been paying for more than decade.
If i ask credit card like halifax to reduce the monthly payment to half, or stop for few months, would they close my current account with them? would they lloyds too close my current account with them? i have business account with santander( i will payments with santander), would they close my company account ? 
can i get payment break for few months on credit cards?
 these are the questions if some one know please help me with advice, coz corona is not going anywhere soon and my personal debt is 35k and company debt is 20k.

Thank you

michaeltoogood

i will not stop paying santander**

cymruchris

Have you taken any payment holidays so far? Aside from making your monthly payments - have you spoken to any of the banks in recent months ? 

[Deleted User]

Very unlikely they'll close your current accounts. Though bear in mind they may have the right of offset.

michaeltoogood

thank you zx81 i appreciate
thanks crmruchris...yes i have taken payment holidays on all credit cards, no i haven't spoken to my bank yet.

sourcrates

michaeltoogood said:

Hi folks
I am in persistent debt on many credit cards, now due to lockdown it is not possible to keep payments, which i have been paying for more than decade.
If i ask credit card like halifax to reduce the monthly payment to half, or stop for few months, would they close my current account with them? would they lloyds too close my current account with them? i have business account with santander( i will payments with santander), would they close my company account ? 
can i get payment break for few months on credit cards?
 these are the questions if some one know please help me with advice, coz corona is not going anywhere soon and my personal debt is 35k and company debt is 20k.

Thank you

This was my responce to a similar thead earlier on today, the same advice applies to you too -

"If this were the debt free wannabe board, i would invite you to fill out a statement of affairs, so we have a better idea of your full income and expenditure, then a plan could be formulated.

Unfortunatly, the FCA intervention on persistant debt, although a good move in theory, has somewhat backfired in practice, as its resulted in a lot of panic amongst credit card customers, as to what to do about it, in a practical sence.

So just to help you in your decision making process, you should start from the point of common sense, regardless of how much you owe, or to who.

If the payment is not affordable, then it is not going to be sustainable, and you should therefore look at other stratagies.

You need to balance what you have coming in, and what you need to live on, against whats left to pay towards debts.

Essential debts such as rent/mortgage/council tax/utilities/food etc etc are all essential payments.

Credit cards/loans/or any other form of unsecured credit are all non essential debts, and are paid last, with whatever is left over.

If there is not enough to comfortably meet all your your financial commitments, then you need to do something about it, look at debt management, or dependant on how much debt you have, and your circumstances, another more formal option.

Basically if this is likely to be a problem for you, pop over to the DFW board and post your SOA".

michaeltoogood

great thank you, 
one last question: if i get in terms with credit card for less payment or payment break, would it effect my credit file?

sourcrates

michaeltoogood said:

great thank you, 
one last question: if i get in terms with credit card for less payment or payment break, would it effect my credit file?

Yes of course it would, paying anything less than the contracted repayment will either be recorded as an "arrangement to pay" or for longer term issues, "default", due to debt management.

That should not be your focus though, your current troubles are affording your monthly payments, making things more affordable is the priority here, you should not be looking at any further borrowing whilst this situation persists, so your credit file is irrelivant, but will heal in time.

michaeltoogood

got it, thanks for the advice