Question about longstanding credit card charges and illness

spipplepop

Hi all, I joined to ask this, so apologies if I'm asking in the wrong place.

I recently obtained an NHS diagnosis of ADHD on top of a longstanding diagnosis of Depression and various physical ailments I live in Scotland.
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It's a "whole of life" diagnosis, which means I've been affected since childhood.

I'm mentally well and stable now, but over my life I've made some really terrible financial decisions, and I've racked up very large fees with multiple credit cards. I'm now on a stepchange programme to manage the debt and I'm not accumulating any more. I have a youngish family. I'm in my fifties, but have a daughter under 10.

My question is - most of my debt was accumulated not by the spending itself, but charges applied for late or non-payment, and I believe that this was a result of my then undiagnosed illness. Is it possible to make a case to the banks and providers for a reduction in the costs? All the debts have been sold on to Lowell, PRA etc - should I approach them first? 

My main worry, and I'm not expressing any suicidal thoughts, here, my mental health is currently fine, is that I'm not in the best of physical health. I have quite a serious heart condition, one that killed my father at a younger age than I, and I'm worried that if I die with all of these debts still owing (it's about 28K) there will be nothing left for my family to survive on - I'm the main breadwinner.

Advice gratefully appreciated.

Nasqueron

You can ask but retrospective financial hardship cases rarely succeed - banks expect you to approach them while you are in current hardship and debts being sold on mean it's unlikely the banks will be able to do anything.

Statistically, it's unlikely that the fees for late/non-payment make up anything more than a small amount of the debt, the interest would be a far bigger element + the initial spend.

Lastly, if anyone dies, if the debt is > than the estate, after funeral costs are remove, then the debt is wiped. You might be able to get some sort of life insurance that excludes that pre-existing condition to at least give you some reassurance and/or start savings away from the debt to help here. Your partner should ensure they are aware of any benefits they would be entitled to, such as the married tax relief etc

Take care and stay safe

ManyWays

most of my debt was accumulated not by the spending itself, but charges applied for late or non-payment
what sort of dates very roughly?
when did the Step Change DMP start and how much are you paying a month?
are you buying or renting?