Crippling credit cards - pension draw down in 6 months

BreffniBaby

Hello there…. house improvements have left us with credit card debts of about 72k, which is costing us a crippling £1,100 per month to service (largely on 0% fee cards).

We will pay this off mid-August when we can draw down from a few old pensions, but before then it is making life very hard indeed. Any suggestions at all?

sourcrates

I`d stop paying it.

I can`t think what other suggestions would be of any benefit to you, if you can`t afford to service the debts, then don`t.

If you intend to settle them in 6 months time, the only downside to it would be the hit your credit file takes.

If you ceased all payment now, by August the majority of your accounts will have been sold on most likely, you could potentially settle 72k for less than 50k with a little time and effort, the right attitude and a fair wind.

dprovan

serious question have others stopped paying when they knew they had a lump sum coming to clear a large debt. I can pay the monthly payments but I am getting a kicking with interest and sometimes think I should go dmp to reduce/remove interest and my plan is to pay monthly before clearing final balances in sept 27 with lump sums i will receive then. Have others used this strategy

sourcrates

You can stop paying non essential credit debt and only have a 12/15% chance of ever been taken to court for it.

Some people ignore their debts completely and never see legal action.

So if you intend to settle via a lump sum in say 6 months time, and you are not bothered about your credit file, then why continue paying large amounts of interest.

Debts are sold for a fraction of their face value, so making settlement offers further down the line should see a substantial saving, if you play your cards right, you can offset any interest you have paid and then some.

So many credit accounts default, it would be impossible to take them all to court, so creditors concentrate on the ones who they think can pay, the rest just get standard collection activity, the odd letter, phone call etc.

It makes sense, and is good strategy, to use any and all weapons you have in your armoury.

dprovan

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81905268#Comment_81905268

thank you, as ever, great advice- thank you