HSBC credit card

colinmcc

Hi there looking for some help and advice.

I have a credit card with HSBC, the limit on the card is £1500 and I have maxed the card, I have recently had a child (born in January) and have been unable to make payment to the card due to buying essentials for my son(I was paying way over the minimum amount to get the balance down quicker).
I informed HSBC that I may be unable to make payment due to the above reason and the advisor (who was clearly in an overseas call centre) advised me that while this isn't advisable and could affect my credit rating he informed to try and make some form of payment, I agreed that if I could afford to I would do my best to at least make minimum payment.
During the first week of Feb I recieved a letter from HSBC infroming me they were adding charges for non payment which I knew they would do anyways, from this I had a telephone call the same evening from one of there advisors, I again explained the scenario that I contacted them to make them aware of my scenario and that once my partner was back to work I would be able to pay the balance in full or at most over the space of 2 months.
The advisor said this was fine but I should attempt to make some form of payment and I again agreed that if I could afford to do so I would.
From this phonecall a week or 2 passed and I began to recieve numerous calls from HSBC demanding payment for the card, I have explained my scenario to them on almost 10 occassions over the phone and 2 visits to my branch were I was told to "pay it" and no other arrangement was met.
I am now getting at least 18 calls per day from HSBC I am recieving numerous letters from them requesting the money which I simply cannot afford to pay as my partner is on maternity pay and my wage is being used to pay our mortgage and bills etc..
I feel I'm getting nowhere with these guys and I am not holding out on paying the money I simply want them to put some form of stop on payments until July until my partner returns to work.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated, I know my balance isn't a great deal but I'm unsure of how to get this bank to listen to me.

udydudy

I think they may leave you alone(for the time being) if you pay atleast 50% of the minimum amount or at the very least some amount. This might assure them that you do intend to pay instead of just stopping payment.

Have you thought of discussing the situation with your mortgage company as well. may betheyw ould agree to reduce the monthly mortgage payment by an amount which can be used to pay HSBC cards.

Also check whetehr you are on repayment or interest only mortgage. if on repayment maybe you could request a switch to interest only for 6 month period in which you could use the difference in lower mortgage outflow to clear your credit card and then resume repayment once your card is paid off in full.
not paying the card at all will not only affect your credit file it will also incur steep charges non-payment in your case 1.2% a month approx. i.e £18 on your £1500 outstanding. as also interest costs which could be nearly 19% to 29%.

I think if you post more details of yoru financial outflows someone on this forums will be able to guide you better on how to apportion your monthly payments. maybe if you mention your bank it will also be easy to let you know how that particular bank is in simlar situations.

CannyJock

May not be possible if you now have defaults, and it's a risky approach so not sure if it's a good idea in the first place, but anyway, here's a thought:

If you're only talking about a few months then it may be worth considering getting a new 0% balance transfer card and using that to "pay" the other card - confirm with the HSBC that this will be accepted as a form of payment if you get one. Yes, it's potentially digging yourself into a deeper debt hole, but if you're 100% sure that this is just a temporary thing then it may help you in the short term - it'll definitely damage you in the long term if you just double your debt though.

I'll throw in the obligatory quip that you get around 9 months notice of new additions to the family so you should have planned ahead. Now I've said it hopefully nobody else will feel the need

Definitely do a full-blown budget exercise to see where you're spending and where you can cut back. If it means cutting back on the number of cable channels for a while or whatever, then it's worth doing. Lots of little savings will definitely add up.

Have you checked to make sure that you're getting all the benefits that you're entitled to with a new child? My younger brother didn't realise that he would qualify for working tax credits in addition to child allowance (because they'd had both always worked they never thought about it). If you've not spoken to someone already, well worth doing.