Credit Card debts – How to deal with the Company?
Can anyone direct me on how to correctly deal with a debt owed to a Credit Card?
My circumstances dramatically changed recently, and I cant pay the full monthly amount needed.
I’ve told the c/c companies that I can only afford £5 per month.
They are hounding me and bombarding me with calls and letters of various levels of threat.
What can they legally do to me?
My priorities must be my children so surely any offer should be acceptable if thats all I can genuinely afford?
June 8th, 2010 at 11:17 pm
Contact the CAB for free advice and help writing letters to the CC company.
June 8th, 2010 at 11:43 pm
You are doing the right thing. Pay what you can afford. Its best if you back it up with a proper income and expenditure form. There is plenty of advice out there.
June 9th, 2010 at 12:18 am
You did the right thing informing the credit card company immediately.
I would contact them by phone, get the name of the person you need to speak to (Manager) and explain to them your situation. They may need information about your finances so have these to hand.
Ask them why you keep getting insulting and threatening letters from them, especially as you informed them immediately your circumstances changed.
Get them to put it into writing what you agree for your records.
While you are doing this, contact C.A.B and they will be able to help you in your legal rights about the letters and the repayment plan.
Good luck.
June 9th, 2010 at 12:49 am
If you pay less than the minimum, you will be defaulting on your agreement. If the credit card company will not agree to accept lower payments, you would be better off to pay nothing. There is not such thing as “good faith” payments. They can take your small payments and sue you anyway.
You might want to check into credit counseling or a debt management program.
June 9th, 2010 at 1:01 am
go and see the cab and see if they can help you have informed the credit card company and they wont help report them to the financial ombudsman i did that and it worked for me
June 9th, 2010 at 1:56 am
you need to fill out a budget form and show this to them as it’ll set out all your outgoings and how much you have left over…go to the C.A.B. or contact the Consumer Credit Counselling Service for this (can be done over the internet)…all this is free, but it’s unlikely that £5.00 will be enough and you need to get the interest frozen.
June 9th, 2010 at 2:18 am
In answer to your question about what they can do to you, you do owe them the money so if they decide it is worth their while they can take you to court. If they are successful this will result in a county court judgement against you. In practice this means you will be ordered by the court to make payments of an amount the court decides is reasonable. They will look at your finances, so this ought to be an amount you can actually afford.
Your best bet is to create a Financial Statement to show you and the card company your exact position in terms of your income and expenditure and what you can afford to pay back each month. If you really can only afford £5 per month you will need to prove it to them. Trying to negotiate a reduced payment is much more likely to succeed if backed up by a statement which proves how much money you have coming in and going out each month.
You can get help and guidance online with preparing a Financial Statement and writing to your creditors (see below), but if in doubt, the Citizens Advice Bureau is always the best bet.
Depending on the size of your debt, there may be other things you can do too, such as transferring to a 0% interest card. But whatever you do, don’t under any circumstances be tempted to borrow more money, either on a card or through a loan.
June 9th, 2010 at 3:09 am
You can pay them as little as £1 per month, you will have to fill in an income and expenditure form and send it to them.