how do I minimize payments or freeze interest

[fifidee]

Hello,
Please could someone advise me.... I currently owe 3 credit caed companies a total of approx £15000. One, for the last 12m has allowed me to pay £72 off the £7000 total and have frozen all interest and charges. The other two, I am continuing to pay the min. payment, inclusive of interest.
I would like to approach these two -egg and halifax to see if I can have the same arrangement. I want to do this to be able to move out of my jointly owned home ( currently up for sale, with approx. £170k equity) - with my two children aged 11 and 6, as the 15 year relationship has been turbulent and abusive and I , for my health and sanity as well as my childrens wellbieng, need to move on. In order to do this, I need to rent - approx £650/Month. I can not afford to do this whilst still paying approx £400 /m to these credit cards - and need to lessen the payments to as little as possible. I would also like to know, if this type of agreement ie , frozen intrest and regular payments affects your credit rating. Thank you for any advice - it will be gratefully received.

[size5]

Hello and welcome along.

Like as not your credit is already affected by having a reduced payment on the first credit card so I wouldn't worry unduly about making it any worse.

Seems to me that there are 2 ways to approach the other cards, you can try and do what you have already done with the first one which costs you nothing directly, or you can approach someone to look at a temporary DMP for you whilst you sort yourself out. You could look at a non fee payer such as CCCS or a fee payer, the choice must be yours. When the house sells and the equity issue is sorted out then you can pay the debts off in full.

For the meantime though, it sounds as if getting you and the children out of an unhealthy environment is top of the list and rightly so, although the debts are important and need sorting, they are not as important as your health and the wellbeing of you and the children. You may wish to visit www.iva.com and take advice from a professional directly, at the very least all initial contact should be at no charge to yourself.

I wish you all the best and do let us know how you get on.

Regards.

[fifidee]

Thank you size5,
Who is CCCS? And yes , getting out is priority, but I cant do that untill I reduce my monthly outgoings, so as to be able to pay rent.

[MelanieGiles]

CCCS stands for the Consumer Credit Counselling Service - who are a charitable organisation funded by creditors. They may be able to help you enter an arrangement with your creditor to pay reduced affordable payments over a longer period of time until the debts have been paid off in full.

[size5]

CCCS stands for the consumer credit counselling service.

It is a bit of a paradox sometimes, if that is the right word, that some creditors will not help you unless you have fallen into arrears with their payments so my instinct is to say that getting out takes priority and once you are sorted you will have a much better idea anyway of what you will have left over to be able to pay them with. As well as rent you will have council tax, utilities, food, clothing, phone expenses, tv licence, travel etc and whilst if you have a fair idea of those costs already then I am sure you can be helped, it may be prudent to be sure of those costs before you commit to a DMP that may prove to be on the high side. Having said that though, DMP's are quite easy to alter if your circumstances change so that may not be a massive problem. It's your call really as to which way round you do it but it seems to me that the credit cards may have to take a back seat for a while whilst you get yourself sorted. There is no harm also in ringing them and asking for a payment break whilst you sort everything, the worst they can say is no.

Regards.

[fifidee]

thank you for your help so far, is anybody able to advise on help with rental costs, I have been told that because of what I earn £850/m take home....I can not get any help, with £400 /m on debts ( my fault , I know )and two kids to look after, how on earth am I meant to move on

[Sarah]

Hi

I am so sorry to hear of your situation, Please dont fear you are in the right place for help! Why dont you try contacting someone like Melanie on her website and get some prfesional advice as i am sure there is an answer out there for you

xx

[size5]

fifidee,

As any debt solution is meant to reflect what is affordable to pay to your creditors AFTER living expenses, it therefore follows that the £400 you currently pay is no longer an issue as it will be replaced a new lower figure, for example if you can only afford £150 to all the debts then that is all you will be asked for, thereby leaving you free to rebuild your life by having enough money for the priorities like rent etc.

Hope that makes a bit more sense for you.

Regards.

[fifidee]

thanks, so what happens when I just dont pay them, or pay next to nothing? am I better trying to get some kind of arrangememt with them on the phone, and how bad does a crediut rating get by doing this?

[Andrew Graveson]

There will likely be a negative affect on your credit record fifidee if you make reduced payments (even if creditors have agreed to a temporary reduction in payments). This obviously needs to be weighed against your other priorities.

Coming to an agreement with your creditors for some temporary help would certainly be a good idea. This could be accomplished by contacting creditors yourself or enlisting a debt management company to do so for you.

Not reaching an agreement is likely to result in extensive letter and phone contact from collections departments when full normal payments are not paid. In the longer term this might result in legal threats and risks.

To reassure you, our experience is very much that creditors are supportive where temporary help is needed for such good reasons.

[billy1010]

Hi

Try contacting a welfare rights/benefits advisor to discuss possible benefits such as family tax credits if the only income you receive is £850 per month for yourself and 2 children. Not sure what the threshold's are but would be worth a discussion.

Hope you are able to secure a safe place for you all soon.

xx

[fifidee]

I have worked out that from £1550 that I bring in, £550 of which is tax credits, after all bills etc have been paid, but no credit card bills, I would have about £10, where on earth do I go from here, how do peolpe manage....or as I am now starting to see, they dont. There must be some financial help availible with rent etc, especially when there are many receiving a fortune for not working, having 15 kids or a 'bad' back.....

[kallis3]

Have you tried contacting CAB about your problems fifidee? They should be able to advise as to whether or not you can get help with your rent.

As to your other debts, speak to someone like CCCS or Payplan, who do not makes charges for DMP's and see if they can help you.

[fifidee]

hi kallis3, yes I have, they will write to get payments to the credit card companies down, how badly does this affect your credit rating?
And I have spoken to the housing peolple, who tell me I can get £4.50 a week....surely not right?

[kallis3]

Hi,

I can't comment about the housing, as I have no idea how they work.

As you have already been making reduced payments to one of your creditors, this will probably be reflected on your credit record. I know when I was doing a debt management plan, it showed up on there as a 'special arrangement' and was also reflected in my payment record.

Everytime you don't make a payment, or make a reduced payment, it will be reflected on your record.

I imagine that yours will not be at its best now.