F***- I'm in big trouble

[Frokoko]

I've been burying my head in the sand and not paying my credit card bill off, for months since my ex husband left me, it's at 3k- mostly used for deposit for new flat/baby stuff.. I work but I want just over 1k a month.. 500 rent, then bills, not much left over.. the minimum payment is 98 a month which I am going to pay this month but they just keep adding Interest!
Have no one to ask for advice so I'm asking you lovely people what can I do?! I can't get a balance transfer card I have tried that.. 100 a month is going to take like 3 years to pay 3k off? Any way to earn some money around job? Got a 2 year old so any internet jobs? Thank you for reading! I'm really stressed!

I'd pay the 98 a month.

CAB will write letter for you to credit card company asking for them to freeze interest. I think they freeze your card though which is a good thing to help you to get out of debt. Sorry you are having a tough time. Could you do any babysitting? Don't spend a lot of money with Xmas coming up. Your 2 year old is too small to understand and will be happy with one or two gifts and a few little stocking fillers like a new toothbrush, slippers, books and PJ's. Have you got anything you could sell on ebay?

Contact Stepchange or Payplan, they will negotiate on your behalf- don't delay, the longer you leaoit the worse it will get.

Does the father pay maintenance? Have you had a benefits check to see if you get all you are entitled to? there is a websites called something like 'what am I entitled to' which helps with this or could go to CAB or some such if that fits around your work.

Do you mean to say I can just ring up my credit card company and tell them times are tough and the struggle is real and they will say no problems, we would be happy to freeze your interest and how about you just pay us back half of what your minimum repayments were previously.

That's pretty much exactly what happened when I was having a rough time financially a while back- they froze all interest and charges for 6 months and I paid £15 a month for that time, until I was in a better situation.

Ring them OP, explain the situation. If they're unhelpful maybe try MSE or CAB?

Contact Stepchange they are amazing.

To genuinely help - need incoming

What’s your monthly take home and benefits and any maintenance?

As advised by pp, get some help from someone like Step Change/CIB re the interest. Then stick to paying £98 each month. Ignore the minimum amount as the payments reduce that. You can set up a regular amount for the monthly payments. It really makes a huge difference paying it like this rather than reducing the payments.

Re Christmas, there is someone on here who calls it Tatmas. Don’t fall for the marketing pressure leading up to the festive season and don’t buy any tat that isn’t needed. Tell family/friends now that you will not be buying presents this year and you don’t expect them to buy presents for you.

As a pp said, your child will not notice anything “missing” from her Christmas experience. She is more likely to enjoy having a cardboard box to play with at his age. So make Christmas Day more about fun and playing than materialistic things.

Move the balance to a 0% credit card...and cut BOTH cards up

Realistically, if you've already missed payments then your credit score will be being hammered. If you're in a position where you're likely to not be making the minimum payment at some point in the future then a dmp isn't going to be any worse for your credit score I'm afraid. And it'll get you sorted quicker so you can start building your score up again.

DP had a dmp that finished a few years ago. Since it's finished he's had a 10k personal loan and we're now looking at getting a mortgage and have an agreement in principle. The fact that he has paid back the money that his ex ran up on his cc, but that's a whole other story has been much better for his credit score than missing payments, ccjs, or going bankrupt.

Make sure you use a charity like stepchange who don't charge you a fee for their services. They make their money by you paying them a month before the money is due, so they get a month's worth of interest on it. Some companies charge a fee, which obviously just adds to your debt.

Some companies will freeze interest but some will not, in a persistent debt situation. You need to contact them, go through to their debtors department, throw yourself on their mercy and arrange a payment plan you can meet. It might well be £50 or less for a fixed period of time and then you can set up a standing order for that much.

Not all companies will freeze interest and some pursue debts much more aggressively than others, but the worst thing you can do is not make payments or not contact them. It's nerve-wracking to call or write but you only have the one debt (we had many more!) and you can deal with this relatively straightforwardly.

Credit cards are the worst.

I only ever had one and it had such a low limit - 500 pounds.

I don't know why - but it took about two years for me to pay it off. There is something very psychologically damaging about it:

Easy money,
You might need it so keep it,
It is tempting to just pay the miminum always. Why would you pay more, when you can just pay the minimum back. And then interest goes up

They keep you in a trap

I would contact Step Change. They are really good at this kind of thing.

OP - Like others have mentioned, go on the 'make £10 a day' threads. Even if you just sign up to surveys that you can do in the evening, or on Shoppix (scan your receipts from your shopping and it adds up to points which you can exchange for Amazon vouchers or paypal money) it all adds up.

Missing a credit card payment isn’t that bad when your credit score is generally ok. The system isn’t set up to over punish the odd error. So please don’t think it’s ruined anyway so you may as well not care. You are better paying the minimum until you’re on your feet

Speak to them. Set up a repayment plan and freeze intrest and charges. You're in a vicious circle. Don't take out more debt, just tell them and work it out

Might be worth speaking to your bank and seeing whether they could give you a loan for £3k. Would be a lot less per month than a credit card as the interest rate would be lower.

If it makes you feel any better, most people in the UK owe a lot more than £3k in debts!

Paying any less than the contractual minimum will affect your credit rating for up to 6 years from the date it's paid off.
I would take out a loan to clear it, even if it's over a long term you will be better off each month and it will be cleared.

Paying the minimum payment will not clear it in 3 years. Every month there is interest which pushes it back up.

Haved a look at matched betting as an extra online earner. Look at the threads on here for advice or go and watch the video on the Team Profit website to understand what it's all about (it's not gambling). You can start with £20.

Op did say she didn’t have any options to borrow more or transfer the balance

She doesn’t need to pay the minimum for 3 years, I’m sure her finances will change in 3 years!

Do you have a Credit Union on your town?

I would be brave and look to tackle this particular debt and also get the finances under control so you don't end up in this position again.

To do this, go to see a free community debt adviser. They won't charge and it won't affect your credit rating for when you want to borrow for a mortgage.

They will help you with 2 things;

• firstly to bring this debt under control - so writing on your behalf with a sensible, affordable payment plan. It may well be £1 or a few pounds per month. Just seeing them will make you feel unburdened.

• they cnq also help you look at your income and expenditure and some up with a plan to get you in a better position longer term - without judgement.

If you are able to be brave, look up your local place and make an appointment, you can deal with the immediate problem amd the wider financial issues you face. Simply trying to do it alone may well not work - you might default on the £98 per month causing bigger problems, or that £98 might mean you get into financial problems with other companies due to lack of money. Getting some help (free and non judgemental) really is the way forward.

All the best and here's to a future free of financial stress for you.....it really can be possible.

You really need some advice as has been suggested. One might be to get an interest free card with a long term on it and transfer the debt to it cancelling the first card.

I have called hsbc to try and arrange a payment they are sending me some forms to fill in of my expenses..
Usually wage is 1100, 80 child benefit..
500 rent, 120 all bills, 60 petrol 20 car tax, 250 childcare, Netflix is it 6.99? (No tv license just a tablet) food 100 a month.. so 950ish total? 150 spare?