Need help cant afford to keep paying credit cards.....

[Nemo1977]

hi
i am a sahm because i have depression. I recieve dla and incapacity benefit. However compared to when i was working i can no longer afford to paymy credit cards. Luckily my loan had payment protection and they have been paying this since i was sick from work in feb 2004. However since feb this year i can no longer pay my credit cards and am now getting letters. I have been burying my head and trying to ignore but i know its going to get to a point of baliffs etc and i cant afford this. I need to work out repayment plan but they have said they wont accept a proposal from me so who can i get a proposal from? The only thing i havent defaulted on is the mortgage as obviously we have to keep our home. MY half of mortgage repayment is £400. I am pg again and am panicking about how i am going to afford baby etc. I have cut down dramatically on spending and shopping online so i save money with vouchers etc...anyway someone a while ago put a link for a website who may be able to help me so am hoping that link will appear again or any advice of similair situations?????

I think citzens advice produce some sort of debt plan and will negotiate lower payments on your behalf. We remortgaged and got a better deal and put enough on the mortgage to repay the debt. Our mortgage payment worked out far cheaper than before, i suppose it depends how much you owe though.

Nemo - Sorry that you are find ing things difficult. Go to your local Citizen's Advice Bureau and ask to speak to a debt counsellor. They will help you to work out repayment plans for your cards. Ring the companies and tell them that you are doing this. Are you making the minimum payments?

thanks lucy we did remortgage last year b4 i got medically retired. However while i was waiting for them to sort out benefits etc i had to live off credit cards so have my cards back up. will try and contact CAB for advice

at the min potty i am not making any payments as i was told that if i could keep making minimum payment then they wouldnt consider repayment plans of less. So have done that for 2mths. just need to know where to go from here

Hi Nemo,

Try the "Consumer Credit Counselling Service" for help and support. Also the CAB as everyone else has said. I think the link you're looking for may be this

They will certainly offer you advice free of charge and advise you of what your next step should be.
The main thing is not to pay anything to the credit card people you cannot afford. If all you can afford is £1 a month at the moment then they will have to like it or lump it.

Another site worth looking at is this The chap who runs the site is very knowledgable about how the debt industry works and will answer any questions you have.

Mandy

aragon thats them thanks a lot. I did have the site saved as fave but must have deleted it by accident..

Nemo - I really feel for you as we have quite high debt and I know how suffocating it can feel. this is a good website and the message boards are excellent here

Who are the credit cards with? I never missed any payments on my credit card and always paid the minimum, but i was really struggling, so i rang them and told them i just did'nt have the money to pay, and they came to a agreement and let me pay a fixed amount i could afford each month. I thought that if you were willing to make any payment you could afford they would have to accept this, get in touch with CAB.