Credit card debt advice

Irishmanabroad

I have a BOI credit card and have an outstanding balance of a few thousand euro. I have had the credit card for the last 5 years and have made regular payments up until the last 6 months. I havent been able to make regular payments for the last few months due to severe financial problems. My wife had a child and suffered alot of health issues after the birth., with us been based in the US for now and the way the exchange rate is it has been very hard. I will however be able to make regular payments starting in the next few weeks as my wife got a new job so we will have more money coming in. Also we are in the process of selling our house and the sale should go through within the next 6 weeks. Should i explain to to the bank instead of waiting for a letter or call on why i am not making regular payments. I dont use this credit card anymore and havent done so within the past year. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

MysticalSoul

I would say contact the bank and explain the situation to them. Usually banks are open to renegotiation of minimum repayment, as long as money is still coming in. Have you made any repayments at all - even if only €10 a month, rather than having stopped all together?

Irishmanabroad

I was able to make a payment last month but its more in dribs and drabs than a regular thing. We made alot of financial mistakes and are in the process of clearing all our debts. I didnt know you couldnt make a payment of even if it was just 10 euro. Would it be best to contact the customer service for BIO credit cards and explain the situation. Once everything is sorted out overhere we intend to move back. My plan is to start making regular payments within the next few weeks and then pay of a large chunk of the remaining balance by mid september - early october.

BuffyBot

Yes call the number on the card, and explain it.

pow wow

Explain explain explain explain.

Banks are usually very receptive to customers experiencing financial difficulties resulting in a problem making payments, so long as you tell them. Give them a call, explain the difficulties and that a remedy is on the horizon, and perhaps negotiate a payment plan (I know UK banks will sometimes freeze the interest on the existing debt whilst you pay it down...they're happy you're paying anything at all) of say x a week or a month, and stick to it.

The banks get nasty when they don't know what's going on and think you're going to default, which you're clearly not. Give them a call!

Irishmanabroad

I called them this morning, well rather the customer service. I had to update my address listed on the card as they still had an old one. Right now i am been charged 80 euro per monthly on purchase interest and general interest for the debt. I had to fax them my new address as they wouldnt take it over the phone. I havent lived at that address for over 4 years and when i moved i updated the address well in ireland anyways. I explained my situation to the girl on the woman and she noted it but surely i need to talk to someone else/ non customer service. I gave them my email address and my contact numer. I dont owe a great deal just over 5k. Should i call them again? We will be moving back to ireland in the next few months so will be able to pay off alot more monthly instead of what is happening right now with the exchange rate between the dollar and the euro. I am not trying to deceive the bank, we just had alot of crap happen over the last 12 months with my wife and childs health which greatly affected our finances. I have had the card for over 7 years and always kept the balance to a managable level.

shoegirl

BOI used to have a dedicated department for customers in difficulty like yourself. I found dealing with the Bank a nightmare until I got passed to this department as I just got stupid suggestions like "fill out this loan application here" for credit they would never approve me for.

In the end they passed me to this dept and I just dealt with one person who was quite helpful and understanding (I'd been in a very psychologically abusive relationship with an ex who was looking for a meal ticket basically, leaving me trying to support two people on a modest wage before I upped and walked out). As you know there is no point in asking you to make extra payments or arrears if you are in trouble, you need to be able to make reduced payments until your situation is sorted.

The good news is that even though they shut down my current account and were useless for ages, when I did go to close my VISA card a couple of years later when I'd cleared it in full, they offered (hilarious) to upgrade me to a gold card!! I doubt somehow that they'd do that now!

I changed to another bank, vowing never to do business with them again.