How to Pay off Credit Card(???)

Berty

I have a credit card debt and other outgoings. I am currently paying the minimum payment per month which could take 40 years to pay off. :rolleyes:

I cannot get a bank to provide a loan to pay it off.

Its MBNA. Is there a way I can simply close the account and make payments until it's simply clear?

Or any other options appreciated.

anneboleyn

I think most card companies would let you close it down and pay it off, but you would still accrue interest, might be best thing to do though if you can't trust yourself not to continue using card. If you can't get a loan to pay it off, you probably wouldn't get another card to do a balance transfer deal, so might be best to cut it up and make sure you always pay at least twice the minimum required.

cynder

Phone them up tell them the situation and they might stop the interest and you pay what you can afford, however you would not be able to use the card (and you could also be blacklisted?).


As i see it at the end of the day as long as your rent/mortgage, esb and gas are paid the rest can go to hell, they cant get blood out of a stone. whats the worst they can do???? blacklist you for 5 to 7 years!


*If you phone them up and offer to pay what you can afford and they say no and you dont pay the credit card bill any more they will take you to court, but if that happens its likely to be thrown out as you have offered to pay what you can afford.* you might wanna ask a solicitor about that one but i have heard of it happening.

deelite

My experience was that they wouldn't allow me to close the account as the account was still active - even though I'd stopped using it there was still a balance to be paid and that's the reason they gave me. I stopped using the card altogether and got a credit union loan out to clear the balance. I found it better with the credit union as at least I was still saving (only 3.50 savings I know per week) but it all adds up

StinkySocs

cut it up!!! That's what I did, and it's working.

Berty

Im not with a credit union.

The Banks won't take on anybody elses debt through a loan. I can meet the payments and probably a little more but it would still take years to pay off. My own fault but Im looking for a little help from the institutions who are now saying :

"Boo Hoo to you"

cynder

Me again, my dad died last august since then my mothers c/c has reached 1400 pound sterling. she can no longer afford to pay it off so she phoned the company told them the situation and thye dropped her interest down from 24% to 2%. at least they figure they are getting paid that way.

good luck

deelite

I'd suggest you join a credit union - the way it works is you save regularly for about 13 weeks (you can do this by standing order) and after the 13 weeks you may apply for a loan - generally they will give you about twice your savings as a loan for the first time. After that you can get three times your savings. Even putting 10 euro a week in the credit union will grow sooner than you think.

Jet Black

Are you paying payment protection on the card? If so think do you need it. Are you on good health and secure employment?

Best advice I can give is reduce your monthly outgoings. Its going to be hard but everyone spends money every month on things they dont need. Make a budget of what you need to spend money on each month (food, rent/mortgage, clothes etc) and stick to it.

See about transfering your balance to another credit card that offers 0% for a couple of month.

Oh and do not use the card.

100gSoma

StinkySocs wrote: »

cut it up!!! That's what I did, and it's working.

yep. I doubt you can close your account and pay it off. Just cut the card up and discard it. get a visa debit card account if you NEED to have a visa/mastercard for online shopping or bills. It's much easier to manage your money when its all coming from your current account.

Berty

I have cut up the card and had done that around 8 months ago. I have another credit card( ZERO BALANCE ) which is used a lot more sensibly that the other former MBNA one but it still leave's me with a balance which I basically am not paying off because of the interest that they keep slapping on it.

So basically until I can get a financial instution to clear it for me Im stuck basically. :mad:

100gSoma

I had a high MBNA credit card balance back in the day. I rang them and told them I was moving to get 12 months interest free to pay it off. (those deals not available now, but you might get 6 months interest free with another card). Anyway, MBNA were very helpful and asked me if I had ever rang them in difficulty before like this. I said no, and they put me onto a different dept. that lowered my interest rate for me and were very helpful. I would say ring them and explain them your situation. They might be more helpful than you think.

100gSoma

Berty wrote: »

MBNA one but it still leave's me with a balance which I basically am not paying off because of the interest that they keep slapping on it.
So basically until I can get a financial instution to clear it for me Im stuck basically. :mad:

just to clarify... Are you not paying it off the MBNA balance on general principle because they are putting interest on it each month? Or because you cannot even afford to pay the interest.

Berty

100gSoma wrote: »

just to clarify... Are you not paying it off the MBNA balance on general principle because they are putting interest on it each month? Or because you cannot even afford to pay the interest.

No. My other outgoings/commitments are more important and are a higher value than the minimum payment, certainly nothing to do with principle or the opinion of it being the never never.

100gSoma wrote: »

I had a high MBNA credit card balance back in the day. I rang them and told them I was moving to get 12 months interest free to pay it off. (those deals not available now, but you might get 6 months interest free with another card). Anyway, MBNA were very helpful and asked me if I had ever rang them in difficulty before like this. I said no, and they put me onto a different dept. that lowered my interest rate for me and were very helpful. I would say ring them and explain them your situation. They might be more helpful than you think.

I did that around 8 months ago and it brought it down around €20 per month.

100gSoma

It reduced the minimum payment by 20 a month. What is the minimum payment? 100euro a month? more? I think there is unfortunately no easy way out of this. you will need to restructure your other "more important" payments or your other expenditures to fit it in. Even if you got a loan and paid it all off at once, would you not have the same problems trying to pay the loan payment each month?

schween

deelite wrote: »

I'd suggest you join a credit union - the way it works is you save regularly for about 13 weeks (you can do this by standing order) and after the 13 weeks you may apply for a loan - generally they will give you about twice your savings as a loan for the first time. After that you can get three times your savings. Even putting 10 euro a week in the credit union will grow sooner than you think.

This is what I did when I got into a spot of trouble with the credit card. I had already been saving with them each week but my debt was far more than my savings but they were very helpful and helped me get out of the endless spiral of threatening letters, phone calls and financial penalties.

Dirr-Durr

Could tell me some1 whats exactly Minimum Payment Due please? I paid in the last month 78eur, in this month 77eur but interests on purchases and cash advances are 43eur together. What is the 34eur invisible charge?
Thanks

dotsman

Dirr-Durr wrote: »

Could tell me some1 whats exactly Minimum Payment Due please? I paid in the last month 78eur, in this month 77eur but interests on purchases and cash advances are 43eur together. What is the 34eur invisible charge?
Thanks

That's the interest you owe on the balance (ie the part of the balance that you didn't pay off).

beanyb

The 34 is NOT a charge. It is part of the contractual minimum payment that you have to pay monthly. The minimum payment due is based on a percentage of your overall balance. This percentage will depend on your provider, but as far as I'm aware it's usually 5%. This has to be paid monthly or else the account will fall into arrears.

The interest that accrues is a totally separate matter. The 43 is simply added to the balance, on which the MPD is calculated.