cindyda1 Posted April 10, 2007 Report Share Posted April 10, 2007 I am in a situation where I have about $41,000 cc debt...I am paying from 28-31.1% interest on some of my cards..I have been hanging on with the pmts. and am currently not late, but it is all I can do to keep my minimum pmts. made along with all my other bills, so of course the ballance isn't dropping..I am wandering how hard it is to negotiate the interest rates only, and what are the risks of contacting the co's. to inquire about this..how to approach them about this etc.? It may be that I can't continue to hang on doing this, but want to avoid a drop in my credit rating if possible and try to. I am teetering on falling into the point of getting behind..I am really afraid to contact the cc co's..to ask about intereste reduction. My cards are with washington mutual Visa and MC..combined $22,000 plus..household bank-MC-$1,900, juniper (apple)Visa-$2,685, Vystar credit union visa-$9,661, sams club discover-$5,289..biggest concern and highest interest is with WAMU...sorry so long..Oh yeah, I live in Florida if that matters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willingtocope Posted April 10, 2007 Report Share Posted April 10, 2007 You've got a lot of the "we expect you to default" kinda cards going there, so what I'm about to say may not fly with all of them...but...most CC's have a "hardship" program. You have to call and ask about it...you'll probably have to work your way by the phone jockeys to get to someone who can help...but, the should be able to lower your rates for some period of time to help you along. Maybe 6-12 months. You need to be careful that you don't agree to do something you can't handle...but its worth looking into.(You might need a good back story...job loss...illness...something to justify the fact that you can't keep up the payments). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cindyda1 Posted April 11, 2007 Author Report Share Posted April 11, 2007 AAh...I see...I read something on this site about hardship programs..but I thought that was to be avoided for some reason if possible...I will go back and re-read it. Thank you for the advice. Also, if I do this will I get "punished' for it?..as in taking another hit on my credit score? have my accounts closed out? lowering my credit limit? etc.. ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willingtocope Posted April 11, 2007 Report Share Posted April 11, 2007 As far as I know, the CC's don't actually say anything about "hardship" on your CRs. They will close the account, probably, which means that you won't be able to use them while in the program.(Credit counseling is another matter. Having a "handled by CCC" on your reports hurts a lot, scorewise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AISLE4 Posted April 13, 2007 Report Share Posted April 13, 2007 You write that you are current with your payments, but with rates like those there must have been some glitch in your payment history. Usually if you are current the creditors won't allow you to enter a hardship program. It seems counterintuitive to let your accounts become delinquent to get a better rate, but that seems to be the way they work. None of my creditors would even talk about hardship until my accounts were about three months delinquent. You will need a good story. According to the creditors, not having money is not a hardship. You'll need a tearjerker story of pain and woe. Hollywoodize it if you have to. I talked about hardship with many creditors and was offered various interest rates between 2% and 10% and programs that lasted from six months to a year, depending on the creditor.But don't be affraid to call your creditors and ask about it. They get calls all day long from people asking for lower interest rates. They aren't going to do it for you if you don't ask. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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