Give me a break!!!!!

porte

Ok, made redundant 2 years ago and still waiting for payout of over 16 weeks (10,000). The banks are putting serious pressure on me to pay my €3,500 unpaid credit card bill. Trying to pay a €1300 monthly mortgage repayment with welfare payments is hard, what would be the best way to ask these blood suckers to give me a break until I can get my redundancy sorted.
After all, I chipped in with my €300 p/w tax to get this bank, who was also wreckless with money out of financial ruin.

drunkmonkey

Can you not pay the minimum on your credit card 5%, it's about 200 euro. Did you try asking the credit card company for a payment holiday, they may do this but still charge you interest even though your not making any payment.

unclebill98

porte wrote: »

Ok, made redundant 2 years ago and still waiting for payout of over 16 weeks (10,000). The banks are putting serious pressure on me to pay my €3,500 unpaid credit card bill. Trying to pay a €1300 monthly mortgage repayment with welfare payments is hard, what would be the best way to ask these blood suckers to give me a break until I can get my redundancy sorted.
After all, I chipped in with my €300 p/w tax to get this bank, who was also wreckless with money out of financial ruin.

What have you done so far? What bank is it?

Toots

Have you contacted the bank yet and told them that you have been made redundant? Have you tried to arrange a reduced payment on any of the debt, like interest only on the mortgage, or minimum payments on the credit card? You should try MABS, they could try to arrange a payment plan with the bank.

Fey!

Were you paying insurance on your card to cover you if you were made redundant?

Talk to the card issuer, which is quite often different to your bank (eg, Ulster Bank Card Services run their credit cards, so nobody in my branch, where I signed up for my card, can help me if I have any related difficulties).

porte

unclebill98 wrote: »

What have you done so far? What bank is it?

I have told them I just cant make the payments but I will continue to do so when things start to pick up and I find my feet again.
I have also requested with staff at the A.I.B credit card department if they could freeze the interest for 6 months.
But all i got was a solicitors letter demanding full payment.
11 years I have banked with them paying them each and every month without fail and never late.

dotsman

porte wrote: »

After all, I chipped in with my €300 p/w tax to get this bank, who was also wreckless with money out of financial ruin.

I'm wondering if this has anything to do with your problem. It highlights a serious hostility towards the banks, a feeling of self-importance and a complete lack of understanding of what's going on (3 very dangerous attributes if trying to negotiate a bad debt with the bank). You're on welfare, therefore you don't pay tax. Even if you were paying tax, not 1 cent of it be going to AIB. Despite the media slurs, AIB/BOI have not received 1 cent in "taxpayers money". They were wreckless with money by lending their money to people who now refuse to/can't pay it back.

You don't give enough detail for us to help you accurately. When is the last time you have paid anything off your credit card bill? Have you made any purchases with it over the past 2 years since being made redundant? How often, when and what is the content of all communications between the bank and yourself since the account fell into arrears?

Without the info, I can only assume. My guess is the bank are saying that it's been 2 years since this redundancy and no sign of this cheque - "Maybe he will never receive it?", "maybe he already received it and has spent it?". If your account has been falling further and further into arrears all this time, it is quite obvious that they are beginning to draw a line in the sand. If they are unwilling to freeze repayments or negotiate an interest rate change, ask them if they are willing to either convert the debt to a loan, or failing that, switch the credit card to a lower interest rate card (such as their click card). What's going to be squeezing you now is the high interest, along with the surcharge interest for arrears. This will be making the debt grow at a phenomenal rate and needs to be tackled.

If the bank is unwilling to negotiate, you should speak to MABS (you should speak to them regardless, to be honest). They can negotiate on your behalf and are the experts in this. It is also a signal to the bank that you are taking this seriously.

Finally, in relation to your redundancy money (which appears to be at the root of all this) - have you received confirmation of when you might eventually get this? Are there many people from your former employer also waiting? There are many options to take to speed this up, from legal, political to public action.

ghosttown

Hi, don't envy your difficult situation. The problem really is the 10K. Get that and you're back in the game. Why 2 years ? That seems excessive. Is the company liquidated ? Even so, ring entemp with your PPS number and get a status. Speak to the company, their liquidator (if applicable), or go in person to your local tax office. I've seen it take a year, something is wrong if it's now 2 years.............

chris85

OP you need to give more info on whats happenings.

Also drop the hostility as i would imagine its not helping with the staff. They pay their taxes also remember. I pay my taxes and i am helping the banks with it and all the huge amount of people on the dole but i have no problem with it as i would expect to get the same if i was unfortunate to be out of work. Swings and roundabouts.

gogo

dotsman wrote: »

It highlights a serious hostility towards the banks, a feeling of self-importance and a complete lack of understanding of what's going on (3 very dangerous attributes if trying to negotiate a bad debt with the bank). You're on welfare, therefore you don't pay tax. Even if you were paying tax, not 1 cent of it be going to AIB. Despite the media slurs, AIB/BOI have not received 1 cent in "taxpayers money". They were wreckless with money by lending their money to people who now refuse to/can't pay it back.

.

So well written dotsman, Short and sweet. Im seriously considering this for my sig, if not my office.

seamus

+1 on dotsman's post there.

If I was a lender with a client who told me they were made redundant 2 years ago and were still waiting on a big payout, I'd be skeptical of that claim and beginning to turn the screws.

What's the holdup and what are the chances of you actually getting that money? 6 months would be a very long time to wait. 2 years sounds like there's no money coming.

How has the job hunting been going? Make an appointment with the bank with a view to restructuring your debt - maybe converting your credit card debt into a short-term loan and cutting up the credit card. Approach this now as if the €10k is never going to come through, so if/when it does you'll be in a great position anyway.