credit card debt

debthelp

hi guys,

im just looking for a bit of advice please. i have a balance of about €3900 oweing on my credit card. i lost my job last year and i did not keep up payments. i tried to payit off bit by bit but it just got the better of me. now what i did next i know was wrong. i did the worst thing possible and buried my head in the sand. i stopped paying anything off and ignored letters and phonecalls from the bank. i just didnt have the money as i was waiting for my social welfare to come through. i then started getting letters from a solicitor. again which i ignored. eventually i got a letter from the solicitor with a court date. at this point i had started to receive social welfare, so i sent back a letter saying id pay of €80 euro a week. they accepted this. but unfortunately i could not keep up the payments of €80 per week and i stopped paying anything as i did not have the full amount. i then got a letter stating that i had defaulted on the payment plan and to pay the arrears within 3 days. i then received a letter on friday saying that the solicitors are proceeding to have a judgement made against me without further notice.

i know i have been stupid and i hope people arent too harsh in their replies but i am sick with worry now. i cant afford €80 a week and i think i was just so anxious to start paying it off that i suggested that amount. im wondering if i went back and suggested a lower amount would they accept. and also from peoples experience what sort of amount would they find acceptable.

thanks i advance. didnt know where else to ask

Davy

You should have gone to MABS a long time ago. They may be still able to help you out, but dont leave it a second longer!

www.mabs.ie

3DataModem

You'll have to pay about 80 per month (20 per week) minimum to cover interest and knock a little off capital.

Just offer them what you can afford. Explain why that's all you can afford. Do it in writing.

Kennie1

First thing you need to do is go onto mabs website, there is a spread sheet where you can list all your sources of income and all the debts that you owe and your monthly repayments for them. There is a guide to how to approach people you owe money to and sample letters that you can edit on how you propose to repay this debt. At the end of the day regardless of what you owe, you have the right to put your day to day living expences first and debts second. You have to pay this money back but you can ask for the interest to be suspended as if the min repayment is only covering the interest you could spend your life trying to cover this. Most lenders are reasonable if you try and work with them. As Davy said make the appointment with mabs but in the meant time try the above and keep copy's of all correspondance you have with them

Good luck, hope all goes well.