Calling creditors to lower interest rate and minimum payment advice?

Some may lower them. Just call and say "I want to continue to pay you but due to drop in income, I am having a hard time". " Is there anything you can do about lowering the interest rate and/or monthly payment.

If you can get on BankofAM hardship plan the interest rate is fairly low.

Just call and tell them the facts and ask for help. No need to be nervous, just be yourself and ask for help.

Thanks for the help and encouragement. With BoA, I have a 13.99%, which was a promotional rate on a balance transfer (the promotion was like 5.99% or something for a year then 13.99% for the life of the balance). I am wondering if this will hurt my chances with them since it was a transfer and I had agreed to that rate?

Also, I just read in another thread that a guy called his creditors to negotiate his interest rate and they closed his accounts. Can this happen? Not that I want to use my cards, but I would rather not have them closed.

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Well, that's a bit risky. The main reason I chose not to go with Care One DMP is because I didn't want my accounts closed. If there's a chance they're gonna close them if I call to negotiate, maybe I should just go with Care One. I think they will be able to get me lower rates and payments than I can on my own. Am I accurate in thinking this?

What are the long term credit problems I will face if my accounts get closed? My wife and I are hoping to buy a house in about 3-4 years... will this hurt? I'm thinking I would look pretty good on paper if I were able to pay off this debt (or the majority of it) and still have the accounts open.

Any thoughts?

I actually am on the BOA hardship program right now and I did it by calling myself. However, they closed my account immediately. If you call and tell them you have a lower income then they may close your account based on that information alone because that is what Capital One did also.
Not sure how this affects your credit but the longer you have had the account most likely the worse the drop in score. You never want to close your oldest accounts. In our case them closing the account was our only choice because we couldn't have paid any longer without the drop in the interest rates. OUr situation has since went from bas to worse and we are trying to go it alone with debt settlement.

BOA is the account I have had the longest (probably 13 years), so I definitely do not want it closed. My Chase account is probably only 4 years old, so maybe I will call them and see what happens. I have had my Discover for quite awhile also, so I don't want to risk that one either.

Can I call and just try to negotiate my interest rates without trying to get on a hardship program? Perhaps I should just call and not even mention that I am struggling financially, but feel that I should get a better interest rate based on my good history and good credit score? Can anything bad come from taking this angle? Will I most likely get turned down?

On the other hand, I'm wondering if I do get on the hardship programs, or go with a DMP, and get my accounts closed, perhaps I can get my credit score back up in 3-4 years by making some progress on getting these paid down? My 3 credit scores right now range from 670 - 730. Honestly having a good credit score at the moment isn't as important as paying down my cards. If I can get my score back up in a few years when the time comes to buy a house, then it will be worth it. What do you all think?

I have called cc many times to try to lower my rate and as long as I never mentioned a loss of income they never mentioned closing my account. Problem is they were never willing to lower the rates either. If you want to give it a try go ahead and call but do not mention hardship because it you do they may close the account.

If your cards are maxed out or very near the credit limit your credit scores are already being affected. I would try to call them first and see where you get. If getting these balances paid down is what you are needing to do then you may have to deal with closed accounts to get the lowest rates on the hardship program.

I am not sure but I would think your credit score will take a hit with the accounts closing but as long as you are paying down the balances in a few years you should see your scores start to climb.

As for me, I am going for debt settlement because we simply can't afford any other way right now, I know my scores will tank but we have been in our home for 14 yrs and don't plan on moving anytime soon. THe goal for me is to say good bye to the plastic forever so my score most likely won't matter for a very long time.

i do not recommend care one...before you sign on with them, check out their website, they have a message board/blog where customers voice their opinion of the service and their experiences with care one... it is not good the last time i looked on there. and have posted our brief experience with them in other discussions..basically they LIED to us and due to the lie, our discover cards were sent to collections as soon as they got the letter from care one (which the sent out within 24 hours, and said they would not send those letters until 30 days later-when they got the first monthly payment). i would call and ask the cc banks about a lower rate and payment, but they most likely will not do it unless you say "hardship". tried that myself and had never been late or missed any payments on any cards prior to that. and hardship programs they WILL CLOSE your accounts- they have to for their own security of you not running the bill up even higher. citi bank is really good- they have my hubbies account to when our 1 year under the plan is up, they will re-instate his account and the interest rate is a little lower than it was before we got into the hardship plan.. at last minute, we are going to tell them to keep it closed and re-instate the hardship plan.
good luck-

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generalee,
The only negative things I have read about CareOne is their settlement program... which is expected. I have never heard anything good about using a 3rd party for settlement. What I am looking at is the debt management plan. Basically they negotiate with your creditors for you to get a lower interest and lower payment, and you make one monthly payment to Care One. Again, my accounts will most likely be closed, but I think they will negotiate everything lower than I can myself. I have never read one negative comment about their DMP.

This is such a tough call... am I accurate in thinking that my 2 options are:

1. Going with a DMP or trying to get on a hardship plan, which will close my accounts (hurting my credit) but I will make some good progress on paying everything down.

2. Trying to negotiate a lower rate without mentioning hardship or any loss of income, in which I will most likely not get anything lowered, but my accounts won't get closed and my credit won't be affected.

Is this about right? If we weren't looking to buy a home in a few years, I would go with option 1, no question. But I know having my long standing accounts closed on me will be a huge negative. And I know if I can somehow get this paid off, or at least a good portion of it, I'll be looking really good on paper in a few years when the house hunting begins. Although, at the moment I'm having a hard time even paying the minimums... hair going grayer every day, loosing sleep, and all that good stuff.

I know it's a decision I have to make for myself, but I do like reading everyone's advice, so keep it coming.

Is is recommended that you use an agency associated with the National Foundation for Credit Counseling . They are non-profit and don't charge huge fees. We have been using them for 2 years and are slowly getting our debt paid down, but you have to sign and agreement to not use or open any new credit accounts. We just recently purchase new vehicles and didn't have any thing negative on our credit reports. We are very pleased, but remember there will be a sacrifice. you are are where you are due to problems. Good Luck