How to Get the Interest Payments on Your Debts Stopped
Credit card companies, finance houses, and banks are able to suspend interest payments due on your debts (but are not at all keen to do so!). The option will never be volunteered by the institutions concerned, and is entirely at the discretion of individuals within these organisations, usually at relatively senior levels. These people must be convinced that you are suffering severe hardship as a result of the interest charged before they will even consider taking this course of action.
If you think you can make a case for hardship, write in the first instance to the arrears department, requesting that in view of the difficulties you are experiencing, they give consideration to waiving interest on your account. You need not put too much effort into this initial approach, as you will almost certainly either be refused outright or your request will be ignored - not a particularly hopeful start, but this is more or less a standard response.
Next, telephone the department you wrote to, refer to your letter (get the person who signed any reply if possible) and ask politely for the name and position of a person who is sufficiently senior to reconsider the initial response (a supervisor or manager). You need the name of someone who would actually have the power to agree to waiving the interest on your account.
Now repeat the request, writing directly to the individual whose name you have obtained, fleshing out your original letter with more information (give facts and figures if you wish) intended to demonstrate the reality of your hardship. Include a copy of the personal budget sheet you drew up with the Citizens Advice Bureau if this supports your case for poverty. Add something to the letter along the lines that the amount of interest is preventing you from making any headway in actually clearing the sum outstanding, and while you desperately wish to pay off your debts you certainly cannot do so while faced with such levels of interest. An example of the kind of letter required is given in the Template Letters section.
When you are trying to obtain a concession, persistence pays. Brush off each refusal, and each time try to get a name higher up the pecking order in the company echelon. Re-word the letter each time, don’t just send a copy, but maintain the two-tier approach as indicated in the example letter. Argument one is that although you signed onto the high interest rate, your situation has changed and it is currently causing great hardship to you and your family.
Argument two might be that if interest payments are suspended you can hope to get back on your feet, and in the meantime actually begin to reduce the amount outstanding - hopefully a proposition the creditor will find attractive.
Try to keep all your communications businesslike, NEVER use offensive language or make any threats, and do not take brush-offs and refusals personally - they are to be expected. By all means be as persuasive as possible, but avoid overstating your case, as this could be interpreted as ‘trying it on’. Remember that the stakes can be quite high - if your debt is large, the interest you can save by having it suspended could easily amount to hundreds, even thousands, of pounds over the period it might take to pay off the outstanding amount. Credit card companies can and do waive interest payments if pressed hard enough. It is definitely worth continuing your efforts until you finally wear the opposition down!
This article is an excerpt from The Complete Guide to Debt. Visit My Debt Free Life.co.uk for more information on getting out of debt as well as Debt Consolidation Loans and ways to get your creditors to legally write off your debt!
Philip_McClarence
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