£1.00 Payment

[SABOTAGE]

Hi my mate is having trouble paying his monthly credit card bill owing to being signed off work with depression. He's read somewhere that he can pay a £1 a month. Is this true?
thanks

[pt2537]

Hi my mate is having trouble paying his monthly credit card bill owing to being signed off work with depression. He's read somewhere that he can pay a £1 a month. Is this true?
thanks

Short answer is no, he would be breaching his contract with the credit card provider, however that being said credit providers have a duty to treat customers fairly, so one would needto look at how they approach his issues. Each case turns on its own facts in my view

[SABOTAGE]

They've actually rejected the pound offer and have threatened to pass both debts which are Marbles and Tesco credit cards to debt collection agencies.
Could he pay the debt collection agencies, whoever's they turn out to be, a pound?
Thanks

[pt2537]

They've actually rejected the pound offer and have threatened to pass both debts which are Marbles and Tesco credit cards to debt collection agencies.
Could he pay the debt collection agencies, whoever's they turn out to be, a pound?
Thanks

Marbles? How old? Was it a Beneficial card ? or did he open the account with Marbles? Would be good to hear as there may well be something worth considering but i cannot say too much at this moment

[Amethyst]

In his situation it might be an idea to get in touch with CAB or Stepchange - they will be able to help with a letter informing the companies of his circumstances, asking for breathing space and to put any action on the accounts on hold temporarily. He can then go through income/expenditure and work out what amount of pro-rats payments he might be able to offer - with the extra weight of having a recognised charity behind him might make a difference between receiving a hail of debt collection letters and getting some actual breathing space paying token payments if necessary while he tries to recover.

If the debts do get passed over to debt agencies then they are far better at dealing with accounts where the debtor might be classed as vulnerable and should take that into consideration when writing to him. They are actual more considerate than the lenders nowadays.

Presumably his credit file is the least of his concerns. If he's stopped paying the cards then it is likely to result in default markers on the credit file which will stay there for six years.

Also look into what PT2537 has said about the origin of the marbles card account.

[SABOTAGE]

Ok thanks, I will pass that on. The Marbles card just says, Marbles Mastercard if that helps

[SABOTAGE]

He's just had 3 missed calls and texts from Arvato. I'm assuming they are debt collectors??

[Amethyst]

Yes they are, although not one we hear much about.

Arvato Financial Solutions Ltd -

https://register.fca.org.uk/ShPo_FirmDetailsPage?id=001b000000rJwpmAAC

[SABOTAGE]

I don't suppose they will accept £1 a month lol, but he's gunna try them

[Amethyst]

I'd really recommend getting on to CAB or Stepchange first and going through the whole situation. Main DCA's like Cabot, Lowell, Hoist are pretty good but I don't know the smaller ones and they might pressure into paying more than is affordable - if he does call them tho, please report back.

This re breathing space - https://www.stepchange.org/debt-info...ing-space.aspx