What should I do if I am going to miss my next credit card payments?

November 26, 2024 10:31 PM

I have a 10K and a 3K maxed-out credit cards, never missed a payment, and I know that I am going to miss my payments next month. With my own situation and family needed to help, I am out of idea. What should I do? Would credit card company (banks) help me out if I call them to discuss options? I receive credit card offers because my credit is still rather high, would taking the offer help? I also see ads on debt relief programs, is it better to get in touch with them now?

It has been more than a year now, I do courier gigs while still looking for jobs in graphic art field but I am afraid that I won't get solid opportunities any time soon still. It might be due to my work history and age, I applied for retail jobs but never received any response, Jobs in my field either see me as over or under qualified, but I am still trying.

posted by lanhan to Work & Money (12 answers total)

Best answer: GreenPath http://www.greenpath.com has been recommended several times on metafilter as a reputable source of help to negotiate lower interest rates, help with budgeting. not a debt settlement program. They might be able to give you more trustworthy advice on your options than random folks on metafilter.
posted by metahawk at 11:11 PM on November 26 [2 favorites]

Best answer: Christians Against Poverty were very helpful to members of my family who were in debt. They negotiated with their creditors for them and worked out a payment plan. You don't have to be religious to receive help from them, and they did not proselytise.
posted by paduasoy at 12:11 AM on November 27 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Highly recommend GreenPath.
posted by tiny frying pan at 5:29 AM on November 27

Best answer: I think underpayments or late payments are treated differently than missed payments. So pay -something- even if it's not the total payment due.
posted by Dashy at 6:49 AM on November 27 [3 favorites]

Best answer: If this were a case where you were going to miss the payment *this* month but you had a realistic plan for paying next month, I'd say just miss the payment and maybe ask to have the late payment fee removed if you have a previously clean record. Often a one month late payment is not even reported to credit agencies (I'm sure this varies by location and creditor).

But it sounds like this is more of a long-term thing in which case one of the options mentioned above is likely a better choice.
posted by mskyle at 7:07 AM on November 27

If you can get 0% interest on a balance transfer card, that would make sense, but I don't have personal experience.
posted by theora55 at 7:08 AM on November 27 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Back when I was frequently in this exact situation, credit card companies used to mail me those "no interest for six months, then it rockets to 20% but you're a desperate sucker so we will make out like bandits mwahahahaaaa" balance transfer options. Do they still offer those? If so, that might buy you a month or so. You transfer the balance and then on the fifth month you transfer it again to yet another company, lather rinse repeat until such time as you get more financially comfortable, and then you transfer one last time to a low-interest card (if you intend to sometimes carry a balance) or you pick the card you hate the least independent of interest rates (because you're going to start paying your balance off every month). Then you drop all but that card and maybe one other "safety" card in case the main one gets stolen or lost. (Getting new credit cards and dropping credit cards both will tank your credit score, but that's whatever unless you intend to need a good credit score for something big like buying a house.)

Edited to delete "no interest" because I don't think that exists and to add: don't opt for any card with an annual fee. I still don't understand the point of those things.
posted by Don Pepino at 7:55 AM on November 27

Best answer: Just wanted to add: please note that people are responding to your question about a new credit card as if you will transfer the full balance from your old card(s) to the new one. Which is great if it lets you avoid missing a payment and not leave you owing even more money than you already do. But I think if very unlikely that any bank is offering to let you move the full balance with no fees and no interest for a while. If they are, then that could be great - at least it punts the problem down the road although it may leaving you in a similar place with even higher interest when the free period expires. (So, you still need to be careful)

But, if you were thinking that you should open a new card and use that to borrow the money to meet this months payments on the old card, that is probably a bad idea unless the interest rate is much lower AND you think you will have the money to pay all three accounts next month.

Much better to consult a professional and see if you can negotate something that gives you a path forward.
posted by metahawk at 1:51 PM on November 28 [1 favorite]

Best answer: It looks like the card companies are indeed still doing that no-interest, no-fee introductory period thing (https://www.nerdwallet.com/best/credit-cards/balance-transfer). As I'm sure you realize, they do this because they're evil and they're hoping for you to make a mistake they can profit from. Enough people leave the balance on the new card and forget to transfer it again before the high interest kicks in that they keep making these offers, and in this manner they make out like the bandits they so evidently are.

So if you do this one weird trick, you absolutely must transfer the balance in the penultimate month. And obviously it's a temporary stopgap to avoid late/missed payment penalties and to get a few months' reprieve from the pile of debt endlessly growing. The only actual solution that will allow you to relax and transfer the suffering to where it belongs is to become what the credit companies call a "deadbeat." Pay them off and then keep paying them off in full every month, thereby denying them interest payments and fees forevermore. It sounds like Greenpath or similar can help you with that.
posted by Don Pepino at 6:03 AM on November 29

(Wait, those deals will drop interest to 0% for the introductory period, but don't you still have to make minimum payments each month? If so, you could maybe buy yourself ~30 days by transferring right before the current card's minimum payment is due, but it wouldn't get you any more than that -- and you'd probably end up with higher interest/fees at that point -- retroactively charged from the transfer date -- if you still can't swing the minimum then.)
posted by nobody at 3:27 PM on November 29 [1 favorite]

Right: correct. You "pay" the old company when you transfer the balance, so you avoid the late/missed payment fee, and then you get a month's respite to scrounge up the minimum payment money before the new company charges you their late/missed payment fee. And the debt stops growing for however long the introductory period is. That is the extent of the benefit of doing this; the downside is having to stay on top of your debt and move it again before the usurious rates kick in. I pulled this gambit multiple times while I paid down my balance in tiny increments. At one point I had a shortstack of credit cards. I could possibly have Spike Lee-ed a short film. But then there was a recession and a bunch of cards I hadn't used in a while dropped me. And then I got tired of Discover screaming about their annoying "rewards points" or whatever it is and dumped them despite the fact that the saleswoman kept me on the phone for a solid two hours arguing with me about how I was going to destroy my credit and didn't I even care at all about "rewards points," how is it even possible not to care about "rewards points," was I mad? Now I have a single card and am a deadbeat. But it was years of acting like a financial rodeo clown toying with these introductory no-interest offers every five months and hanging on by my fingernails before I finally got out of credit card debt and arrived at a lifestage of relative peace.
posted by Don Pepino at 5:16 PM on November 29

My guess is that if you miss a payment during a zero interest promotional period, the credit card company can revoke the zero interest and immediately shift you over to their "standard" or even "delinquent" interest rates. I don't know this a fact but it wouldn't surprise me and it would make the cost of missing a payment even worse than it is now.
posted by metahawk at 5:49 PM on December 1