Cannot make your monthly debt payment? Understand your different options so you can avoid late charges, increased interest rate and avoid lowering your credit score.
Not being able to pay to pay the minimum balance happens to people very often. It is likely that his could happen to you if you have an unexpected large expense for the month or an unforeseen circumstance arose that drained your funds temporarily. If this happens to you, the worst thing you can do is to not do anything. Failing to address the issue in the current month can lead to the following problems:
- Monthly Late Charges
- Increased future rate
- Getting the late or missed payment reported to the credit bureaus and therefore lowering your credit score
- Decrease your future ability to make on time payments
How to avoid these problems
- Call your credit card company or specific debt company you deal with and explain your situation and make them aware that it is a one time thing and let them know when you expect to be able to pay. This will work most of the time, if you have not done it consistently in the past.
- If you can't get an extension, talk with your employer and try to get a cash advance on your paycheck to meet your credit card deadline.
- If you feel comfortable enough to ask friends for the money that is sometimes a good solution for temporary help.
- See if there is another bill that can wait another month in order to get the credit card paid off first, because not paying the credit card most likely has more negative site effects than not paying some other bills.
If you find that you are consistently unable to make the payments on time then it would be good for you to consider
credit counseling. A credit counselor will be able to help you manage a monthly budget, or will negotiate with current creditors about your current rates and payments to lower your overall monthly cost.
Try to keep maintain good standing with your creditors and take the necessary actions needed to address the issue as soon as possible because this will save you thousands in the long run by maintaining a better credit score, keeping your interest rates down, and eliminating late fees.
