Credit balances when losing a job ...

[Anonymous]

Not sure if this belongs here, so if not, Moderators, please let me know.

I just found out that I lost my job this morning.  Can I contact my credit card companies to notify them, and can they sort of suspend payment for a month or so (and will this affect my credit)?

I thought I heard that some credit card companies will suspend payment until you find a job, but I could  be wrong; and I surely don't want to ruin my credit, either.

[Closingracer99]

Why not just pay the $25 or $35 for the min? Some might be willing but I don't work for a bank of any sort  so i cant tell you myself

That or you can apply for the citi Diamond preferred or Simplciity which offer 0% BT offers so you can just put all your debt on that and pay it off slowly. it will have  a 3% BT fee but i would  deal with it

[Skye12329]

Agree with closingracer otherwise i think some lenders have what's called a hardship program. Not all offer it, and they report it differently possibly based on the lender. From what i read online a lender e.g US Bank has a hardship dept and you can ask them how it will report and such.

Lenders would prefer that vs bankruptcy because they can still get some money.

[SpiceIslander]

I'm really sorry to learn of your job loss.

The credit card companies normally won't suspend payments unless you have a payment protection plan.

You can always call though, and explain you situation. They may be willing to work with you. They might stop interest accruing for a specified time.

If you have any available funds, (severance, etc), try to pay at least the minimum on your cards. Failure to do so will, in fact, affect you credit.

Best of luck!

[Kevin86475391]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Not sure if this belongs here, so if not, Moderators, please let me know.

I just found out that I lost my job this morning.  Can I contact my credit card companies to notify them, and can they sort of suspend payment for a month or so (and will this affect my credit)?

I thought I heard that some credit card companies will suspend payment until you find a job, but I could  be wrong; and I surely don't want to ruin my credit, either.

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Oh no, I'm sorry to hear about your job loss and tough financial situation.

My advice would be to carefully calculate all the minimum payments you'll have due as well as all other fixed bills and then compare that to any savings or remaining pay you have coming. How long can you hold out? Or how deep would you already be in? Do you think you can find another job quickly? Do you have a working spouse with steady income? Will you be getting unemployment?

Once you get a firm handle on your situation with some hard numbers to back that up you can figure out how best to proceed with the credit card companies. 0% BT would certainly be beneficial, but bear in mind you'll still have to make minimum payments even on those. Also, obviously a 0% BT offer you already have on an existing card is a preferable option over applying for new credit since it might be pretty tough to get approved with no income.

Your creditors may be willing to work with you and it can't hurt to call and plead your case if it's either that or be late on payments. You may need to be prepared for a situation wherein they close the account, but lower your APR and work out a more affordable payment schedule with you - which of course means you won't be able to rely on the cards for day-to-day spending.

Good luck getting this resolved and finding a new job quickly that meets your needs.

[ojefferyo]

Man that's  really crappy thing to find out. All you can do is call the CCC up and explain your situation and see what options they have for you. 

[Kevin86475391]

One other thing I wanted to add, would you have any way to bring in immediate cash that doesn't involve a job through a third party company? Like as a freelancer or independent contractor? Or maybe as an artisan/artist/crafter of some kind?

There are some jobs out there that you can just immediately start doing if you have the talent/skills/inclination without ever having to get "hired" by a company. You might check sites like Upwork, eLance, or Outsource.com. Or even just Amazon Turk which offers low compensation rates for extremely diverse, low-skilled work, but that you can begin as soon as your account is approved. These may not necessarily be options you'd want to do long-term, but they could help alleviate a short-term cash crunch.