How to pay down cards with over limit fees, and too many charges?

[Anonymous]

Hello,

I hope there is someone that can give me some advice. I am new and just signed up for myFico. My new years resolution is to get out of debt and rebuild my credit. I tried looking for threads regading the similar but couldn't find anything so here it goes....

I claimed bankruptcy back in August of 2007. I had the wrong idea of getting a Capital One card to rebuild my credit. Unfortunately in April of 2008 I was laid off from my job and had to stop paying some of my bills till I got another job. I have a new job that I started in June and make more, enough to pay my bills but not all debts in full. I am trying to catch up on all those bills still and don't know what to do, and I am afraid it's going to hurt me even more considering I already claimed bankruptcy. I have problems with my Capital One who charges me about $75 in fees for being over limit and late (limit was $500 over limit $300). I recently made a $215 payment which barley made a dent, even with my large payments I still get dinged ridiculous amounts in fees and charges. I also have a closed account that for some reason was supposed to be included in my bankruptcy but was accidentally missed that I'm still paying on for Imagine who charges me almost $50 in fees (limit was $580.00 over limit by $271.78). Last but not least is my least troubling account, they work with me and I'm hoping to call and see if they can waive some fees on my next payment, they are HSBC for Discover (limit $700 over $261).

Any advice or approaches on how to get these at least under the limits so I can start pay them down? I hope to also get a tax refund this year and plan on dividing it up to all three cards.

Thanks!

[marty56]

 Welcome to the forum.

A Debt Management Program (DMP) will eliminate fees but they will close your cards and I dont think you have enough debt to qualify.  If the companies wont eliminate the fees, you must increase your income to get the balances below the CLs.

You may have to wait for your tax refund to deal with the issue.

[Anonymous]

Thanks, that's what I was thinking. I really want to keep these open. I already had a two point increase today on my fico score from making that $215 payment to CapOne. I guess I need to cut costs on things I don't need and use that money to make payments the best I can and also wait for that tax return which should help. The problem is that I am already lean and mean on needs and wants.

Thanks again!

[mymoneynow]

Calling is a great idea. I recently helped a friend with a WFNNB (Victoria Secret) CC. She was in the same position you are currently in, late fees and over the limit fees were really adding to her acct balance. She felt totally flustered in dealing with the acct. Acct was still with OC, not CA.

We called the creditor and discussed a plan of action- the guy was very nice to her, very understanding of her job situation- she was laid off, then found another job, just not paying as much as job #1.

She asked if the late fees and over the limit fees could be deleted on the account. He told her if she could set up a repayment plan, to pay every two weeks, he could set the account to delete the fees each time she made a payment. Then once the acct was up to date,(2 months), she would be back on the regular payment cycle.

She set up payments of $110. every two weeks for 2 months, she is finishing up with this payment schedule next week. BTW, she got him to send her an email stating what he claimed he would do about the fees. She has viewed the account online every two weeks and the fees are all being deleted, and her account has been updated to current since the first payment! 

I was shocked at how easy this was to work out. She had been a customer for 6 years without a late payment until recently. She is going to keep paying on time and 6 mos down the road, start sending GW letters.

Good luck, just call and see if they will help you try to work this out similar to the one above. 

[Anonymous]

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@mymoneynow wrote:

Calling is a great idea. I recently helped a friend with a WFNNB (Victoria Secret) CC. She was in the same position you are currently in, late fees and over the limit fees were really adding to her acct balance. She felt totally flustered in dealing with the acct. Acct was still with OC, not CA.

We called the creditor and discussed a plan of action- the guy was very nice to her, very understanding of her job situation- she was laid off, then found another job, just not paying as much as job #1.

She asked if the late fees and over the limit fees could be deleted on the account. He told her if she could set up a repayment plan, to pay every two weeks, he could set the account to delete the fees each time she made a payment. Then once the acct was up to date,(2 months), she would be back on the regular payment cycle.

She set up payments of $110. Every two weeks for 2 months, she is finishing up with this payment schedule next week. BTW, she got him to send her an email stating what he claimed he would do about the fees. She has viewed the account online every two weeks and the fees are all being deleted, and her account has been updated to current since the first payment! 

I was shocked at how easy this was to work out. She had been a customer for 6 years without a late payment until recently. She is going to keep paying on time and 6 mos down the road, start sending GW letters.

Good luck, just call and see if they will help you try to work this out similar to the one above. 

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That's good to hear, very comforting. I'll give it a shot, I already made payments on my cards for this month, but around the end of the month (I only get paid monthly) I'll give them a call and see what I can't do. CapOne is the hardest, they always want to do large amounts in a short time frame, but I'll see what I can't do with all three.

Thanks again!

[mymoneynow]

Crap One is still a thorn in my side! They are the only acct giving me a derogatory remark on myfico. I paid the CO several years ago before I knew about PFD or this site. I have old lates showing up but accts are marked now paid or paid as agreed, except for Crap One-reading Derog on all three reports.

If you do not get any positive results from them, keep calling until you get a csr with a heart. That has helped some on this site. 

Persistance will succeed! Please keep us posted on your results after the end of the month.

[Anonymous]

Will do!

Thanks again, and I will be persistent and stay strong no matter how unhelpful they get.

[Anonymous]

I have 2 accounts w/capital 1 and I was only making min payments on each account and I was being charged $39 over limit fees every month because I was over my credit limit. I actually called capital 1 and ask them to waive my over limit fees and they did it for 3 months for each account which saved me a total of  $234. I made sure that I kept my balance well below the credit limit. Just give them a call it won't hurt.GL

[Anonymous]

If you are hoping for a tax refund, you may be pre-paying too much in taxes.

Study your potential tax liability the best you can for 2009. Change your payroll withholding and/or estimated tax payments and send it to Cap One instead.  Review it later in the year too. Don't give the Gov't a free loan when you are paying interest, penalties, late fees etc. You used to be able to owe the IRS up to $500 at tax payment time without penalties, now I think it is $1000 but check it out for yourself.

[Anonymous]

Good news, I am on a roll and wanted to update you all. I called CapOne today, they waived the over limit fee, all I did was ask and made a $50 payment! I am hoping to write them for a better offer. My Imagine card sent me an offer in the mail, no interest, no fees, to pay down my card for 6 months!!! All I had to do was make the payment of $52.00 by a certain due date and I did. I want to see if I can get CapOne to do the same thing.