Negative consequences from requesting COVID assistance from Discover, Amex, Wells Fargo?

[Superduper2014]

I have been reading that you can call your credit card company and ask if they would help with your minimum payment or increase your credit line. 

Any of you know what "help" they provide with the upcoming payments? 

Also, if you call them and say you may need help with the payment etc, wouldn't that make them reconsider your credit lines and may even backfire and they would reduce them or close the account? 

If they were to offer skip payements and late fees, I wonder how would they report that to the bureaus. 

I remember back in 2008 that banks were reducing credit lines without having been contacted at all by the customer so and I am thinking this may be the case again and worse. 

Any thoughts? If there is no negative consequence from just calling and asking for help, I need to do this.

THanks

is a negative consequence from calling Cards and asking for forbearance etc. Would they impact credit.

[Stralem]

There might be some repercussions. Amex, for example, is widely reported to be freezing the accounts of people who ask for Covid assistance. But I think the question you should really be asking is this: Does having a credit line slashed or frozen really matter if the issue at hand is losing your income? Keeping a roof over your head and food on the table should be a higher priority, I think.

[longtimelurker]

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@Stralem wrote:

There might be some repercussions. Amex, for example, is widely reported to be freezing the accounts of people who ask for Covid assistance. But I think the question you should really be asking is this: Does having a credit line slashed or frozen really matter if the issue at hand is losing your income? Keeping a roof over your head and food on the table should be a higher priority, I think.

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Right, and because of the possibilities of negatives down the road, I would suggest only asking for such assistance when really needed, i.e. not treating it like many here do a CLI or APR reduction request

[AverageJoesCredit]

No matter what is implied here , there is absolutely nothing wrong asking for apr reductions. In good times, apr reductions are available by certain lenders and if you never ask you will never receive. In bad times, it can be even more vital.  

Op, if you need help , ask for it.  

[longtimelurker]

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@AverageJoesCredit wrote:

No matter what is implied here , there is absolutely nothing wrong asking for apr reductions. In good times, apr reductions are available by certain lenders and if you never ask you will never receive. In bad times, it can be even more vital.  

Op, if you need help , ask for it.  

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I wasn't saying (here anyway!) don't ask for APR reductions.   I was saying ask for "special" Covid help only if needed as such requests might have an impact later on.     Generally here people ask for an APR reduction more or less as a perk for being a good customer, not because, at that moment, they fear they would be unable to pay at the current rate.   So the issuer doesn't have negative feelings about those sort of interactions.   Whereas, outside of COVID, you may be able to enter into arrangements if you cannot pay, but these certainly have negative impacts.

And as we all said, if you need help, ask for it.

[kdm31091]

Your financial well being and paying your bills are much more important than worrying about possible negative consequences from requesting assitance. It is what it is; if you need the help ask for it.

[Superduper2014]

Thanks for the concerns and suggestions. 

I do have a credit card with wells fargo that has an APR promo expiring April 14th and I would like to pay it off completely to avoid the high interest rate that will kick in. But obviously since we don't know for sure what the future holds now that we are under this threat of COVID19, I would want to see about maybe getting wells fargo to extend the promo and I would still make the payments monthly instead of using a large amount of cash that could come in handy if lenders all of a sudden decide to decrease limits and close accounts due to a larger economic downturn. 

Before I started calling around, I wanted to get your opinion on what these lenders do in case you call in asking for help. 

Even asking to extend the promotion APR seems to me like a redflag, but I might just do it anyways since it is not as bad as saying you can't pay anymore. But who knows for sure how they will react to these requests. They are not forced by law to do anything. 

Treading carefully over here. 

[tussking]

I have been through several natural disasters in Florida and NEVER has assistance affected my credit report or history.

[Anonymous]

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@longtimelurker wrote:

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@Stralem wrote:

There might be some repercussions. Amex, for example, is widely reported to be freezing the accounts of people who ask for Covid assistance. But I think the question you should really be asking is this: Does having a credit line slashed or frozen really matter if the issue at hand is losing your income? Keeping a roof over your head and food on the table should be a higher priority, I think.

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Right, and because of the possibilities of negatives down the road, I would suggest only asking for such assistance when really needed, i.e. not treating it like many here do a CLI or APR reduction request

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I agree.  I'm seeing some posts here by people just trying to see how this tragedy can help them.  The help is for those affected and there is no shame in that.

[Anonymous]

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@Superduper2014 wrote:

Thanks for the concerns and suggestions. 

I do have a credit card with wells fargo that has an APR promo expiring April 14th and I would like to pay it off completely to avoid the high interest rate that will kick in. But obviously since we don't know for sure what the future holds now that we are under this threat of COVID19, I would want to see about maybe getting wells fargo to extend the promo and I would still make the payments monthly instead of using a large amount of cash that could come in handy if lenders all of a sudden decide to decrease limits and close accounts due to a larger economic downturn. 

Before I started calling around, I wanted to get your opinion on what these lenders do in case you call in asking for help. 

Even asking to extend the promotion APR seems to me like a redflag, but I might just do it anyways since it is not as bad as saying you can't pay anymore. But who knows for sure how they will react to these requests. They are not forced by law to do anything. 

Treading carefully over here. 

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Weight the risks vs. benefits of asking for help considering your situation. You are not in dire straits right now, that could change or it may not at all. Also consider hybrid strategies where you do not need to call them, such as paying it halfway down and paying interest on the other half, paying 75% of it, etc., based on what you feel your risk is. Of course, if things take a turn for the worst,  a CLD or anything else is the least of your concerns.