If you’ve decided to tackle your debt, or rather were forced to face reality, because you are spread so thin that you are having a hard time just paying the bills, it’s time to call your credit card companies and talk with them about what’s going on. 

Don’t just ghost your creditors. If you don’t make a payment, your credit score will be worse off. Plus you’ll wind up with those annoying collection calls. 

You’ve got to face the music here – be proactive about your situation and call your creditors as soon as there’s an issue.

Be proactive about your situation and call your creditors as soon as there’s an issue.

Did you know you can ask them to move your payment due date? You can also request to skip a payment as a one-time assistance option. These options are helpful, but if you’re running into an issue and fooling yourself by saying “It’s just a timing thing. I just need a month to catch up.”, I’ve got news for you- the problem runs deeper than you think. 

Not a Single Step Solution

Dive in with me here and check out the other posts that can guide you toward a more abundant money situation, starting with step 1. 

If you’re committed and willing to do whatever it takes so that you’re never in this position again, I’m not only going to guide you through calling your creditors in this post, but you also need to be building a starter emergency fund (link) and pulling your credit report (link) in order to come up with an overall financial strategy to dig out of this hole.

If you’re struggling to make the minimum payments on your credit while juggling the other bills like rent/mortgage payments, daycare costs, utilities, and groceries, I totally understand and get it 100%, because I came from there too. But you’ve got to stop the madness and claw your way to a better financial position.

Be Your Own Advocate

I know you can do this because I did, while supporting a growing family, avoiding bankruptcy, credit counseling / consolidation agencies, and without a 100K per year income – all things you might think you need to change your situation. 

If you’re anything like me, I immediately start googling what I should do or solutions to ____. 

Be warned, there’s a lot of junk out there. Most google results you get on these subjects will be super brief, unhelpful articles that refer you to a consolidation agency or debt settlement company. 

You are your own advocate and you have to watch your own back.  If you wind up on one of those websites or on the phone and you start to realize that some how you’ve gotten tricked into this, don’t give them any personal information, and especially not your social security number. 

Things to Avoid

Credit counseling agencies, debt consolidation programs, and bankruptcy are all things I looked into when I was in panic mode, only to find out how little help they provide and how expensive they were. Think about it, those people gotta make money too, how do you think they make it? Hmmm. 

Not only do these programs ruin your credit (even though they say they won’t!), you’re bound in an agreement to them and suddenly are required to make the payments directly to the agency. 

They wanted my minimum payment to be more than the total of my credit card minimums added together. 

Um, hello? I said I’m having trouble making the minimum payments over here! I refused to give them my social or any personal information and quickly said never-mind and hung up.

Yeah. Not an option. So, instead you’re going to funnel your money strategically where it belongs – to pay off your credit. 

But you’re totally lost and have no clue how money works? 

That’s why you’re here!

I’m so happy you found this page because you’re going to get a little financial education and have all the tools to manage your money. You just keep reading and stick with me through this series, and you’re going to be a debt free, investment owning, emergency fund having rockstar shortly.

You’re Strong, Mom.

When everything hit the fan in my own life, the total of our monthly required minimum payments on credit cards was about $800. Plus we had a car payment and the other living expenses I listed above. It was completely insane and I was in full panic mode. 

This is where I want you to summon every ounce of rationality and calm calculated action that exists in your soul and commit to figuring this out. 

You need drive. You need to get angry about why you’re here and use this whole experience as fuel for your path forward. You need to promise yourself you’ll quit making the daily decisions that allow you to perpetuate the problem. You need to trim expenses and establish a baby rainy day fund (link) and call your credit card companies simultaneously.

Don’t panic, but this is an “all hands on deck” situation. While it’s not an emergency, it’s extremely urgent. You have to be intentional with this – you aren’t going to accidentally be debt free or rich one day. 

What To Do

First of all, you need to pull your credit so you can get the real numbers & status of your debts. You’re not going to focus on your credit score here, you’re only going to focus on who you owe what and get your list together of balances, minimum payments, etc. and make sure you have the usernames & passwords to all of your accounts. 

Now that you have done the leg work to gather all of this, it may be easy to see why you’re struggling just covering the minimum payments. There’s probably a lot going on there – we’re only focusing on items that are “current” right now. 

In this case, current means anything not in collections. If you have debts in collections (they will be toward the bottom your credit report- items with balances listed after your “current” items, but before any zero balance items), you likely haven’t been making payments on those anyway so we are going to leave them there until later in your financial journey. 

For now, you’re looking at the top few creditors- those accounts that you’ve been making payments on (or trying to) and using lately. 

Whether you’ve missed a payment (or a few) already, or  you’ve been able to keep it paid until now, you’re going to select the credit cards with the largest minimum payments, regardless of the balance and call them to have it lowered. 

For example, if you have 5 credit cards and two of them have a $30 minimum payment each month, one has a $40 minimum payment, and then the next two are up around the $80 or higher range, then you’re going to call those two high ones. 

Figure out where the big jump is, draw the line at that value, and call all of the creditors who’s minimum payment is higher than that. If you decide that the line is at $50, then call any who require more. I remember having a few that were between $120 and $200, it’s no wonder that I couldn’t afford them!

It’s having these high monthly commitments plus living expenses that just blows the bank roll every month. From here on out, you’ve got to concentrate on avoiding additional monthly bills at all costs. Here’s a new rule for you to begin living by:

Just because you can afford the payment, does not mean you can afford the item.

The Conversation

Call the number on the back of the card, and while keeping your emotions in check, gently and sweetly explain your situation and that you are not able to cover the required minimum payment. Don’t yell, give them attitude, or be rude – you’re requesting their help here, remember?

It’s your job to appeal to that person on the other end of the line and persuade them that you’re temporarily in a rough spot financially, and for a short period, you’d like your account adjusted. 

You may be able to get your minimum payment reduced, your interest lowered, and even the payment due date moved to make it easier on you. 

Remember that this is a request and a negotiation. You don’t need to become best friends. Realize that they probably have a script they have to stick to and that the first person you get on the phone may not have the authority to adjust your account. 

You may have to tell your (true) sob story again and again until you get transferred to the right person – one who actually has the power to edit the terms of your account. 

I said something like this to the first person who answered my call until I got transferred to the manager, and then went into further detail. 

“Hi, I need to speak to someone about my account. I’m currently going through a rough time, am unable to make the minimum payment, and would like to see about making some arrangements.”

It always helps to have had a smudge free, long history with the creditor you are requesting help from, so if that’s the case, point this out. Explain the details of the situation. It’s possible something that happened like a job loss, maternity leave, car accident, medical situation, etc. occurred in the past 6 months which contributed you you being in this situation. 

Tell them about it. Request details about a forbearance or hardship program. Tell them you’re following a plan to get your finances in order and your looking for a job or whatever – just make sure it’s the truth. I’m not advocating for you making up stories or lying. 

Just Worry About Yourself

Maybe you haven’t even told your friends what’s really going on because you’re embarrassed, but remember that you don’t know the person you’re talking to and that you don’t have any mutual friends- so you’re totally off the hook here. So don’t worry about what they think! You can spill the beans and not be ashamed. 

At the same time, keep in mind that (sorry this sounds harsh, but) they don’t actually care. They just need to document enough to prove that you actually qualify for the account modifications you’re requesting. 

Did you know you can request a lower minimum credit card payment and / or a reduced interest rate?

Ask for the interest rate reduction and the minimum payment adjustment. Negotiate for an interest rate at or near 0%, a postponed minimum payment, a new minimum payment of only 10% of the balance after the distress period is passed –  shoot for the moon! 

The worst they can say is no, they will likely agree to one of these options, and you may even get lucky and get all your wishes granted!

But I’m So Embarrassed

I’ve said this before, but remember the numbers don’t define you. They define your past behavior and you’re working on that. Focus on the big picture – reducing your debts and increasing your cash flow so that we can dig out of this hole and explore investing together!

Keep in mind if you hate asking for help and just can’t bear the thought of doing this, get over it. Pick up that phone and do it. Dial that number and work with that person on the other end. You’ll be happy you faced your fear when you start to feel the relief and notice that you can actually cover all of your bills, largely because these payments got reduced. 

In my experience, I had over 10 credit cards that were all completely maxed out (my full story here), so I had several phone calls to make. Discover wouldn’t budge on my account but sent me a $100 gift card. You better believe I cried when I opened that envelope – I suddenly had grocery money!

When I called Am-Ex, wow were they helpful! They reduced my interest rate from double digits. down to 2%, and drastically cut my minimum payment from over $100 to about $30. I had to agree to allow them to freeze my account and internally mark it to symbolize that we were in distress. 

It was this or ruin my credit worse by missing payments, so I willingly agreed. Which reiterates a point I made earlier – we aren’t going to worry about your credit score here. If your credit is so maxed out and you’ve been missing payments or are about to be, you were on the verge of ruining your credit yourself anyway. 

So, if they need to categorize your account a certain way in order to reduce the terms, so be it. Accept the help with open arms, gratitude, and utter appreciation that you have the opportunity to negotiate with this person.Be proud that you took control of the situation, and appreciative of the results you achieved. 

Chase and Bank of America also reduced my minimums and moved my payment due dates to be more in line with my hubs’ pay-dates. Yes, it’s annoying to repeat what’s going on over and over again with each phone call and each manager they transfer you to, but it’s totally worth it! 

When it’s All Said and Done

If you get even two payments reduced by $20-$50, that reduction can totally cover another cards’s minimum. Boom shack-a lack-a! You just covered all your payments! I’m so proud of you!

Now, continue looking for ways to earn extra cash (post coming soon!) so you can pay down debts faster, be very conscious of your spending habits so you don’t dig yourself in any deeper, and work to establish your starter emergency fund as fast as possible. 

You’ve accomplished SO much already! Refer back to that dream of what you really want out of this life and vividly picture yourself living out your goals. What will your life look like when this is all paid off? Keep that movie playing in your mind and keep going!