Will negotiating credit card debt hurt my credit score?
Saturday, May 23rd, 2009 at
5:01 pm
I've been unemployed for a couple months, and the credit card payments are starting to hurt.
If I negotiate with the credit card company to reduced my debt or monthly payment, will this somehow hurt my credit score.
I plan on refinancing my mortgage when I get another job, and I don't want my score to be hurt.
Tagged with: credit card company • credit card payments • credit score • job • mortgage
Filed under: Consumer Debt
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The credit card company may POSSIBLY be persuaded into reducing the interest rate which, in turn, will reduce the monthly payment, but they arent going to reduce the amount that you truly owe. If you bought a $600 stereo, there is no reason why you should be allowed to negotiate less than that. If you defaulted on your credit card payments and the debts were sold to a collection agency, you can negotiate with THEM for a smaller amount, but the late payments, the referral to a collection agency, and the payment of less than what's owed will ALL hurt your credit significantly. About all you can do without damaging your credit would be to plead with the credit card companies to lower your interest rates. I kind of doubt they will though since they only care about their own financial well-being. If, by some miracle, they DO decide to reduce your interest rates, they may also require you to surrender the credit card. The account, naturally, stays opened until it is paid-off, but you wont be able to further charge anything onto it. If they're going to agree to take less money, they may require a good faith gesture on your part that you wont take advantage of it and charge new things on your lower interest rate card. Thus, they may cancel your charge abilities.