Persistent Debt: What Is It And How You Can Pay It Back

A Brief Insight into Persistent Debt

So you have received a letter from the credit card company that has the word ‘debt’ mentioned in it. You might be a bit surprised or confused. But, persistent debt isn’t actually a debt. If you pay more in interest and charges than the actual balance amount then it is called persistent debt.

Your persistent debt is calculated on the basis of your credit card activity for about 18 months. Although persistent debt isn’t that dangerous it can make your finances difficult to manage in the future.

The minimum payments that you make are actually the interest and the charges of the credit card. You can then potentially lessen your credit card balance faster by making greater payments every month. Consequently, you can take your card out of persistent debt.

How to Collect Debt?

According to the rules, every credit card company has to inform you when they feel your card is under persistent debt. Moreover, your card company also needs to get certain information from you about the debt.

  • They need to know if you can repay back more of the loan every month.

  • Your credit card company wants you to learn about all the methods that you can use to repay the loan amount. This is crucial as you can get to know the various options that are open for you.

  • They also want to warn you of the various consequences that you can face if you still keep making low repayments.

Your card company is simply following rules and wants you to avoid any debt-related issue.

What Happens When You Don’t Increase the Payments?

If you keep making minimum payments on your card it won’t immediately affect your credit card account or its performance. The company will now constantly contact you urging you to increase the payments. In case you fail to do it they would take certain actions. They might either reduce the interest rate or can even go to the extent of suspending your account.

However, some card companies increase the minimum payment to take customers out of persistent debt. Credit card providers update the terms and conditions of the minimum payments. In case your card provider does it, you’ll get to know.

After 18 months
So you have spent more on interest than on the actual balance of the card for 18 months. Now, your credit company will contact you informing that you are in persistent debt. Also, they will suggest you some methods. So, if you follow them you can successfully get your card out of this debt within the next 18 months.
After 27 months
If you still act on making the minimum payment your card provider will contact you again. They will then suggest ways to get rid of the persistent debt on your credit card.
After 36 months

After the completion of 36 months, if your card is still not out of persistent debt, they’ll give you two options:

  1. They will offer you an affordable payment plan which would help you remove the debt faster.

  2. They can provide you a credit product like a loan to let you clear the entire debt.

In case you fail to repay the debt within a few years, they will suspend your credit card.

How Do You Get Your Card Out of Persistent Debt?

There are some easy ways by which you can take your card out of persistent debt. Here’s what you must do:

Talk to Your Credit Card Company
The first thing that you must do is to approach your card company and talk to them. They might also call off the interest and charges on your credit card for the time being. You might also be considering shifting the persistent debt as a loan on another bank. Hence, it is important that you let the card provider know about this.
Avoid Using the Card and Raise Monthly Payments
The most effective way to remove a persistent debt is to stop using the card for any further purchases. At the same time, you must increase the minimum payments. This will then automatically reduce the balance of your credit card.
Explore Ways to Repay the Debt
There are multiple ways using which you can successfully pay back the debt on your credit card. You can even consider shifting the persistent debt to another credit card that is comparatively affordable and cheaper. Alternately, you check your budget and make some monthly savings to pay off the debt faster.

Here’s How You Can Repay Persistent Debt

To successfully pay off the persistent debt you must first take a look at your budget. Then, go through all of your expenses and try to figure out where you can save some money. Once you finalize on the monthly savings you can follow any one of the methods to pay back the debt-money:

Pay a Fixed Amount Every Month
To repay the debt you need to first decide on an amount that is slightly above the minimum payment. Now, you must keep paying this amount every month until the loan is repaid.
Pay the Minimum Amount Along With a Fixed Amount Each Month
This is another method to repay the persistent loan amount. All you have to do is to pay an additional fixed amount each month apart from the minimum amount. Paying an extra amount each month can make a huge difference in the long run.
Go for a One-off Additional Payment When Possible
Whenever you can afford some extra money you can make an additional payment to the card company. However, you will have to keep paying the minimum amount every month as per the contract.

To sum up, persistent debt doesn’t do much damage to your financial life. But it can potentially affect your credit ratings in the future. This can lead to more serious problems later on. Hence, you must always make sure to repay your persistent debt within the permissible time.

Talk To Our Experts

The Step Change | All Rights Reserved.

Free and Impartial Debt Advice is Also Available From: Money Advice Service

thestepchange.com is an independent marketing website which acts as an introducer to 'whole of market' companies who offer specialist Independent Financial Advice.

thestepchange.com are not authorised to give advice and we are not liable for any financial advice provided by, or obtained through a third party. The information published on this website is for information purposes only.

All obligation arrangements ought to be deliberately considered. thestepchange.com is allowed to utilize yet on the off chance that you enter an Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA) or Debt Management Plan with one of our approved intermediaries, at that point expenses will apply and these are clarified by their consultants or in the documentation you get. By going into an obligation arrangement may put you further into back payments. You reserve the option to a chilling time of 14 days.

Terms and Conditions | Privacy Policy

Disclaimer: Results may vary from person to person so please speak to an advisor who will go through all of your options.

This website www.thestepchange.com is in no way related to Step Change Debt Charity or approved by the Government. However, the product (IVA) which we specialise in, is processed and managed by Insolvency Practitioners under the following legislation: The Insolvency Act of 1986 (amended by the Insolvency Act 2000 and the Enterprise Act 2002) introduced a new procedure whereby a debtor could come to an arrangement with his/her creditors to pay his/her debts in full or in part over time as an alternative to bankruptcy. The Insolvency Service, an independent government agency, has produced a guidance leaflet on dealing with your creditors. In some cases and with some debt solutions a proportion of debt can be written off. The amount written off will depend on your circumstances, income, level of affordability, assets and the current write-off policy of your creditors.

Request Call Back