How To Get Credit Card Debt Relief During COVID-19

If you have credit card debt, here’s what you can do to keep bill collectors at bay.

Paying credit card debt may have been difficult before. Paying it now, however, may be impossible if you’ve lost your job or income from the coronavirus shutdown.

Could stimulus checks or unemployment benefits from the government make it easier to pay your credit card bills? Sure, but you may not qualify for those benefits, or you may be waiting a while to collect them.

For this reason, you’ll need to reach out to your creditors to keep your debt as manageable as possible, and to keep your credit score protected.

Why You Should Contact Creditors

Although some credit card companies may be more lenient right now, they probably won’t reach out to you to provide relief. Instead, you’ll have to initiate contact to explain any payment problems you’re having.

What happens if you ignore your bills? You could make your debt grow even larger via late fees, penalties, higher interest, and more.

Also, your credit score could take a hit, which would make your future expenses and the cost of securing any loans or credit even higher.

Relief Options Being Offered by Creditors in Response to COVID-19

Credit card issuers need to make money now more than ever. Since consumer spending is decreased due to loss of employment or income, it’s in an issuer’s best interest to negotiate with cardholders. How can they do this? By offering relief via:

• Postponements or new payment dates
• Skipped payments
• Lower monthly payments
• Higher credit limits
• Lowering interest rates temporarily
• Waiving interest charges or late fees

Is everyone eligible for these forms of credit card relief? No, as some companies are offering them on a case-by-case basis.

It’s also important to realize that some of these moves are temporary, and may only last for one to three months. In short, you’ll be expected to pay regularly as soon as everything gets back to normal.

Steps to Get Short-Term Credit Card Relief

As mentioned, you’ll need to contact the credit card issuer to get relief. And it’s best to do this before you miss any payments and they start contacting you.

Here are some simple steps to follow:

• Figure out which form of relief would be most helpful to your situation (waived fees, new due dates, higher credit limits, etc.)
• Have any documentation regarding job or income loss handy.
• Call your issuer. You can find the phone number on the back of your credit card.
• Be honest about your situation and ask what your options are.
• If possible, get any agreement or changes to your bill in writing.

While making these moves may not cancel your debts, they should give you some breathing room to get your finances in order.

Credit Card Relief Scams

Con artists are using COVID-19 to their advantage. Beware of any phone calls, texts, or emails you receive from scammers pretending to be credit card companies. Keep your personal information safe by contacting your card issuer directly.