I'm new to this forum and looked through to see if I could find an answer to my question before posting, but no luck. I'm hoping someone here can help me. I recently saw a gentleman on TV talking about debt reduction. He advised contacting credit card companies that are charging high interest rates and negotiating a lower rate. He also mentioned that if this strategy fails after several attempts that it may be worth it to request 0% interest under a hardship provision. Today I made the suggested calls, got turned down on the reduction, then mentioned the 0% hardship rate. The "manager" that I was speaking to said they don't offer such a thing. It was my understanding, from the gentleman on TV, that due to the stiffening of the bankruptcy laws the credit card companies were required to make this provision available. Anyone know anything about this? Thank you!
They don't have to deviate from the card Agreement. Some creditors such as Citibank but, most will not.
apexcrsrv - thanks for the reply. I'm baffled. Has anyone ever heard anything like this: (paraphrasing) The credit card companies wanted the bankruptcy laws tightened up. In exchange for toughening up the bankruptcy laws the credit card companies had to agree to a little known provision for consumer hardship. In the provision they would have to allow a consumer, that makes the request, to pay their current balance at 0% APR, but they can report to the credit agencies. Does this sound familiar to ANYONE?
