It’s no secret COVID-19 has taken an economic toll, and with so many people out of work, credit card debt has spiked. A new survey indicates 47 percent of American adults are carrying credit card debt. That’s about 120,000,000 people, and that’s up 43 percent from early March. The reality is that it’s become a lot harder to make ends meet and people are turning to their credit cards. So, we’re turning to Lee Kendrick, a credit expert in the founder of credit u-turn, for some help on managing that debt.
The best advice used to be, don’t use your credit cards, but now, if you have to you got to do what you’ve got to do. A few months in and people are already skipping their payments to make ends meet. What should you do? Should you go to the credit card issuer first and ask for a break? If you have to, absolutely, and that holds true for mortgage lenders as well as automotive lenders. Don’t procrastinate reach out to them immediately!
You typically do have some options. Forbearance or deferment. But, what’s the difference between the two? Which is more favorable? For the most part, when it comes to credit card lenders, forbearance really isn’t the same as it is for student loan borrowers and some other loans. However, due to the Cares Act, there is a forbearance clause within that legislation, so whenever you reach out to your credit card vendors, you need to make sure that you understand whether or not they’re talking about a deferment option or a forbearance option. When you enter into the forbearance, you’re still responsible for repaying accumulating interest as well as potential other fees that they’re charging. The difference between the two is simply that deferment is always your better option because normally don’t have to pay additional fees, as well as additional accumulating interest charges. Forbearance is usually a very short-term option, and often leads into other financial quizzes, such as whether or not you’re actually capable of repayment. This could potentially cause them to lower your credit limits. Forbearance does one have more of an impact on your credit score because any time that you’re accumulating those additional fees and interest, that can actually affect your utilization ratios as those balances increase. But, here’s the other problem: credit card companies are slashing credit cards limits, with no warning to you. So, you need to be proactive whenever it comes to that.
One of the first things that we recommend is to look at what all of your available options are. What are your own resources? Do you have money that you would normally reserved for investment strategies, whether it’s your 401K, IRA, or in stocks, bonds, or even just have a family member or you’ve got a relationship with? A lender that can help you pay down those balances? Whenever you pay down those balances, you’re eliminating your the risk to those credit card vendors and those credit card vendors are less likely to lower your credit limits. Why? Because you are able to pay those balances down and you’re demonstrating that the current pandemic is not affecting you.