I missed a payment, so what?
Day to day living is expensive! Sometimes there doesn’t seem to be enough coming in to cover the outgoings. Inflation is beginning to kick in and the cost of your weekly grocery bill is increasing. There may have been no increase in your pay packet, or worse your income has been affected by lockdowns and other covid impacts. Interest rates are beginning to go up and if you have not locked into the long-term interest rates you may find that you need to divert more money to loan repayments which may put a squeeze on the money you have for your other expenses.
There are many different reasons for finding that your finances are tight, and you may not be able to pay all your bills when they are due. How do you decide what to pay? What if you just ignore the bills? What are the consequences?
Mortgages, loans, credit cards, utility and telco bills all get registered on your credit report. The agencies that you have the credit with record whether you pay your bills and loans on time, or if you are late with your payments.
If you are looking to get a loan or are seeking any form of credit the lenders will check your credit report and will also check your account conduct. Um, what do they mean by account conduct? A lot of questions, and again we are talking about all things that the lenders look at. That very invasive process. We may not make any judgements on the ways you use your money, but you can be sure that Lenders do!!
If you go over your credit card, or overdraft limit, the lenders judge! If you are late with your payments on your telco, utility bills, credit cards or any of your lending facilities the banks will judge!
So, what can you do about it?
If you think you are going to be short of funds and not be able to make your payments on time or to be able to pay the full amount you are best to call and let the company know and make a payment arrangement. If you meet the payment arrangement you may not be considered to be late with your payments. Don’t feel embarrassed about making the call, it is so worthwhile to have the conversation before you miss a payment.
Prioritise your payments to your Rates, as these take a higher priority than your mortgage. Then your mortgage payments, personal loans and credit cards.
If you think you are going to miss a payment of any of your accounts seek assistance and get ahead of the problem. Once you start missing payments then lenders that may be able to help you become more resistant to providing support. They don’t want to provide credit, even if it will clearly put you in a better financial position, if you have shown you miss payments.
If you have missed payments you might be feeling pretty stressed now! Don’t panic. There are lenders out there that do provide support to people that find themselves in positions of hardship.
It can take some time to find solutions so as soon as you think there may be a problem PLEASE reach out for support. We will work with you to figure out a way forward. Financial hardship happens. We won’t judge you; we know how it goes. We are here to help. Send us an email or book an appointment with Elise at the Calendly link at the bottom of the page.