Credit Card Debt

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  1. #21

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    It's quite possible that the credit card limit was well below HK$100,000. If the OP ran the debt up a couple of years ago and then simply didn't pay anything for the last two or three years then the initial credit limit might have only been H$40-50,000. My impression is that 2-3 months salary is quite normal here if that salary is going into the card issuing bank.


  2. #22

    Actually, my CC limit was 80k. But because I couldn't make the minimum payment of 2k, they slapped on 20k and asked me to pay 8k right away. When I told them I don't have that kind of money...they just kept calling everyday.

    After I start work, I will have enough to pay off the minimum over 4 - 6 year period. But if they won't let me pay it off and want me to come up with a lump sum payment...I am considering not even working and just bailing.

    I don't want to do anything illegal just to accommodate their request. I'd rather work hard and pay it off on a set schedule.

    A


  3. #23

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    Assuming the interest is 30% the minimum payment of 2K per month is just the interest.


  4. #24

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    The interest on HSBC cards is about 31.8% APR at the moment. So to pay the debt off over 4-6 years you will need to be paying quite a lot more than HK$2K per month (somewhere nearer $4K/month). Although I guess HSBC would be happy for you to just pay the interest for ever without ever paying off the debt.


  5. #25

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    Quote Originally Posted by allenskhuang:
    I can finally pay the minimum...but now they jacked up the debt by 50% for no reason and they require a $45,000 HKD initial payment and $10,000 HKD monthly.
    It is an unfortunate situation you are in, but just this statement gives me the impression you should try to get professional help understanding how credit cards work.

    I recently had a family member in a very similar situation as you. He was helpless how to solve the situation, had not properly read the fine print, accumulated his debts by paying only the minimum for years, and did not interpret the warning signs from the bank the way he should have.
    His situation seemed hopeless when he finally asked us for help, but we personally went down to the bank (in his case several banks), laid everything open and worked out a tough but manageable payment scheme over the next few years. The account manager was firm, but there are ways to talk to them. I would never even try this over the phone.

  6. #26

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    It seems to me that the obvious thing to do is to borrow money elsewhere at lower interest rate (for example, I can borrow 200,000 at BEA at 4.9% a year), and pay back the credit card, since the credit card has 31.8% interest a year. Probably if you keep the debt on the credit card you can keep paying 2,000/month for the rest of your life, and never see your debt decreasing. Aren't there companies in HK that specialise in lending money to people who have cc debts? There is one that keeps advertising on the KCR. I don't remember the name now.

    And yes, trying to discuss this over the phone is a waste of time.

    As mjk said, ask someone (a friend) who knows how credit cards work (and all the other options available) to help you out.

    Last edited by Safran; 16-05-2009 at 02:05 PM.

  7. #27

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    Quote Originally Posted by Safran:
    It seems to me that the obvious thing to do is to borrow money elsewhere at lower interest rate (for example, I can borrow 200,000 at BEA at 4.9% a year), and pay back the credit card, since the credit card has 31.8% interest a year. Probably if you keep the debt on the credit card you can keep paying 2,000/month for the rest of your life, and never see your debt decreasing. Aren't there companies in HK that specialise in lending money to people who have cc debts? There is one that keeps advertising on the KCR. I don't remember the name now.

    And yes, trying to discuss this over the phone is a waste of time.

    As mjk said, ask someone (a friend) who knows how credit cards work (and all the other options available) to help you out.

    I agree that this is probably the most viable option, and I am sure there will be some credit loan companies like Prime Credit or Promise who seems to do a lot of credit repayment plans.

    But overall I think PDLM makes most sense in this argument that the OP is probably leaving out certain crucial info. First of all I highly doubt that 100k debt was built up from after the OP's job loss. Unless he was out of work for like half a year. Most likely he had debts on his cards from even before he lost his job and did not pay his card bills and gradually the interest does mout up.

    And a bank will not just hand over the case to a debt collection agency if it was not serious because that means losing more money on and so I assume that wahe last option.

    I am guessing (n fact, pretty certain), that this "nice person" as the OP self-proclaimed racked up a huge debt then ignored all letters, phone calls from the bank to avoid repayment then obviously the bank is going to seek alternative methods of recovering their money.

    So I think its quite clear the the problem because is the OP, and there is no need to bash on the bank and their employees, cos they probably spent the last few months trying to reach him with no luck. So I think its normal that the staff was frustrated and raged. Also they handed the casd to the debt collection agency so i suppose they had already made them the first point of contact so really you should have contacted them.
    Last edited by eddiew888; 16-05-2009 at 04:03 PM.

  8. #28

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    eddiew888, same feeling here...

    Good luck to the OP--wish you could get a lower interest loan ASAP to pay off this credit card debt first...

    Last edited by OZTOHK; 16-05-2009 at 11:00 PM.

  9. #29

    Thanks.

    Many of you mentioned to go to the office in person. Would anyone have the address I should go to?

    It's not the local branch I assume...or can I just go to a local branch to deal with this issue?

    A


  10. #30

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    Yes - i would go to the local branch. They should be responsible for your account.


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