Maybe a dumb question about credit cards

[Janetdoe]

This is the first month ever I've missed my credit card payments. I was advised to stop them and save that money. Should I call the companies and tell them I can't pay or just don't pay and no call? Is a credit card payment deferral a thing? I wondered if I should request that. I thought one of my cards mentioned something to that effect.

[LadyInTheRed]

I suppose some cc's might offer a deferral, but I have yet to hear of it. I tried to get cc's to lower my interest rates from 21%+ to something reasonable so that I could afford the payments. If they had done that, I would probably still be struggling to pay them off. They did me a favor by refusing and helping me discover that I needed to file BK.

I wouldn't bother calling them. They'll start calling you soon enough. When they do, tell them you can't pay right now, are working on a solution to your finances and will know more in a month or two. That helped slow down calls for me, but didn't stop them. I wouldn't tell them you plan to file BK. That may cause them to move more quickly to sue you and force you to file BK sooner than you plan to.

[Janetdoe]

Thank you so much! I don't know how I would do this without all your advice! Thats exactly what I will say. I hate talking on the phone so I'll save myself the anxiety and not give them a heads up to sue me. I figured the best they will probably do is lower my interest rate which still won't help because I'm not paying them anything.