Next account payment help

[lilyd]

A friend of mine has run up a bit of debt on her Next account and it's worrying her. I don't really want to lend her the money to pay it off for a couple of reasons, but only out of concern for preserving our friendship!

Anyway, Next gift cards can be used to pay account balances & she still has credit remaining on her account.

I was thinking of suggesting she buys herself gift vouchers using her account and then pays her balance with them. When her statement is produced, it will show her account as being fully paid from the previous month, but with new purchases of the gift card amount.

When she gets her new statement, she could pay what she could afford from her bank account, then buy herself another gift card for the remaining balance and do the same.

Her balance would only reduce by the amount she had actually paid off, but by doing the gift card thing she wouldn't be paying interest.

Am I missing something? It seems like a complicated, yet simple way of avoiding paying interest on the account if she can't afford to pay much off a month.

Any thoughts? I haven't mentioned it to her yet, think her debt is in the region of 5-600.

 

[kimmyttcno3]

I didn't think you could buy gift vouchers with your card x

 

[lilyd]

I've bought them on my account before for gifts x

 

[suzib76]

She would be better paying what she could afford rather than getting caught up in a vicious cycle of robbing peter to pay paul.

 

[R_x]

Couldn't she return some items if she can't afford to pay for them? X

 

[Yo_Yo]

It's not really a long term solution to the problem though. She needs to find a proper way of paying it off. The only way to do that is by paying with real money.

Hope she sorts it soon.

 

[lilyd]

She is paying it, but only about £5 more than the minimum payment each month. I know my way wasn't ideal, it would just mean that anything she did pay would come off of her balance rather than lose a lot of it to interest.

I may just lend her the money, but it becomes difficult to take it back when I know things are tight.

 

[QueenMummyToBe]

I know she is a friend but I wouldn't lend her the money
If she is paying the minimum then it will go down eventually and
if she paid the same amount each month (the minimum payment
obviously gets lower the less you owe) then it will get paid off quicker.

By her doing this she will learn not to run up so much debt in the
future as it takes so long to pay off.. if you lend her the money she
isn't getting the same lesson & it could make things awkward.

xx

 

[Eternal]

I really don't think it's avoid idea to pay for gift cards to pay the bill, she could easily end up in a much bigger mess. She should just pay what she can afford, of things are a struggle she can call and tell them she is struggling and they may agree to freeze interest.

 

[// arcadia]

An acc with £600 odd to pay the minimum payment would be around £50/60 and the interest about £8 .. Really she just needs to pay it off each month it'l soon go down if she doesn't purchase anymore.

 

[R_x]

An acc with £600 odd to pay the minimum payment would be around £50/60 and the interest about £8 .. Really she just needs to pay it off each month it'l soon go down if she doesn't purchase anymore.

Was going to say this. She must be paying more then £5 that's just for a small spend.
Also I wouldn't lend her the money, she might just do it again or even not pay you back x

 

[Yo_Yo]

An acc with £600 odd to pay the minimum payment would be around £50/60 and the interest about £8 .. Really she just needs to pay it off each month it'l soon go down if she doesn't purchase anymore.

Was going to say this. She must be paying more then £5 that's just for a small spend.
Also I wouldn't lend her the money, she might just do it again or even not pay you back x

I agree-she doesn't sound the best with money. I too was at one point, I had to learn to dig myself out if that hole. I learned my lesson this way though, so I'm glad I did.
Had someone just handed me the money like that, I may not have used it to pay the debt of and I certainly wouldn't have taught me I needed to learn to budget.
It could spoil your friendship if money came between it honey.

 

[lilyd]

Thanks everyone.

They don't have much money, but budget pretty well. I honestly think that this has come about because she has been a bit low recently and was just buying things for the kids to make herself feel better. I think it is freaking her out as she is used to having little money, but not used to having debt. She said the interest rate was something like 29%, I didn't bother to question the figures, but assumed the interest would be more than £8.

It has happened over period of a few months, nothing is returnable.

I have decided not to lend her the money as I really don't want things to be awkward, but will possibly give her some money instead of a present for her birthday next month so she can pay a bit off if she wants.

 

[Yo_Yo]

Thanks everyone.

They don't have much money, but budget pretty well. I honestly think that this has come about because she has been a bit low recently and was just buying things for the kids to make herself feel better. I think it is freaking her out as she is used to having little money, but not used to having debt. She said the interest rate was something like 29%, I didn't bother to question the figures, but assumed the interest would be more than £8.

It has happened over period of a few months, nothing is returnable.

I have decided not to lend her the money as I really don't want things to be awkward, but will possibly give her some money instead of a present for her birthday next month so she can pay a bit off if she wants.

Aww bless her I used to spend as retail therapy too. It's great until you get the bill. She will get through it.

Just wanted to say, I think your doing the right thing not giving her the money. It's a tough position to be in as a friend

 

[lhancock90]

I think she needs to contact Next. explain the issue and work out an affordable repayment schedule. x