[Jenlee]

A few years ago, we were streamlining our budget and cutting back wherever we could. We called the national bank who our Visa was held by and asked for any help they could/would give us. THEY offered to put us on a one-year program where they would make our minimum payment 1% of our total instead of the previous 3%. That made a HUGE difference in our monthly budget and in retrospect we could have easily given another % in payment to reduce the debt. They also reduced our rate to 5.9% for that year.

I do not believe that it affected our credit as we were making a payment each month, albeit it a smaller one. The important thing is that it was agreed upon by the bank who issued the Visa. OH, we COULD NOT use the Visa during that year - I don't want to forget that. However, we quit using credit cards before that, so it was no inconvenience to us at all.