Why did you not pay off the card when they first increased the interest rate? You knew the starting interest rate. You borrowed on it. It was your responsibility to borrow within your means. If you are on a low wage you should never pay the minimum amount on a credit account - you should only ever be using it to spread payments over two or three months (unless the interest rate is low).

Hi Lou

You have to decide what you want out of this. It is quite correct that MBNA expect you to pay their charges. MBNA will not reduce/cancel their interest unless you can demonstrate to them that you really are struggling; and that they believe you!

You options are basically:

- come to an agreement with 1 or more of your credit card debt companies to pay a reduced amount. Show them what you earn, what your outgoings are, and therefore what you can afford to pay to all your credit card companies. Make sure that you are reasonable in all of this. You should be aiming to agree a monthly amount for a period of time (2+ years etc.) afterwhich the debt is cleared. Note that if you do this then your credit reference file will be affected.

- basically declare bankruptcy - this option is possible if you have no funds [to lose!] and are not lookng for a mortgage for some; and do not own, say, a house. It would affect your credit reference file substantially and probably for a period of 6-7 years. You would also not be able to have a standard bank account. It this is a 'liveable' option then, you this is the stick you beat your credit card creditors with to get a reasonable deal in the first option.

- carry on as you are. When you can pay a little bit extra off. Debts like this, especially with MBNA where you only pay an extra £5 off after interest, go down very slowly, but if you pay extra off (and keep the monthly payment about the same), then as you pay it off, the speed of the debt reduction will increase.

Overall, you need to be reasonable. You presumably have had the benefit of the £8,000 and walked into the agreements freely. You cannot expect your creditors to change their terms and conditions too easily. Continue talking them and they will probably agree to something reasonable. Always remember to pay the extra money (if available) to the credit card that charges the highest interest rate first.

Good luck.

been re