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You typically can’t pause monthly payments unless you reach an agreement with your credit card issuer. For example, you might be able to pay off your debt with a debt settlement plan or temporarily reduce your payments if you participate in a forbearance program.
However, you should carefully review the terms and conditions of any plan or program offered by your financial institution or a debt relief company. In some cases, taking advantage of an appealing solution now could be more hassle than it’s worth, potentially leading to more .
Potential ways to pause credit card payments
We’ll explain how these common strategies work and whether they can pause your credit card payments.
Debt settlement
Settling your debt is a way to negotiate paying off your debt, typically with a lump sum payment for less than what you owe. On the surface, this seems like a good idea — you pay less than you owe and no longer have to make credit card payments. Your lender also gets some of their money back rather than having to pay a collections agency to get money from you.
There are a few things to be aware of with debt settlement:
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Scams: Some debt settlement or debt relief companies are scammers. Watch out for scammy behavior, such as promising 100% guaranteed debt settlement or forgiveness.
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Cost: You typically have to pay a debt settlement company to negotiate the debt settlement with your financial institution. Depending on the situation, it could get expensive.
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Impact to credit score: Your debt settlement company could recommend that you stop making payments during the settlement process. Missed and late payments appear on your credit report and affect your . In addition, settled accounts are reported by credit bureaus and negatively impact your credit score, remaining on your credit report for seven years.
It’s possible to negotiate with your creditors on your own behalf, without hiring a debt settlement company. If your lenders are willing to negotiate, the result would likely still be a lump sum payment and an impacted credit history.
Verdict: Debt settlement can pause your credit card payments by stopping them altogether.
Forbearance
Forbearance is a temporary change to your credit card agreement offered by some credit card companies. This could involve temporarily suspending your payments, lowering your annual percentage rate (APR), or removing from missed payments.
The concept of credit card forbearance is common, but you can’t typically know if your lender offers these types of programs unless you ask. And even if your lender offers forbearance programs, the terms and conditions vary between lenders.
You could be offered forbearance if a lender reviews your financial situation and determines you’re experiencing financial hardship.
Something to keep in mind with forbearance: Your unpaid balancers could still accrue interest. You might not have to make payments during the forbearance period, but you will have to eventually. You will also likely have to make up any skipped payments.
Verdict: Forbearance can temporarily pause your credit card payments.
Credit card freeze
Freezing your credit card means no new purchases can be made on that card. This is also an effective strategy for blocking unauthorized transactions if your card is lost or stolen.
A credit card freeze doesn’t pausing your credit card bill. If you already owe money on your card, you will still owe that money after a freeze.
Verdict: Credit card freezes can’t pause your credit card payments.
Ways to pay off credit card debt
Consider these debt management strategies to help pay off your credit card debt.
Balance transfer credit card
A lets you transfer existing debt to a new credit card. The new card typically has a 0% intro APR offer on balance transfers, allowing you to avoid interest charges for a cert of time. Most balance transfer cards have a fee of up to 5% of the transferred balance amount.
For example, say you transfer $10,000 to a balance transfer card with a 5% balance transfer fee and a 0% intro APR offer on balance transfers for 18 months. You would have to pay a $500 fee, but your transferred balance wouldn’t ue any interest for 18 months.
That could give you time to pay off your entire balance without worrying about interest. Using a balance transfer calculator can help you determine whether you could save more than $500 on interest for this to be worth it.
Personal loan
A could be a good option to and pay it off.
For instance, if you’re juggling multiple credit card balances, you could use a loan to pay them all off. You would only have one debt to pay off at that point: your debt consolidation loan.
Other than gathering all your debt in one place, a lower interest rate is the biggest perk of using a personal loan to pay off credit card debt. In August 2024, Credit card interest rates were at 21.76%, while two-year personal loans were at 12.33%, according to the .
Budgeting
Learning is an effective way to get out and stay out of debt. Even better, it doesn’t have to cost you anything other than some time and effort.
With a budget, you typically:
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Set goals: Getting out of debt is a solid goal, but you should also have actual numbers and dates in mind. For example, wanting to pay off $20,000 of credit card debt in three years. With concrete numbers, you can start creating weekly, monthly, and annual goals to break your larger goal up and make it more manageable.
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Track your income and : Before you can start budgeting, you need to know how much money is coming in and how much money is going out. We find it’s easy to see all your transactions in one place using your online credit card account.
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Choose a budget: There are plenty of budgeting methods to choose from. The best budgeting strategy is the one that works for you and gets you out of debt, so consider different options and see which one(s) make the most sense. Some popular budgeting techniques include envelope budgeting, , and .
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Make adjustments: As you implement a budgeting plan, don’t forget to make adjustments along the way. After a month or more, you might find there’s more or less room in your budget than you thought. Or, you might have to spend more in your budget during the holiday season and less during other months. Whatever the case is, you can adjust your budget accordingly and keep moving forward.
If you need some help making a budget, consider credit counseling or using a budgeting app.
Debt payoff plans
Two popular debt repayment plans include debt snowball and debt avalanche. Both of these methods aim to pay off your debt completely, but they go about it in slightly different ways
With the debt snowball strategy, you assess all your debts and then pay them off from the lowest to the highest amount. This technique can be motivating because you quickly pay off small debts and have some momentum to move onto your larger debts.
With the debt avalanche strategy, you pay off your debts with the highest interest rates first and move on from there, paying off each debt from highest to lowest interest rate. The debt avalanche method can save you more money than the debt snowball method because you immediately get rid of the highest-interest debt. However, you might not be as motivated because it could take longer.
Note that both strategies focus on paying more than the required minimum payment so you don’t get stuck in a loop of and neverending credit card debt.
Frequently asked questions about pausing credit card payments
What is a credit card hardship program?
Also known as a forbearance program, a credit card hardship program is offered by a lender and can pause your payments, reduce your interest rate, and forgive late fees. Not all credit card companies offer hardship programs and the specific terms can vary by card issuer.
Is it possible to defer credit card payments?
It’s possible to defer credit card payments if your credit card issuer offers a forbearance plan. If your lender offers forbearance, you could negotiate pausing or lowering your payments for a certain period. However, interest can still accrue on any unpaid balance.
Does freezing a credit card hurt your credit?
Freezing your credit card has no direct impact on your credit score. Rather, it’s a way to protect your account from unauthorized charges if your card is lost or stolen. Note that freezing your credit card account doesn’t pause payments. If you had a balance before freezing your account, you will still owe that money.
This article was edited by Rebecca McCracken
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