My mother, who is batshit crazy, actually gave me some really good useful advice once. I pass it on to you.
She told me, that when money is tight and you simply do not have enough to spread around all the love you need to, it’s better to make a tiny payment than nothing. Even if you paid each utility $20 and half the rent, then everybody gets something and you’ve shown good faith, so that has been less likely to hurt your credit score as much as if you’d paid 100% of the rent, but let the utilities go. This advice was given with the caveat that you have to call the debtor first, explain what you have, and negotiate a payment. It’s easier and less expensive for creditors to work with you than it is to kick you to the credit collection agencies.
I do not know, with the current economic climate, if this advice is still any good. But I would get on the phone and weigh late fees/penalties against credit card interest, make some more calls, do some math… then decide. Often it’s less expensive to take a late fee on a utility than it is to let the power go out and then pay a huge fee to reconnect.
I think i am missing somehting… if you were living payday to payday and are STILL several months behind on bills, how does adding interest (via a credit card) actually help in the long run?
Calling the payees and explaining the situation is, I agree, a remarkably helpful option.
The power company and whatnot would be thrilled if all the customers they had with trouble paying their bills actually called them up, explained the situation, and explained how they wanted to pay them off. Believe me, I’ve worked with the folks in those departments and that would be better than most of the folks who are late on their bill, who don’t call, don’t explain anything, deny getting the bill, claim the bill’s wrong because the meter is broke, go months without paying blah blah blah. A customer who calls and explains the situation is a paragon of virtue and fiscal prudence as compared to the crap they deal with on a daily basis.