Credit Card Hardship Program

Lean what a credit card hardship program is & how it works

Oct 1, 2025

Fact checked

Written by Adam McCann

WalletHub Financial Writer

Fact Checked by Alina Comoreanu

WalletHub Senior Researcher

What Is a Credit Card Hardship Program?

A credit card hardship program is an agreement that you enter into with your credit card issuer to temporarily give you relief when you are facing serious financial difficulty. A hardship program can pause your payments or alter the terms of your account to give you a lower interest rate or lower monthly payment. This allows you to stay current on your account and avoid damaging your credit score. In the case of paused payments, a hardship program is also referred to as “forbearance.”

Table of Contents

How Does a Credit Card Hardship Program Work?

A credit card hardship program changes the terms of your credit card account to make it easier for you to pay what you owe, but only for a certain amount of time. The exact amount of time that it will last depends on the severity of your hardship and what agreement you come to with your credit card issuer.

The process of enrolling in and following a hardship program can be broken down into four steps.

You contact your issuer to enroll.

You need to call your credit card issuer and explain why you’re having financial difficulty. Your issuer will likely be willing to work with you because it wants to get paid, and helping you out with a hardship program increases the likelihood that you’ll stay current on your payments and won’t default.

You decide on a certain type of hardship program.

There are several different types of relief you can get with hardship programs. Your credit card company might lower your interest rate, reduce your monthly payments, waive certain fees, or let you defer payments altogether for a set period of time. You might even be able to enroll in a plan that combines more than one of these relief options.

You follow the terms of the hardship program.

Once you and your issuer have come to an agreement on what kind of relief you’ll receive, you need to make sure to follow the terms to the letter. For example:

If you’re allowed to pause your payments for three months, on the fourth month you should make absolutely sure to pay on time (or call well in advance to ask about an extension).
If you receive reduced interest rates or reduced monthly payments for six months, you should make absolutely sure to pay at least the minimum due in full each month.
If you default on your payments even after receiving a hardship program, you’ll hurt your credit score and your issuer will probably be less likely to work with you in the future.

The hardship program ends.

Once your hardship program ends, after a set period determined by your credit card company, your account terms will typically go back to what they were originally. However, there may be cases where your issuer decides to lower your credit limit or close your account completely, according to the credit bureau Experian.

Who Qualifies for a Credit Card Hardship Program?

Anyone facing serious financial hardship that’s making it difficult to make their monthly payments can qualify for a credit card hardship program. Ultimately, it’s up to the credit card issuer whether to accept the request of any individual person. You’ll likely have a better chance of qualifying if you can prove that your difficulty is caused by something out of your control, such as:

Medical issues that leave you unable to work and/or rack up high medical bills
A death in the family that leads to expensive funeral costs or a loss of a secondary income
The loss of your job, reduced hours, or a pay cut
Divorce, leading to the loss of a joint income
A natural disaster that affects your home or workplace
Sudden but necessary expenses like costly car or home repairs

Of course, that’s not an exhaustive list, and whether your individual situation qualifies is your credit card company’s decision. However, it’s a no-brainer that they’ll be more likely to reduce a person’s interest rates for something like medical debt or unemployment than for something like a gambling debt or an irresponsible shopping spree.

Your credit card company might also have other requirements outside of genuine financial hardship. For example, you might need to have a certain credit score or have a history of on-time payments. But everyone’s situation is different, so it’s always worth at least having a conversation with your credit card issuer.

How to Apply for a Credit Card Hardship Program

Applying for a credit card hardship program isn’t particularly difficult, but it requires you to contact your credit card company, share proof of your financial hardship, and negotiate an agreement that works for you. Below, we’ll walk you through all the steps.

1. Make sure you really need it.

Credit card hardship programs are for people who are genuinely struggling to make their monthly payments. In light of that, you should first make sure that a hardship program is the only way to stay current. For example, if cutting unnecessary luxuries out of your budget would allow you to make your monthly payments, then you should simply adjust your spending habits instead.

2. Gather proof.

The more proof you have of your financial hardship, the more likely you are to succeed in negotiations with your issuer. For example, this could be your medical bills, a letter of termination from your employer, court documents proving your divorce, etc.

3. Call your credit card company.

Call the number on the back of your credit card and follow the prompts until you’re able to speak with a representative.

4. Explain your situation.

Tell the representative that you want to stay current on your credit card payments, but financial difficulties are making that impossible. Explain what’s going on in your life and why it has left you unable to stay current on your bills.

5. Work out a solution.

Discuss possible resolutions with your credit card issuer, like pausing your payments for a few months, lowering your interest rate, lowering your monthly payments, or waiving certain fees.

6. Get an agreement in writing.

Once you and the representative have settled on a hardship program that you think will allow you to keep up with your credit card bills, make sure to get the agreement in writing. Your credit card issuer will likely have you sign an agreement anyway.

7. Follow the terms of your hardship program.

Since the terms of your account will have been bent to accommodate your needs, it’s more important now than ever to pay at least the minimum due each month (or to start making payments again on time after a period of forbearance).

If your situation takes a turn for the worse and you’re not able to even abide by the terms of the hardship program, be sure to call your issuer well in advance of your next due date to see if they can help you out even more. You don’t want to surprise them with a missed payment.

Now that you know how to apply for a credit card hardship program, it’s time to take a look at how it will affect you – both the good and the bad.

Does a Credit Card Hardship Program Affect Your Credit Score?

Normally, hardship programs don’t affect your credit score because your account gets reported as “current” just like it would be if you made your payments on time under your original account terms.

Sometimes, lenders will tell the credit bureaus that you’re in a hardship program, according to Experian, but this won’t directly affect your score. It will just be a red flag to creditors if you choose to apply for new credit while you’re in the hardship program.

However, if your credit card company lowers your credit limit or closes your account, that can affect your score negatively. For example, lowering your limit can increase your overall credit utilization ratio, and closing your account can decrease the average age of your accounts, both of which are important components in your credit score. Make sure you ask your issuer whether they will do either one before agreeing to enroll in a hardship program.

Pros and Cons of Credit Card Hardship Programs

Credit card hardship programs are an important tool that generally benefit both cardholders and credit card companies. However, they still come with a few of their own downsides.

Pros of a Credit Card Hardship Program

It helps you stay current: The most important benefit of a credit card hardship program is that it can prevent you from defaulting on your credit card debt by making it easier to pay or temporarily pausing payments. This can prevent you from being marked as late on your credit report and seeing your credit score go down.
It can save you money: In the case of a temporarily reduced interest rate or waved fees, you won’t have to pay some of the expenses that you normally would have to pay. Your credit card company gives up that revenue in exchange for receiving your payments on time, which is a win-win.
It lets you focus on the source of your hardship: Getting relief from your credit card bills allows you to work on paying down other expensive debt, recovering from an illness, finding a new job, or otherwise taking steps to get out of the financial hole you’re in.
It provides emotional relief: Financial hardship is stressful. In addition to monetary relief, credit card hardship programs take one big worry off of the table, which can improve your mental health and reduce stress.

Cons of a Credit Card Hardship Program

It’s temporary. No matter how long your issuer gives you in its hardship program, it’s always going to come to an end at some point. When that happens, you’ll need to be prepared to go back to the original terms of your credit card agreement.
You have to ask for it. Qualifying for a hardship program requires calling up your credit card issuer to negotiate, and often requires you to provide proof of what’s causing your hardship. When you already have a lot going on in your life, that can be difficult.
It can cost you money in the long run: While certain types of hardship programs can save you money, others will cost you. For example, reducing your minimum required payments makes it a lot easier to pay from month to month, but if it’s not paired with an interest rate reduction then you’ll be accruing more interest each month than you would normally. Similarly, if you pause your payments for a certain number of months, you may still accrue interest on your debt in the meantime.
Potential account freeze. As a condition for enrolling you in the credit card hardship program, your credit card company might prevent you from making new purchases on the card until the program ends. They could also lower your credit limit or make you close your account at the conclusion of the program, depending on your situation.

All-in-all, credit card hardship programs do far more good than harm, but it’s still important to know the ways in which they can potentially affect you negatively before you sign up for one.

Alternatives to Credit Card Hardship Programs

Credit card hardship programs are far from the only way to deal with credit card debt. There are plenty of other debt solutions to consider, depending on your situation. They include:

Pay Only the Minimum

You only are required to pay the minimum listed on your credit card statement each month in order to keep your account in good standing. The minimum payment is usually the greater of 1% to 3% of your balance or $15 to $40, depending on the issuer. While only paying the minimum long-term can lead you to rack up a lot of interest, if you can scrape together enough cash to pay it during the months you’re having financial difficulties, you’ll avoid late fees and credit score damage.

Balance Transfer

A balance transfer allows you to move your existing credit card debt to a new credit card, ideally one with an introductory 0% APR on transferred balances. This can give you anywhere from 6 to 24 months to pay off what you owe interest-free. However, this isn’t a good option if you’ve already hurt your credit score by missing payments. Good balance transfer credit cards usually require a credit score of 700+ for approval.

Debt Consolidation Loan

This type of loan is similar to a balance transfer credit card in that it lets you move the debt off your card into a loan with a lower interest rate. You won’t receive an introductory 0% APR, but the APR on the loan could be significantly lower than the one on your credit card.

The best debt consolidation loans offer APRs as low as 7% to 8% right now, which is much cheaper than the average credit card APR of 22.76% for new offers.

Debt Management Program

A debt management program is similar to a hardship program in that it alters the terms of your credit card account. However, rather than being a temporary measure in response to a sudden financial hardship, it’s a more permanent solution to help seriously indebted consumers get debt free.

Like a hardship program, a debt management program might involve lowering interest rates, lowering monthly payments or waiving fees. Participation in a debt management program does get reported to the credit bureaus and can be a red flag to future creditors. Hardship programs may also be reported, but since they are more temporary, this note won’t be on your credit report for as long as it would be with a debt management program.

Debt Settlement

This solution is mostly for people who have already defaulted on their credit card payments for a significant period of time. It involves agreeing to pay part of what you owe in a lump sum while your credit card company forgives the rest.

Debt settlement leads to extensive credit score damage because it generally requires you to be at least 180 days behind on your bill, and it usually also leads to the closure of your credit card account. In other words, this is more of a last-ditch effort to avoid a lawsuit or bankruptcy.

Credit Card Hardship Program FAQ(10 questions)

Editorial and user-generated content on this page is not reviewed or otherwise endorsed by any financial institution. Please keep in mind that it is not a financial institution’s responsibility to ensure all posts and questions are answered.In addition, WalletHub independently collected information for some of the cards on this page.

Upvotes

Is credit card debt relief real?

Chip Lupo, Credit Card Writer

Some forms of credit card debt relief are real, including hardship programs, debt settlement agreements, and transactions like balance transfers and debt consolidation. These things can reduce what you owe or make the payments more manageable, but they won't wipe out your debt completely. There is no government-sponsored credit card debt relief program either, unless you count bankruptcy.

Common Credit Card Debt Relief Programs

Debt management

Also known as a debt management plan, or DMP, this service is commonly offered by nonprofit credit counseling agencies, though you can pursue debt management on your own as well. The objective of the DMP is to come up with a payment plan to pay off your full debt over a predetermined timeframe, usually 3 to 5 years, though the exact length of the program will depend on the amount of debt and the payment amount agreed to in the plan. Certain fees and interest charges may be waived as part of debt management.

Debt settlement

Debt settlement involves negotiating with a credit card issuer to satisfy your debt obligation by only paying a portion of what you owe, usually in one lump-sum payment. You can negotiate with your credit card issuer on your own or find a reputable credit counseling agency to work with the issuer on your behalf. Note that your account usually needs to be in default before you'll even have a chance at a settlement.

If you enter into a debt settlement agreement, it's important to honor the terms until you've completed the program. If you violate any of the terms, such as missing a payment, the issuer may terminate the agreement. This could increase the chances of the issuer suing you to get its money.

Debt Forbearance

Credit card forbearance is a temporary debt relief program credit card issuers offer cardholders with a proven financial hardship. This could include short-term financial difficulties such as job loss, unexpected medical bills, or other circumstances that significantly affect your ability to make credit card payments. It's important to understand that forbearance is not debt forgiveness, but rather a temporary delay in your monthly payments or other accommodations.

You will need to contact your issuer to request enrollment in a forbearance plan and provide documentation of any financial hardship. If you're approved, the issuer will outline the terms of the program, which may include a reduced monthly payment, fee waivers or even reduced interest rates. The issuer may also “freeze” your account while you're enrolled in their forbearance plan.

Most credit card issuers have a separate hardship department, but they don't advertise this service, so it may take some effort on your part to find them. In most cases, you can contact the issuer's customer service department, and they will route your inquiry to their hardship line.

Debt Consolidation

Financial institutions may offer personal loans or balance transfer cards that will allow you to combine your debts into a single monthly payment, presumably at a lower interest rate. While debt consolidation won't reduce the amount of debt you owe, it will simplify your payments and help you get out of debt sooner. Note that you may need at least good credit to qualify or secure the most favorable terms.

Bankruptcy

Bankruptcy can have a devastating effect on your credit, as it will stay on your credit report for 7 to 10 years, so make sure you've considered and ruled out all other options before taking this route. If you do opt for bankruptcy, there are two types that commonly apply to individuals: Chapter 7 and Chapter 13. Your financial situation will determine which type of bankruptcy you should file. It's important to note that bankruptcy may not discharge all your debt, and the bankruptcy courts will ultimately determine how much of your debt gets erased.

For more information, check out our guide to the most common debt solutions.

Upvotes

How can I get a balance transfer fee waived?

Theresa Chalfant, Writer

To get a credit card's balance transfer fee waived, call the card's issuer to ask for a fee waiver, and be prepared to negotiate. A WalletHub survey found that 7% of people who have asked for a balance transfer fee waiver received one. If this does not work, you can avoid needing to waive a balance transfer fee in the first place by getting a credit card that doesn't charge one.

Unfortunately, there's a...

Upvote

How can I get a late fee waived on my credit card?

Ryan P Page, Staff Writer

You can often get a late fee waived on your credit card by simply contacting your credit card's issuer and asking for the fee to be waived. According to a WalletHub survey, 41% of people who've asked a credit card company for a fee waiver were ultimately given one. While there is no guarantee that your credit card issuer will grant your request, calling to ask is worth a try.

How to Get a Credit Card...

Upvotes

Will credit card companies waive interest?

WalletHub

Credit card companies will waive interest on a case-by-case basis, depending on both the credit card company's policies and the cardholder's relationship with the company. Cardholders with a long and positive account history have a better chance of getting interest charges waived, especially if the person doesn't have a history of carrying a balance or asking for fee waivers. However, even the best account history doesn't guarantee that a card issuer will agree to take...

Upvotes

How do I get back on track financially?

Milvionne Chery Copeland, Writer

To get back on track financially, identify how you got off track in the first place, set goals to help you get back on track (like paying off debt), and create a realistic budget to control spending. You should also build an emergency fund to help you avoid getting off track again in the future.

A financial setback such as a costly unexpected expense, losing your job, or even spending way beyond your budget...

Upvotes

What credit card companies lower credit card interest rates?

Elijah Nash, WalletHub Analyst

Most credit card companies are likely to lower your credit card's interest rate if you ask, including Capital One, American Express, Chase, and Bank of America, according to reviews online. However, if you're trying to get a better APR on your credit card, don't take this list to be exhaustive.

Theoretically, you can call any credit card company to ask for a lower interest rate. The worst that could happen is they'll say no. Every card issuer goes by its...

Upvotes

How do you survive financially after job loss?

Milvionne Chery Copeland, Writer

To survive financially after losing your job, apply for unemployment benefits as soon as possible, review your spending to find areas where you can cut back, and adjust to a bare-bones budget. You may also want to contact lenders and service providers to see what options you have if you cannot pay your bill.

Losing your job can be stressful and can set you back financially. However, the tips below can help you manage your...

Upvotes

What are the best ways to save money on a tight budget?

Milvionne Chery Copeland, Writer

Some of the best ways to save money on a tight budget include avoiding impulse buys, using free budgeting tools, comparison shopping, negotiating bills and automating your saving. These steps prevent you from paying more than you have to and help you save money for more important things.

Make a Budget

Best Ways to Save Money on a Tight Budget

1. Avoid impulse purchases

Buying items that you don't need on a whim...

View more answers

Upvotes

What are some budgeting tips to survive a pay cut?

Milvionne Chery Copeland, Writer

To survive a pay cut, you should update your budget to adjust for the drop in income, which will require you to reduce or eliminate certain expenses. You should also use an expense tracker app to monitor your spending and set alerts for when your credit card balance gets too high, since you'll be used to having more money.

You should not stop saving for the future due to a pay cut, however. You should continue...

Upvotes

How do I stop spending money on credit card?

Milvionne Chery Copeland, Writer

To stop spending money on your credit card, you should make a budget and build an emergency fund to prevent overspending and reduce the need to rely on credit cards to make ends meet. You could also use cash or a debit card instead and remove your credit card information from online shopping sites that you frequent.

The average household has more than $10,000 in credit card debt, according to WalletHub's analysis. To stop yourself...

Was this article helpful?

Expert Commentary

WalletHub experts are widely quoted. Contact our media team to schedule an interview.

Important Disclosures

Ad Disclosure: Certain offers that appear on this site originate from paying advertisers. For full transparency, here is a list of our current advertisers.

Advertising impacts how and where offers appear on this site (including, for example, the order in which they appear and their prevalence). At WalletHub we try to present a wide array of offers, but our offers do not represent all financial services companies or products.

Advertising enables WalletHub to provide you proprietary tools, services, and content at no charge. Advertising does not impact WalletHub's editorial content including our best picks, reviews, ratings and opinions. Those are completely independent and not provided, commissioned, or endorsed by any company, as our editors follow a strict editorial policy.

WalletHub is not a financial advisor. Our goal is to provide you with top-notch content, data, and tools. You are responsible for deciding what financial products and providers are best for your needs.

Irrespective of whether an institution or professional is a paid advertiser, the presence of information on WalletHub does not constitute a referral or endorsement of the institution or professional by us or vice versa.

We work hard to show you up-to-date product terms, however, this information does not originate from us and thus, we do not guarantee its accuracy. Actual terms may vary. Before submitting an application, always verify all terms and conditions with the offering institution. Please let us know if you notice any differences.

* The information about the following cards has been independently collected by WalletHub: Boeing Employees Credit Union Low Rate Credit Card, Navy Federal Credit Union Platinum Credit Card, TDECU Platinum Mastercard®, CorTrust Bank CorPlatinum Credit Card, and Edward Jones Business Credit Card.