HELP Student Overdraft

BobHope_3

As I was unemployed at the time and the employment prospects in my local area were and had been terrible for a while, I decided to relocate to London to find employment and could start saving for the future and get debt free, so what savings I had I was using for a deposit and 1st months rent on a flat in London to find employment. So when I rung the agency I explained that I couldn’t afford much at the moment and what my plans where and agreed to pay £30 for now to show willing and they would be in touch.

Then in October after my move the agency phoned me to agreed a payment plan, I explained that I was starting employment on the Monday 17th and discussed what my income was going to be and they asked if I could pay back £100 per month at the start of every month, I said I couldn’t really afford £100 a month but the women was very persist ion and said I need to be paying £100 a month to avoid any interest so I ended up in a Verbal Agreement that I more or less forced into and she decided the 1st of every month as the payment date, that would be reviewed after two months.

On Tuesday I realised that the payment date (1st Nov) was looming, so I called the agency to get some advice basically explaining that I couldn’t afford £100 on the 1st Nov and asked if I could pay £50 this Friday 28th and next Friday 5th thus be the full £100 amount, explained that I had rent and house bills, credit card, food and travel to work to pay for in my budget and I could fax them a breakdown if they wanted, the women was very nasty, basically said it doesn’t matter because I had an agreement for £100 on the 1st and it has to be kept and said I should ring my other creditors first.

I explained that they would receive the £100 but asked if it could be over the two paydays but she basically ferreted me by saying I would be fined £28 for breaking an agreed and they would start charging a higher interest also they would register me for a default notice. I tried to reason with her but they was no give and I said I would call back on Friday with as much as I could afford. She also informed me that interest would be £5 for this month thus making the payment £105, which is the first I’ve heard about this and she also mentioned when they reviewed the payment in two months they would be seeking a higher payment and this £100 was basically a good will on there behave, never of which hadn’t been mentioned before.

If anybody as any advice, on what to do to avoid any charges and action this month and if I would be untitled to a lower monthly payments whilst I get myself back on my feet maybe £10 per week for now. Any advice at all is appreciated.

Shadowplay_2

Hi,

I might have missed something here but:

what agency? has the overdraft been passed on?

also you could post up all you Incomings and Out-goings so people can give you advise on where to save a little more money from, to add to the debt repayments.

Shadow

skintchick

I'm confused also.

BobHope_3

Its with Retail Bank Collections Agency. What are you also confused about I wrote that thread late at night and was tired.

Monthly Incomings
£956.88 After tax

Monthly Outgoings:- £933.50 Approx
Rent £500
Travel To Work £100 (£25 a week zone 1-3)
STUDENT OVERDRAFT £105
Halifax Credit Card £52
Littlewoods £40
Bills approx £71.50
(BT Call Plan Option2 £15.50 (+) free evening and weekend calls, billed on daytime calls try to come keep minium)
Internet £12
TV License £11
Water, Electricity, Gas etc £35 bills approx only received the phonebill so far!
Capital One Card £21
Shopping Essentials (food) £30
Contact Lens Cleaner and lens £12

Eager_Elephant

Hi BobHope,

You're not from Emmerdale are you?

No seriously, you appear to be missing a few things from your SOA:

Food - £30 per month - what are you eating is this supposed to be £30 per week?
Xmas/Birthdays - do you not buy anything for anyone?
Emergency Money
Clothes
Haircut
Entertainment/Going out.

I know that by adding in the above it will not leave enough for your minimum payments but that is not a problem because an excess after bills should be pro rated between your creditors.

How much do you owe on the Overdraft?
What about the other Credit cards?
What about the APR?

I think that any contact you have with any creditors should always be done in writing, that way you can explain clearly and concisely what it is you need to tell them and you won't be bullied into paying more than you can afford.

I'm not sure how legitimate them adding charges on like that is?

What we need to do is draw up a good SOA and then you need to write to the collection agency and send it recorded post.

So if you can answer the above questions then we'll go from there.

EE

BobHope_3

Hello, No not from Emmerdale LOL, I’m a Lancashire lad so not far away!

Sorry with the Statement I meant £30 per week (£120 a month) on food my heads confused trying to sort all this out.

I ain`t been socialising or buying anything other than essentials for a month now can’t afford it, it really gets you down especially when you worked all week and want to go to pictures or go for a meal, Gutted that I`ve had to turn down the chance for tickets to watch my beloved Blackburn Rovers tomorrow at Chelsea because my funds are all tied up, But not to worry about that, I`m trying to sort this now and can try to enjoy Christmas.

I owe £729 on the overdraft exactly; this is my what I am currently trying to sort because £105 per month (interest included) is too much at the moment but when I phoned them the lady wasn’t very understanding and try to frighten me with talk of default notices, higher interest added and a £28 fine for breaking an agreement (verbal).

I was making the agency aware and keeping them updated with the current situation that I may not be able to afford the full payments by the 1st Nov and asked if I could pay £50 over two next two weeks (28th Oct and 5th Nov) which would be still crippling at this moment in time.

I explained I could supply a SOA with a full financial breakdown but she wasn’t interested and said it didn’t matter as I have an agreement with them and also said this agreement was a goodwill guesture on there behalf and after Decembers payment they are going to review the situation and she basically said I would need I much higher monthly payment, (Im having visions of £150+ after December) As I say she wasn’t very helpful and was quite nasty.

I have a couple of other debts with cards. One with Little woods, which I have agreed to pay at £40 a month at 0% interest and to be fair they have been superb.

I owe Halifax One Credit card £2500 I borrowed money from the card for a deposit for getting a flat when I moved, rent in London is quite high even in North London Zone 3, but at least I`m earning and have opportunities down here.

I owe Capital One £200. But have kept up payments and paid October.

Ive kept on top of the card payments missed one Halifax but that’s it, moving away has cost me a lot of money and have just started to earn two weeks ago for first time in a while and need time to get on my feet and clear these debts, this is my first step on the road to being debt free.

Hope this information helps better than the pervious two threads, this is quite a massive step talking about to people but also nice to get it off my chest.

Thanks for help so far!

Bobby

BRFC Mark Hughes Blue and White Army

Karnam

BobHope wrote:

I owe Halifax One Credit card £2500 I borrowed money from the card for a deposit for getting a flat when I moved, rent in London is quite high even in North London Zone 3, but at least I`m earning and have opportunities down here.

North London Zone 3 is quite expensive. I lived in Finchley road and it was horrific, i could only afford to live there cause of subsidised student rent. £125 for one person is also horrific per week. You can rent in the east end or the south (zone 3+) very very cheaply. A one bed room in Mile End for example costs around £50 a week including ultilities. But these are all simply renting ONE room in a landlord's house.

£125 might be brill for a studio, but I would recommend renting one room from a landlord for super cheap.

Eager_Elephant

Hi again,

So based on the figures given your SOA will look something like this:

Income - £956.88

Expenditure

Rent - £500
Travel - £100
Telephone - £19 (to allow for a few calls and VAT)
Internet - £12
Tv Licence - £11
Water - £10
Gas - £15
Elec - £15
Groceries - £120
Contact Lens - £12
Xmas/Bdays - £10
Entertainment - £30
Emergency - £20
Clothes - £20
Haircuts - £5

Total - £899

Debts

Total Min Payment
OD £729 £105
Littlewoods ? £40
Halifax £2500 £52
Capital One £200 £21

Deficit - £161.44

This is the kind of complete SOA that your creditors are looking for.

Well what can you do about the deficit, you need to either increase income, decrease expenditure or preferably both.

It is better to have things like entertainment and clothes in your budget as you can't deprive yourself for however long it takes to get debt free so allowing a little each month will hopefully stop big splurges.

I have guesstimated your water, gas and elec. Could you ring the suppliers and ask to start paying by DD, I'm worried you might get a shock when the bills arrive.

I take it that your rent includes Council Tax, which leads nicely on to the rent expense. Your rent is more than half your take home pay. Could you do what another poster said and rent a room instead of a flat/house. Maybe just for six months or so until you have cleared some debt? Or are you tied into a tenancy?

Your income; is that for a full month? You have been with the company 2 weeks, when are you due a payrise? Is there overtime available? What are your future prospects for the next year? Can you take on a second job such as bar work or working in a supermarket of a weekend or evening?

Really what you should do is offer pro-rata to everyone but I don't think Halifax will take this well as I presume this is quite new.
What I do is pay my credit cards the minimum required then pro-rata the rest between my other creditors.

This is not what CAB, CCCS or Payplan would recommend but it works for me.

As the OD is not your highest debt then they should not expect more than Halifax who you owe 3 x more to.

Again I advise you not to contact the collection agents by phone, they will bully you in to paying more. They will always say they can't accept lower as they work to a script and can't deviate from it.

I suggest you write to them recorded delivery enclosing your SOA and using some of the words from the letters posted here:
http://boards.fool.co.uk/Message.asp?mid=6576213

I suggest you offer them about £30 per month. I know that amount is not available but hopefully you can start saving money on other things although admitedly your SOA is tight.

EE

BobHope_3

Hi cheers for the advice, the Littlewoods is just over £3000 also, but I have agreed payments of £40 a month interest free.

With the rent Im afraid im fix into a 6month agreement on the rent but will review it after the 6months.

With my job I have chance of being made permanment, during the interview it was said that they would access the situation and how im fitting within 4-6 weeks of me starting and if I get made permanment I will be on £17500 a year which I am hopeful about as it seems to be goin well.

I was also thinking of some weekend work and am going to start searching ASAP.

Do you know where I stand with relation to the £100 the Retails Collection Agency want for the OD on Nov 1st, will I be liable to interest charges, fines and a default notice if I dont pay the full amount?

I think Im going to look into Payplan.

Thanks
Bobby