*sigh* About to give up

skintbex

Very tempted to file for bankruptcy, but I don't want to lose my flat or job (I work with finance)

Over the last couple of years, I've taken advice form CCCS and others.

My main bills are paid on time - I have no mortgage, council tax or utility arrears, and my internet/cable is running a month late.... :rolleyes:

I have negotiated small token payments to most of my creditors except one who went straight to CCJ and are now trying to get a charging order on my flat (for approx £1000 - HOW petty??? :mad: )

Every month, I pay my bills and scrape through living on the expenses I get from work (I have to drive a lot for work), and my very small food budget.

I do have 2 'luxuries' without which I would go mad - the gym and cinema which in total cost £26 a month. I take these out of my food budget and live on student diet...

Couple of weeks ago, I had to get some money to pay upfront to travel for work (last minute, no time to claim an advance) My account went over it's limit and the bank have charged me £70 - two card use fees, with another £28 going on at the end of the month for going over my limit! I know I shouldn't have gone over but I had little choice - payments were received late from work and I couldn't replenish.

Anyway, to my problem. I had a reducing overdraft (this is NatWest brw) as I hadn't used the account dfor ages, and I kept getting the £28 charge every month as I initially went £9 over my limit.....I was paying back the excess at £26 a month. Now I've defaulted, they have taken that facility away and I am currently owing them nearly £200!!!

Luckily, my expenses go into a building society account but at the moment, my phone and cinema bill needs paying and I can't put any money in my current account because it will be swallowed up! I can't pay the bills as my BS account had no DD or debit card facility. When I do get paid next month, that £200 is more than I allow myself for food and petrol so I will starve and probably not meet all of my bills - I'm trying very hard to stay on top of what I can and this feels like a kick in the teeth!

I rang NatWest last week and the branch said I had to speak to the collections centre. I did and the man I spoke to was so rude! As well as telling me I shouldn't buy what I couldn't afford, when I asked if he suggested I just stay in every day and not go out or see anyone, he said yes! If I couldn't afford to go out I shouldn't... :mad:
I explained I had no money to eat for the rest of the month and he just said it was my own fault for spending money I didn't have!!!!! I know that !!!!!!!!!!
When I asked for an address to write to (I have one now) he refused, saying there was no way the bank would deal with me now and the only thing I could do was go to CAB. Not that possible when it's completely overstretched...all I wanted the bank to do was take the charges off!!!!

I believe this chap has breached parts of the Banking Code (by refusing to give me an address for a start) and also the CCCS and other charity guidelines over what is acceptable to live on.

I need to send a stinking letter of complaint to the bank, quoting the bits about me being a hardship case, but not sure of the best way of doing it or what to say that means I may actually get heard!!!

Can anyone help me?????

Bargainfinder_3

Just wanted to say that he sounds awful, and I hope that your complaint gets heard.

No-one has any right to judge, and I think you are doing SO well to stay on top of things as it's not easy. I can totally sympathise with the work situation as OH often gets shoved into these circumstances. We have started a £10 month emergency fund incase he has to do this- it usually works.

Keep your chin up and keep on fighting, I'm sure you'll get there; and I'm sure there'll be more people along with more useful advice!

Bf x

boredofbeingathome

Why not post a SOA and see if there is any way we can help.
A couple of things off the top of my head..
Daily clicks for vouchers for treats
sign up for freebies these also include cinema tickets and look at free DVD rentals..you can cut your expenditure a lot and still have fun.

bank_of_slate

Hi skintbex!
You can do the cinema for free if you join https://www.seefilmfirst.com and check each day for codes on http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=606589

Many of the tickets available are for 2 people and for films that aren't even released yet!
my hubby and son will be going to see the new HellBoy 2 tonight for free thanks to this!
...Linda xx

GeorgeUK

I'm afraid i've no idea about how to deal with the hardship issue. I have heard that a few banks are ignoring the waiver and people are still having to go through the FOS though.

Have you tried reclaiming all your bank and creditcard charges from the last 6 years? (They'd probably just go towards your existing debts, but it may help).
Have you looked at your council tax banding to make sure you are in the right one?
Have you been missold an endowment?
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/

Also - if any of your debts are with a DCA, have you requested copies of the credit agreement?

Edit: Also regarding the charging order. If you have not defaulted on the CCJ payment then they should you should defend against the charging order. There have been a number of threads recently where CO's have been issued.

crazyhaggid

I know how you feel, when I was a student the bank of scotland passed my overdraft to the collections department rather than re-newing it. (It turned out the idiot in the branch had sent the email request to general banking not student banking)

My account was instantly frozen and I was left penny less, the collections phoned me constantly asking me to borrow money off of friends and family to pay it back. When they asked me how the account was funded I told them my next loan payment was due next month. To which they replied "that will pay off some of the overdraft", "but I need that money to live on, to buy food and for rent" I said
"not our problem" was their reply!

skintbex

GeorgeUK wrote: »

I'm afraid i've no idea about how to deal with the hardship issue. I have heard that a few banks are ignoring the waiver and people are still having to go through the FOS though.

Have you tried reclaiming all your bank and creditcard charges from the last 6 years? (They'd probably just go towards your existing debts, but it may help).
Have you looked at your council tax banding to make sure you are in the right one?
Have you been missold an endowment?
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/

Also - if any of your debts are with a DCA, have you requested copies of the credit agreement?

Edit: Also regarding the charging order. If you have not defaulted on the CCJ payment then they should you should defend against the charging order. There have been a number of threads recently where CO's have been issued.

Have reclaimed all charges up to about a year ago. They messed that up too! Can try to reclaim again bu they won't pay it back for months!
Council tax banding is correct
No debts with DCA yet
No endowment
Cinema card on 12 month contract and besides £12 a month to watch all the films every month is a good deal! Under normal circumstances I could afford it!

As for the charging order - despite sending an income and expenditure sheet to the court, they judged I should pay the total amount in ine go! I have to go back to court to ask that I pay instalments (which I'm still paying) and to defend the charging order.

Argh this is hopeless!!! DOesn't matter how hard I try, I can't seem to get out!!!