Trying to avoid getting in trouble!

Pete_Brisl

Hey guys my first post on this site...

I went to uni 5 yrs ago, took a bank account with an overdraft of £1000. Then quit at the end of term. Then first week of the next term I extended it by £400, they assumed I was still at uni.

Now 5 years down the line I am still £1400 overdrawn (don't ask i am terrible with money) but I am seriously worried this will catch up with me, and/or hamper my attempts at getting other financial institutions to trust me.

I wrote a hand written letter about 3 months ago, just stating i was no longer attending university and wanted to know what to do about my account. i posted it by hand to my local branch but never heard anything,

What shall I do next?? I was thinking of applying for a loan, maybe from another bank, but I am guessing I will have to tell them I have a student account from another bank. obviously asking my bank for a loan they would question me

emma396

is it still interest free? are you able to pay some money off of it each month? say £50 per month? has the bank contacted you asking you to repay?

Pete_Brisl

yes interest free

i have just lined up a job, but won't get paid for a month or so, but I should have a bit coming in, so I guess yes i could do £50 a month

no the bank just send me my statements as normal...so far

CLAPTON

Well, I will ask...why are you terrible with money
what exactly do you mean by that?

Your first priority is to either learn to deal with money properly or develop mechanisms to cope

Learning to deal with money include learning to budget properly, learning to plan your finances, learning to save for things you want to buy/do in the future.

Coping mechanisms essentially mean gettting help from others... so give your entire income to your mother/father or partner and ask them to pay your essential bills, start paying off the debt, give you a little spending money (when it's gone it's gone), cut up all CC and debit cards etc.


with a new job starting its an excellent time to start.

wheelel

It sounds quite odd to me that the bank haven't realised that you're still not a Student. My bank definitely knows the date of my graduation and have already started talking about how I'm going to have to repay it - they're pretty hot on it. Once I was a few days late paying in my Student Loan and they started to get a bit shirty... I'm amazed that your bank hasn't noticed that you haven't put a student loan in for 5 years!!

I don't really think you've done that much wrong really. You were dishonest when you applied to increase your overdraft by £400, but realistically, since then, you haven't done anything about it because you haven't been asked to. I'm assuming when you applied for the student overdraft in the first place they asked you how long your course was? They should definitely have written to you by now.

I think the thing to do now is just be totally honest. Don't write to the bank, go in and see them. You sound like you're quite worried about this, and it would be good for you to get it all of your chest. Sort out a manageable repayment plan with them, and then you might not need to get a loan.

You've been within your agreed limit for the last 5 years, so really you haven't done anything that irresponsible financially. It's not all the bank's fault, you really should have come to them sooner, but I think they will probably have to take some responsibility here for not noticing.

Once you get it all sorted you;ll be free to start again, and I'm no expert, but I don't think it should harm your credit rating too badly.

Pete_Brisl

I would go an tell them but I am worried they will whack on 4-5 years interest for the time I am not eligible for 0%.


Maybe because I started working and they always had money going in and out, or maybe they just don't have checks.

It would be interesting to speak to someone who works for the bank, but privately obviously

wheelel

I thought they normally check that a payment from 'Student Loans Co' goes in, because that's the only way they can really verify that you're still entitled to the 0%.

If you were working you'd obviously be putting a lot more into the account, I just can't believe that they never picked up on it!

Pete_Brisl

I have paid in between 800-1000 a month for all this time, but I really struggle to save hence not ever paying it off, but I guess you just get used to it. What's even worse is my mum paid it off for my 21st, and i spent it again.

I guess I could just pay it off gradually myself say £50 a month, but it would take me 28 months, and I am worried they would catch up with me by then. I looked into taking out a credit card to pay it off, but I think they all charge for withdrawing cash...any ideas?

or do you think I could maybe be ultra sneaky and say they violated the T+C's by letting me have the account and therefore I owe them nothing, like on that recent panorama program?!?

Pete_Brisl

Sorry I didn't see you post before...

I am bad with money because (I could justify it) but I basically live beyond my means. I like to go out a lot, and when i have money I just spend it. I do pay my own rent and phone bill, but whatever I have I spend.

Giving it to my mother may be a good idea, but I guess I should really learnt myself. I think it is hard to break a habbit of living beyond your means, although due to my circumstances recently I have been living very cheaply so I just need to try and carry that on once I have money.

CLAPTON wrote: »

Well, I will ask...why are you terrible with money
what exactly do you mean by that?

Your first priority is to either learn to deal with money properly or develop mechanisms to cope

Learning to deal with money include learning to budget properly, learning to plan your finances, learning to save for things you want to buy/do in the future.

Coping mechanisms essentially mean gettting help from others... so give your entire income to your mother/father or partner and ask them to pay your essential bills, start paying off the debt, give you a little spending money (when it's gone it's gone), cut up all CC and debit cards etc.


with a new job starting its an excellent time to start.

moneysavingallday

There's no need for you to tell your bank you dropped out of university when you did. You haven't really done anything that wrong. Just start to seriously pay down the overdraft now.

Sharon87

Put any extra money you have in a savings account, that way you can't access it whilst you're out. Either that or I would open a different bank account to live out of, then pay what you can afford into your overdraft, this way it will seem like you are getting somewhere as you can see it decreasing.