Halifax overdraft

mookybargirl

I have 2 Halifax accounts with overdrafts and I am using them. I have a review date each year for both. Neither have been reduced or removed to date (touching wood!!). Had one for 2 years and the other for about 4 years.

McKneff

mookybargirl wrote: »

I have 2 Halifax accounts with overdrafts and I am using them. I have a review date each year for both. Neither have been reduced or removed to date (touching wood!!). Had one for 2 years and the other for about 4 years.

You should be getting your letter any day now.
the new accounts come into force early February.
I am lucky that i dont use my overdraft and on reflection i will stay with
the Halifax, no one else is going to give me £60 free money every year.
My Daughter switched from HSBC to Abbey, took them three attempts (and 12 weeks to get the deed done, and then left £500 in the old account which caused more problems.
Totally incompetent. Wouldnt touch them with a barge pole.

Nancy888

I've also had the letter about my Halifax Reward Current Account and on reflection the amount of days that I am in my overdraft - even by a couple of pence I'm going to be better off to pay the monthly charge for the Ultimate Reward CA and so I've upgraded

sazchik

opinions4u wrote: »

You can apply to renew your overdraft now. Online service provides an option on the left hand menu or alternatively ring them on 08457 20 30 40 or head in to a branch.

This will hopefully put your mind at rest on whether the facility will still be available for a further 12 months while you try to improve the situation. I don't think you'll have any problems if your account is well run, your debt is falling and you have other well operated accounts with them.

Well done on trying to bring the debt down.

How much did you owe the day before pay day? I'm trying to understand what the biggest level of overdraft is that you've had in the last month or so. The answer to this could open up a handful of other options for you, either benefiting from possible changes the Halfiax is making to its range, or choosing to move the debt elsewhere.

Also, which account have you got? HICA, URCA, Moneyback or something else?

Before payday we were £3,200 into the overdraft (after payday we were £1000 into it) We have made a lot of cut backs and done a lot of overtime, so far each month after the payday the amount we are overdrawn by has decreased. We have a Moneyback Current Account (laughable as by the sounds of things we are certainly NOT going to get any moneyback once the £2 a day charge comes in!) I had a look on the overdraft section on my online banking as you suggested and it tells me "Guaranteed overdraft available now up to: £2,000.00" Is that a good sign?

opinions4u

sazchik wrote: »

Before payday we were £3,200 into the overdraft (after payday we were £1000 into it) We have made a lot of cut backs and done a lot of overtime, so far each month after the payday the amount we are overdrawn by has decreased.
Keep going. It's always better to owe less!

We have a Moneyback Current Account (laughable as by the sounds of things we are certainly NOT going to get any moneyback once the £2 a day charge comes in!)
I would estimate that the changes in February will make you worse off. Sorry. You are probably paying £16ish a month in interest and this will end up costing you £60 a month, ignoring the 'moneyback' and £5 change.

I had a look on the overdraft section on my online banking as you suggested and it tells me "Guaranteed overdraft available now up to: £2,000.00" Is that a good sign?

Not a good sign at all unfortunately. If they stick to their limit you could be asked to repay £1,200 more or less immediately.

As this is unlikely to be achievable, I would suggest you ring them pretty soon to apply for an extension to your existing limit. Assuming they decline this, you need to ask them to appeal to the underwriters.

They may well agree to do this, but review your limit downwards each month. Obviously there are no guarantees though.

Other options:

1) Take out a loan to repay the overdraft in full, and then operate the account in credit to earn the £5 each month. That way the new account will work better for you.

2) Use a 0% credit card deal to do what I suggest in (1) above. MBNA/Virign are among those who allow you to draw cash. Don't use the card for anything else though and make sure you can repay it before the 0% deal expires.

3) Look to switch your account elsewhere to a bank that will match the necessary overdraft limit. This may not be easy to achieve, so make enquiries before agreeing to credit searches.

Not brilliant, but there may well be ways to work this to your advantage.

unphased

I have received my letter from the Halifax advising me that my moneyback Current Account will be changed to their new Reward Current Account with effect from 8 February 09. I have had a £10,000 arranged o/d limit for several years now and have operated close to the limit because it was cheap money (6.9%AER). On average I was paying £45 per month which ain't bad for that amount. Problem is I am now faced with the new tariff. They are scrapping all interest charges (credit and debit) and instead offering flat rate reward of £5 every month if paying in min £1000.00. However, for an arranged o/d over £2,500 they are imposing a £2.00 per day charge. It reduces to £1.00 per day for less than £2,500. Unarranged o/d will be £5.00 per day.

I am immediately going to lose out because the amount of my monthly charges for the foreseeable future will be £62.00. I cannot reduce this by paying off the o/d in stages because the amount is fixed. This will be offset by a paltry £5 reward. What are the short term actions I can do to rescue myself? The personal loan borrowing rates are horrendous now. 19% typical. Anybody got any ideas?

PS. I have no credit card debts and a personal Egg loan currently stood at £4,250 at £201 per month 9.51% APR. I have no savings. My business account is on a £2000 o/d with an arranged limit of £3,000 and I pay 11.9% on that.

unphased

emweaver wrote: »

for the op overdraft it will be £5 a day its £1 a day if your agreed limist is £2500 or over! That is going to be 1 hefty monthly charge for the OP!


Im sure I read in my leaflet it goes ont he amount of your overdraft allowance and not the amount your overdrawn b y!

Thats not quite correct. Its £1.00 per day for agreed o/d up to £2500. It then rises to £2.00 per day. If you have an unnarranged o/d (you borrow without permission) its a staggering £5 per day!!!

rb10

There seems to be confusion in this thread about the changes that are happening in February. Most accounts will see no change to their overdraft rate. It is only people who have had a letter (i.e. those who are now on the Moneyback account) and those people who open a new Halifax current account (excluding Student Account, Easycash and the child's one, Cardcash) from February onwards.

If you have any current account with Halifax now except for Moneyback, then nothing will change in February. It is expected that sometime later this year you will have a change, but you will be told about that personally nearer the time.

And those people who are now on Moneyback and will pay more under the new scheme can change to the High Interest account or Ultimate Reward account, as long as they do it in January. Then they will be on the 'interest' style of overdraft, rather than the daily charging.

unphased

rb10 wrote: »

There seems to be confusion in this thread about the changes that are happening in February. Most accounts will see no change to their overdraft rate. It is only people who have had a letter (i.e. those who are now on the Moneyback account) and those people who open a new Halifax current account (excluding Student Account, Easycash and the child's one, Cardcash) from February onwards.

If you have any current account with Halifax now except for Moneyback, then nothing will change in February. It is expected that sometime later this year you will have a change, but you will be told about that personally nearer the time.

And those people who are now on Moneyback and will pay more under the new scheme can change to the High Interest account or Ultimate Reward account, as long as they do it in January. Then they will be on the 'interest' style of overdraft, rather than the daily charging.

The downfall with the alternative interest bearing o/d is the rate. 19.5% AER!!! Thats horrendous for an overdraft. Never seen anything like that before. Its almost as bad as a credit card. Seems that the credit crunch is now turning the banks on us to get our debts down.

rb10

unphased wrote: »

The downfall with the alternative interest bearing o/d is the rate. 19.5% AER!!! Thats horrendous for an overdraft. Never seen anything like that before. Its almost as bad as a credit card. Seems that the credit crunch is now turning the banks on us to get our debts down.

No, see the Halifax website: http://www.halifax.co.uk/bankaccounts/interestrates.asp#Current_interest_rates_on_overdrawn_balances

As the people concerned must have paid £1k/month into the Moneyback account, they would do the same into a High Interest account, which would mean they get 15.9% EAR.