Newbie here... looking for advice

TotallyBroke

Oh shrimpy_80 you have me concerned now. I've never had to renew my overdraft. I've had an overdraft on my account since I opened it approx 19 years ago. For the past 10years or so I have regulary dipped into it and now am constantly living in it and will be for a while yet.
I know they can recall the facility at anytime but I've never had to renew it.

tallyhoh

Did you run the credit card up buying "stuff", anything you can now sell on ebay or the like? I sell enough each month to pay my grocery bill, old clothes, shoes, makeup & books etc.

bench187

shrimpy_80 wrote: »

Hi, not sure if this is helping or scaremongering but I had an overdraft with HSBC which I kept exceeding :embarasse , when my renewal date came around they refused to renew it. They sent me one letter (allegedly) giving me a month's notice of this which I never received. Consequently I answered the phone one day out of the blue to a man asking me to repay the £1500 there and then - you can imaging my reaction! :eek: They were less than helpful about the whole situation, all they were concerned with was getting me to make a debit card payment there and then and they couldn't sem to understand that my only debit card was connected to my HSBC account, hence how could I make a debit card payment! I kept geting referred back and forth from telephone banking to the branch and back again, a member of staff in branch even told me at one stage that 'telephone banking don't always know what they're doing!' Consequently I am glad to be welll rid of them now.

Sorry that turned into a bit of a rant, everyone posting here is right about paying off your highest interest card first but I would just make a note of when your overdraft is due for renewal and give some thought of paying it off first or at least having some contingency plan. To be fair I had gone over my limit quite regularly so I'm not saying you will receive the same treatment.

I have also reclaimed my bank charges, it is really simple to do if you follow the advice on this site, I have received a response telling me my case is on hold as is ususal but its definitely worth doing because you never know!

Good luck, I am in a similar position financially and this site has been a tremendous help, I feel much more positive than ever before.

x

No not at all, thank you for the heads up. Everything on here that I have been advised already is a great help, and I'm finally getting my butt into gear!
Anyway, I remember receiving a letter last year saying my overdraft had been accepted and that I've got my facility in place for 1500?? I was thinking what the?? But I didn't really pay too much attention to it, as anything financial I've been a bit naughty by burying my head in the sand...

Who did you move your banking over to out of interest? As I've read that if I am going to file a claim for charges it might be an idea to move banks in case of them getting a bit nasty with me and taking away my o/draft etc...

It's nice to know (and I don't mean it in a bad way) that I'm not the only one who's in this situation, I'm just annoyed I let it happen.

bench187

tallyhoh wrote: »

Did you run the credit card up buying "stuff", anything you can now sell on ebay or the like? I sell enough each month to pay my grocery bill, old clothes, shoes, makeup & books etc.

The Egg Card is just from being excessive and general day to day things. I do have a few things to ebay which i'm going to do this weekend. As for the Tesco's Card £1100 was a holiday, £300 for car hire and the rest went in the summer?? I sound like such an idiot on here hey!! :eek:

I'm determined to sort it now though

doodledo_2

Awwww don't call yourself an idiot. We are all in debt for various reasons and many of us for being stuff we simply shouldn't have. The main thing is were are here now admitting our sins and dealing with them

shrimpy_80

Hi, sorry for taking a while to reply, I had an account with Nationwide already which I'd had since I was young and had luckily already upgraded to a proper grown-ups account so switched to that. I have a £100 overdraft which I pretend is not there!

I have to say, the HSBC thing left me penniless for a few months but was actually the best thing that ever happened to me, it gave me a good kick into reality! I'd never renewed my overdraft either but when I looked back all of my statements had a renewal or review date - can't remember exactly what they called it - on the top right where it told me my current overdraft limit. Usually they just renew it automatically. I did go over mine (quite a lot) every month for a time though so was a naughty bunny and deserved to have it taken away - although a little notice would've been nice!

Overall I'm glad to be rid of it, its one less millstone to carry around and I like that feeling! Just a few more cumbersome debts to get rid of now!

xx

natsplatnat

Hi! As mentioned I bank with HSBC (have done for donkeys years!) and they now charge me £25 per year to review and approve my OD limit! I cannot wait until I don't use it any more - approx end of Feb 09!!!!

bench187

Hi Guys,

Further to my original post and just beginning to get myself straight and after avoiding paying O/Draft charges this month etc.. I've been dealt a heavy blow in that I've been made redundant!! :eek:

So I don't have insurance on the credit cards outstanding and nor do I for the loan! Where do I go from here in regards to getting myself sorted with these debtors? Any advice would be great.. I can't believe it's happened at such a crap time and just when I was getting myself sorted.

Also I paid off the £150 o/draft to nationwide which is prob the only positive thing that has happened.

Thanks guys