If things get tougher?

ceridwen

mardatha wrote: »

aka Member no 2 of the "Can I hibernate till its over?" Clan)

Oh god yes. Lets find a nice warm cosy cave !

Well...you bring a "dish" (ie of food), I'll bring one too and some music to play...all welcome...and we'll have a "Drown Our Sorrows" party....;) I dont mind an excuse for a good social occasion - with likeminded people......

ceridwen

dorry wrote: »

katieowl:

love your picture!!!

ceridwen----do you know where you read the thing about overdrafts?? like katieowl, if our bank did this, dunno what we would do:eek:

...other than recalling it was a reasonable quality newspaper (ie not "News of the Screws")..not offhand...will duly rack brain (whats left of it....;) ). Probably the "Daily Mail".....okay...okay...I'll go off and do umpteen "Hail Marys" right now for reading such a reactionary newspaper.....

ceridwen

...still thinking..."where the heck did I see that thing re overdrafts?"....think I'm in for another sleepless night...notepad and biro to hand as I'm hoping the answer will come to me in the middle of the night (again!). I know it musta been either the "Daily Mail" (most probable), "Guardian", "Independent" - as these are the basic newspapers I read - or scan their websites. A small chance it coulda been "The Times" or "The Telegraph" - as I occasionally venture in there.

I know I'm okay for this - but I couldnt "live with myself" if I didnt do what I can to mention things like this to my "virtual friends". I know newspapers go in for scarey headlines deliberately - but logic tells me overdrafts are NOT a good idea right now...so get rid if one possibly can. I wouldnt think a bank can recall it whilst one has a letter stating "overdraft facility valid until.....ie within the next year" - as I would think that constitutes a "written agreement" and grounds for a legal claim if they tried to terminate it prematurely...but once that year is up...then they could perfectly legimately do so and not be in any "trouble" themselves.

I guess that it might be an idea possibly to convert an overdraft into a loan if its not going to be possible to pay it back by that "year end" date in the agreement letter the bank sent.? I cant see how they could possibly change the terms of a "loan" unilaterally.

katieowl_2

ceridwen wrote: »

.

I guess that it might be an idea possibly to convert an overdraft into a loan if its not going to be possible to pay it back by that "year end" date in the agreement letter the bank sent.? I cant see how they could possibly change the terms of a "loan" unilaterally.

What I suspect would happen would be come your review date they would tell you that they couldn't (were not prepared to) renew your overdraft.

I'd guess the VAST majority of people who regularly use their overdraft would not be able to make the provision immediately to repay...so they would 'suggest' that you convert to a loan to take the pressure off (which both OH and I have had suggested to us recently - we declined) MOST people against the wall would agree to a loan wouldn't they (we were tempted - but remember we thought selling the house would happen?) A loan would then tie you in to an extra 'monthly payment' that you had to find!

We both thought that if we had a 'change of wind' in the finances that we could be paying in a cheque that would make inroads into an overdraft more quickly, or even clear it entirely, than stretching out over a loan period.... ultimately I suspect the banks would be quids in as ever!

Regards

Kate

mumoftwo

things just got tougher for us. I am livid. Took my only 4 year old car for its MO today and it failed! And now it needs about £300 repair done to pass and another £300 recommended work ie a new radiator. But I have learned since being on here not just to take their word for it and in the past I would have said, just do the work but today I said: I will take it away and get it repaired elsewhere so shopping around tomorrow. I do have the £600 but that was for Christmas. I have been working hard to put that aside.

And the few people in front of me at the garage were paying in excess of £250 as well.:eek: We all left with sour faces...:mad:

Don't you just hate it? Stupid car, stupid garage, the receptionist was a cow as well when I asked her where my car was parked because I couldn't see it in the carpark, she just waved her hand and said it is there. It wasn't. After going around the carpark again and asking another member of staff, it turned out that my car was still in the workshop and I had the keys in my hand.

Unfortunately, I need my car and thought by buying a newer one, I wouldn't have to pay so much in repairs

I feel stressed out today. The news is all doom and gloom. Still the queue at the drive through mcDonalds was huge and was spilling out over the road where I couldn't get through. So not everyone is worried yet.

Can I please hibernate in your cave as well? I can crochet blankets:D

ceridwen

Blankets? Snuggle....warmth...right...got the food, music, snuggly blankets....have we forgotten owt?...:D

mardatha

I havent ever used an OD. I always thought they were just for yuppies LOL ! I am also an "under the mattress" saver. I keep cash on hand.
My last job was as nightshift cleaning supervisor in the Scottish HQ of HBOS. I saw all these fabulous cars in the underground carpark... BMW, Mercs, Jags, Lexus. Then the lift doors would open, out would come a skinny 20-something, smartly dressed blond & get in one of these cars... I used to wonder what on earth kind of salaries they were on...I wonder what they're doing now !

welshnoonoo

ceridwen wrote: »

Blankets? Snuggle....warmth...right...got the food, music, snuggly blankets....have we forgotten owt?...:D

Yep - the red wine!

Pitlanepiglet

I'm so relieved for the first time since I went back to Uni in 1999 and since OH and I got together in 2004 we are solvent. Hubby got made redundant in early 2005 and we came close to bankruptcy at the tail end of last year. We sold everything we could and are in rented accommodation BUT we now have no overdraft and no credit cards and I can't tell you how happy that makes me. We're not rich, we're not even well off, but we're solvent.

That hollow awful feeling of not being able to anything to make things better is something I don't ever want to experience again <<<hugs to all that are struggling>>>

mardatha

Yes. I ask for L&L every night to be sent to all of the good people here in this thread who have hit hard times. Nothing lasts forever. The good or the bad,.. and it makes you stronger once you have gone through the mill doesnt it ?With each other to help, we will get through these days and we will learn from it.