Halifax - withdraw my overdraft and left me stranded - help

Moore71

I am experiencing terrible difficulty with the Halifax at the moment. we have an overdraft on our Ultimate Reward Account (which we too pay £12.50 a month to use) and as part of the account have a free overdraft up to £300.00. We also have an overdraft of £3,000 or should I say that we did have an overdraft, that was until when it ws up for its annual review it was reviewed (not expired) and was withdrawn with no notice to us. We then discovered whilst we were actually in the overdraft £2,800.78 that Halifax Head Office put a stop on our account. With our back against the wall, and a young family to think about they lifted the block on the account and forced us to agree a monthly repayment plan of £300.00 per month which I explained to the Retail Banking Team and they were not interested in reducing the payments, they sent us terrible letters threatening action if we default on the payments and chastised us for continuing to use the account. I am absolutely petrified, I just dont know what to do. They have put the overdraft back on to allow it to be reduced each month by the said amount and forced us to agree to pay £150.00 immediatley otherwise they would not enter into the agreement. What we dont understand is why this has happened to us, we have banked with the Halifax for approx 12 years and have run the account reasonably well. Yea, on occasion we have gone over the overdraft, but have paid heavy charges, not to mention the interest charged for using the overdraft. Between the interst charges and monthly charges we pay circa £600 a year to use this account.They have told us that if we cant pay the £300 a month they cannot help us and we need to speak to a Debt Management Counsellor. We have all our wages and CTC and Child Benefit go into our account each month.We are in despair and dont know what to do. We have opened another account and will move our salaries in an effort to protect our income - can anyone help us ..........please...........:-(

Harrietbaby

Hiya, just wanted to say that my heart goes out to you - so much so that I've just registered so that I can post (after being a long time lurker!). I too have been on tenterhooks with the Halifax as I knew my overdraft was up to be 'reviewed' and am on maternity leave at the moment - so money's tight. Luckily they have let me keep it - maybe this is because I'm not actually using it at present. Anyway, I'm sure someone here will be able to give you some advice. There is ALWAYS a way out - it's just hard to see it when you're the one in the middle of it. I hope someone helps u soon.:A

50broke

Hi, you have done the right thing in opening new bank account. You can contact Nationaldebtline, Payplan, CCCS or CAB FREE and they will advise you further....dont panic, but protect you income first

MrsTinks

Unfortunately more and more banks are doing it at the moment and it's causing untold grief
If you can afford to repay £300 a month then the easiest is to carry on doing this - failing that you might want to look at posting a full SOA on here for us to have a look at and see what the best way forward might be - it may be that you need to think about going on a DMP... just a thought

Moore71

Mrs Tine I dont know how to post a full SOA - can you help me?

MrsTinks

Fill this in and post it up make sure you have all the aprs etc

tiff

I keep reading about this happening too, we have an overdraft facility of £2800 which we were up to the max at the start of the year and Ive made this the priority to be paid off asap as the review is in July.

Please anyone that has an overdraft, this must be your priority as the bank has the right to do this.

Hope you get the help you need Moore 71.

Moore71

Mrs Tine I am completely lost now - what do I fill in?

homeaway

Have you managed to fill it out yet? I think you have done the right thing to move salaries etc. For you shopping can you try downshifting or shopping at Aldi or Lidl, they sell good quality products quite cheaply and you would be able to cut your bill by a lot. I find that money sneaks out of my purse on small things like magazines.

Lensman_2

Moore71 wrote: »

Mrs Tine I am completely lost now - what do I fill in?

Here:
http://www.makesenseofcards.co.uk/soacalc.html

TheWealth

50 Broke makes a very good point - protect your income first!

Several years ago, exactly the same thing happened to me with a bank that shall remain nameless (but it subsequently merged with TSB...).
I had a £3000 overdraft facility which was withdrawn with no notice. I learned of this nearly a week later when I received a letter telling me that they had started charging about 25% APR on the whole amount, as it was classified as "unauthorised borrowing".
I know that the situation changes from case to case, but my get-out here was insisting that I could not (and would not) pay the interest on this debt, as I had very little income and no notice.
Following being told that I had to take out a loan to cover the amount or live with the account as it was, I questioned the customer services representative and told him that I believed that I had a good case for the regulatory authority, as there was no notice given and that I had been told that taking out loan was mandatory. This proved to be a break for me, as this was evidently the last thing that the bank wanted. From this point, I had my account moved to the collections department, where an interest-free payment plan was agreed.
The amount requested in the beginning was far too high, and I managed to negotiate down to £50 per month. Part of this was probably due to the fact that, at that time, I wasn't a homeowner and made noises that I didn't have to take any plan of action and that if the proposed plan of action was unsatisfactory, I would have no hesitation in declaring myself bankrupt... I wouldn't recommend this, as I think it was something of a gamble, but it worked for me.

If you feel that you have been forced into an "agreement" seek advice from CAB or a similar organisation who will be able to tell you if you have a case for the regulator. While this is being investigated, you could tell your bank that you are considering a case, based on the fact you were left with no choice.

I hope this is of some use to you - best of luck!