NatWest reclaiming overdraft

katiekatekate

Like another poster on this board, I had a call from Natwest today, to say that I'd defaulted on the terms of my student overdraft and have two weeks to pay £2100. Other than "well you should have read your terms and conditions shouldn't you", the person I was talking to offered no help or contact details, and also told me the bailiffs would be round after the time was up. I have no assets, whatsoever, I own a scrappy 14 yr old motorbike which I use to get to placement and back (as I am a student nurse), I'll be honest, I'm terrified.
I already pay out around £300-£400 each month on debts (including a balance of £2500 at 30%on one card), and then another £260 on rent, before any other bills or living expenses, I work full time, as well as being at uni full time, I can't get any more money to pay debts off.
I've thought about IVAs or bankruptcy, which at 22 is ridiculous, but I'm really really trying to pay my debts and getting nowhere. I go back on placement in August, and I'll have to go down to 10/15 hrs a week at work, I don't even know how I'm going to pay my rent.
I'm going to ring the bank now, and hopefully speak to someone at CCCS on monday, but can anyone offer me any short term advice? my wages and student bursary go into a different account ( which appears to be how I've 'defaulted', although when I spoke to them in Mach they told me that my natwest account was fine).

staffie1

Have you defaulted?

katiekatekate

in their terms yes, because I haven't made regular payments into my natwest account, only sporadic payments.

staffie1

katiekatekate wrote: »

in their terms yes, because I haven't made regular payments into my natwest account, only sporadic payments.

so the answer is 'yes' - not just in their terms. It's fact. O/D's are repayable on demand - doesn't matter what your circumstances are - it's the same for everyone, so I'm not sure what advice you're expecting to receive.

MoneyMummy_2

At a guess, I think she may be looking for some friendly, non judgemental advice. It's a scary thing to be in debt. I'm not now, but I have been in my time, and so have most people I know. Life is hard sometimes and most people aren't perfect.

To the original poster, why don't you visit the Citizens Advice Bureau and get advice from them about how to manage your finances going forward and possibly agreeing to make small payments to all your creditors over a long period and look at how to manage your budget more effectively.

jonesMUFCforever

First of all you need to work out how you are in this financial mess in the first place before you can address the problem and try to sort it out.
Prepare a statement of income and expenditure and go on the debt free wanabee board. There are a lot of helpful people on there.
The previous poster is correct about then going to CAB or contacting the national debt helpline.

withnell

Maybe if you go into your branch and say that you didn't know your bursary etc had to be paid into the account, and ask for advice on how to switch the payments in, they might allow you to keep the account open.

Yes you've broken the rules, but if you're offering to put things right your account holding branch should be able to sort something out - they'd rather keep you a happy customer than have to write off a large amount of your debt