My situation and how the bank has crushed me

spike2012

Hello all

My partner and I are expecting our first child in 30 weeks time. She currently lives in a top floor flat and wouldnt manage a baby and a pram all the way up the stairs.

My ideal solution would for us to buy somewhere together. She is currently on little disibility payments and I work full time.

My yearly pay is about 15500, and this will rise to 16k soon.

For me, renting is paying someone elses mortgage, and council housing is only available in the most dire areas. (and I mean dire)

If renting is what we end up doing then that is what has to happen, but purchasing is where the problem lies. Last year, natwest offered me £63 mortgage with a £5k deposit.

Here is the scorcher. My credit rating (through no fault of my own is awful)
When I was 17, I tried to purchased something for 2 lots of £2.64 with paypal. Instead of paypal taking it from my natwest debit card, they tried taking it from my bank account with nationwide. This is where paypal stated "COULD NOT COMPLETE PAYMENT, FUNDS NOT AVAILABLE"

sure thats fine with me, ill try at a later date (of course I could not understand why, seeing as I had plenty of cash on my debit card)

I had no money in nationwide and 3 weeks later Im sent a letter informing me that they are going to charge me £60 fee for 2 "unpaid direct debits"

and also, £20 unauthorised overdraft fee.

I had no way of paying this.

The following month, I received another letter claiming a further £20 plus interest.

This went on until my first payday of my apprenticeship where 50% of my wages went to paying them off. I went in with my card in hand and asked them to pay the lot off. They cant do this cos theyre just a bank. Had to sit at a desk in there and ring a nationwide call centre. I asked for the entire amount to be taken, and for my account to be closed. Thats all sorted so I thought.

A month later, another letter, stating I owed them another £20 plus interest. I was LIVID.

I calmly went into the bank and I asked what is going on. They replied to me saying that in the 3 days it took for them to process my payment, my account had gone from £0.00 (from me making the payment) into minus a few pence, triggering the £20 charge, plus interest.

At this point I informed the lady behind the cashier desk that I wouldn't be leaving until A) She confirmed I didn't owe them a penny more. and That my account had been closed. She was apologising a lot whilst processing my hard earned 20 notes :T

It is not about the money, but about my credit rating. I checked and it said I had 6 missed payments in a row. This has damaged me massively! :mad:

I have missed one credit card payment, after having 1 credit card, my phone contract, 2 laptop contracts, and a personal loan.
My score is in the 500's

Argh any help please? Should I seek legal help, as this matter is terrible! Especially the £20 after I "closed" my account

clutton_2

i know how frustrating this is - but you can hardly say ""through no fault of my own is awful"

you must have given paypal the bank details of the account you wanted to use - as they are not allowed to take money without your signature, so somewhere along the line you must have got confused as to which account was feeding paypal... this is up to you.

Berkshiregirl

I'd really suggest renting for the time being - your salary's going to be stretched with the two of you plus a baby, and do you really need the stress of buying on top of pregnancy etc? I don't know where you live and what property prices are like, but without a sizeable deposit behind you it's not going to be easy (or even possible). You mention a £5k deposit - this would help you pay off the credit card debt and reduce your monthly outgoings that way, and would also pay a deposit on a new rental home.

DVardysShadow

clutton wrote: »

i know how frustrating this is - but you can hardly say ""through no fault of my own is awful"

you must have given paypal the bank details of the account you wanted to use - as they are not allowed to take money without your signature, so somewhere along the line you must have got confused as to which account was feeding paypal... this is up to you.

While you are right, I think there comes a point where charges upon charges upon charges for incompetence are actually immoral. I'm angry about the fat bankers who get that way by ripping people off. Don't forget that spike was a minor when this started.

keith969

DVardysShadow wrote: »

While you are right, I think there comes a point where charges upon charges upon charges for incompetence are actually immoral. I'm angry about the fat bankers who get that way by ripping people off. Don't forget that spike was a minor when this started.

I'd agree. If there's one group in society that has no morals whatsoever, it is banks. Charging £100+ for a £5.68 accidental overdraft by a 17 year old is utterly indefensible.

To the OP - go see the CAB and ask what you can do - you should be able to challenge these charges and also get your credit rating restored.

mynameisdave

Obviously the bank charges are frustrating, but with regards to the mortgage offer its doesn't seem to have damaged it a great deal

I assume the £63 was supposed to be £63k. Without saying exactly what payments your partner receives it looks like you have been given about 3x your combined income. I don't really see it as massively below what a bank would lend you with a good credit history.

superfran_uk

Be aware, moving is one of the most stressful things you can do. Would you really want to put your poor pregnant wife through that?
I'd stick to renting for a while, at least until she is back at work - on a single income of 16k you will struggle to get (and probably pay!) a mortgage. There's still a lot of time!

Welshwoofs

I echo others here - I can't even imagine attempting to service a mortgage on only £16k a year. Op, don't forget it's not just the mortgage you'll be shelling out for when you own the house. You also need to think about such things as buildings insurance and water (which is often included in the cost of your rent) and also the biggie....maintenance! At the moment if your boiler blows you call the landlord, the moment you buy and the boiler blows you could suddenly be looking at paying hundreds (even thousands if something big goes t!ts up) out at short notice. Right now if you lost your job you can get HB, if you own and you lose your job you'll only get help with the interest on your mortgage payments.

Seriously, I'd wait and save up more money/work on increasing your salary.

spike2012

Welshwoofs wrote: »

I echo others here - I can't even imagine attempting to service a mortgage on only £16k a year. Op, don't forget it's not just the mortgage you'll be shelling out for when you own the house. You also need to think about such things as buildings insurance and water (which is often included in the cost of your rent) and also the biggie....maintenance! At the moment if your boiler blows you call the landlord, the moment you buy and the boiler blows you could suddenly be looking at paying hundreds (even thousands if something big goes t!ts up) out at short notice. Right now if you lost your job you can get HB, if you own and you lose your job you'll only get help with the interest on your mortgage payments.

Seriously, I'd wait and save up more money/work on increasing your salary.

:beer: yes, thank you very much! The posts here have given me something I cannot often acheive for myself, and that is to take a step back from the situation and actually see what is happening to me through the eyes of the real world :rolleyes:

yes, I meant 63k lol

Also, I agree I shouldn't have said not my fault, but I see this as an easier mstake to make than using the wrong card to pay for your shopping (which I have seen many many times at supermarkets)

The work I am doing will mean a pay increase almost yearly (more than a % in terms of its a traineeship) but I agree 16k is pitful for borrowing an amount of which I calculate to be 6x my salary

homehunter

Have to agree, I'm renting, I don't particularly like it, but it is a heck of a lot easier to maintain (so long as you have a decent landlord and agent!) and save up for a deposit. We'll get on the ladder one day - preferably with a decent mortgage rate and a reasonable price.

£16k income, wanting to buy a house, with a baby on the way? Brave! Good luck.

spike2012

homehunter wrote: »

Have to agree, I'm renting, I don't particularly like it, but it is a heck of a lot easier to maintain (so long as you have a decent landlord and agent!) and save up for a deposit. We'll get on the ladder one day - preferably with a decent mortgage rate and a reasonable price.

£16k income, wanting to buy a house, with a baby on the way? Brave! Good luck.

We can do this :j I do have to agree about the maintenance. My parents place always went wrong at the worst times (xmas, new year etc) :wall:

Share schemes through work will be my portal to saving. It comes out before I get paid, that way I cannot touch it and spend it like a regular savings account :rolleyes: