Natwest graduate overdraft - Default!

Joonyer

Hi all - apologies if this is the wrong forum, I did look.

Finished uni in may 08 and since then have been largely ignoring my 2k overdraft with natwest. It’s 2k approved graduate overdraft, and didn’t go over the limit. At one point I paid in £1300 in one go, then continued to spend that over last year.

I knew that around june time the first “phase” of the interest free bit would be taken away, meaning I have to pay interest on a grand of the debt. Fair enough, no worries. I’ll wait until this comes along, then just setup a standing order, no problem.

Then I get a letter stating that I need to start paying this money back or it would get passed on to collections. One of the options in the letter was an “interest free” loan of 2k to pay off the overdraft.

I arranged to go in branch and see a banking advisor to discuss this loan idea – I was sat down by a polish girl who touched my arm a couple of times and kept fluttering her eyelashes like I was a lovesick child, trying to sell me the regular saver before even asking what I wanted. When I emphasised that I was only here to discuss the letter (which I showed her) she didn’t know whether the “interest free” loan was credit scored, so off she went to find out.

She came back 10mins later to say that yes, it is credit scored. I then said fine, I’d rather just setup a standing order for 40 quid a month and pay it back that way, just forget about it knowing there’s regular credits going in. So I did this.

Then the other day I receive a letter from Natwest stating that I have 28 days to pay back the full amount or something “satisfactory” or they’re going to boot my door in and blacklist me for 6 years.

The guy on the phone said that natwest branch should have said I need to call collections – now, granted I did have a few letters and they did call my phone constantly for weeks, but I set up the standing order and the calls stopped. I assumed all was fine. However collections are saying that this is purely my own fault (admittedly, true) but I was misinformed in branch – why couldn’t they tell me “this is out of our hands, you need to call collections” rather than rushing me through the appointment once they realised I wasn’t going to buy any of their products.

All I want is to be able to pay it all back by standing order, why is that a problem for them? It will cost them more in legal fees and admin time surely, than to just let me pay it through standing order? I think I’ve got no leg to stand on whatsoever… it’s in the Ts & Cs at the end of the day and I did agree to those by taking the account. Seems like a !!!!!! way to deal with a young graduate in a recession though.

Do I have any way around this at all? From what I can see I’m going to need about £1,500 to get them off my back, then just repay the rest monthly which isn’t a problem. The guy kept telling me that simply increasing my payments was not enough, as we need to pay off a substantial amount then pass the rest back to branch control with a decent arrangement for repayment.

Anyone got any experience of this? The problem is that with the branch, it’s my word against theirs. And they will say “it’s not our responsibility, it’s yours, as per the letter” and collections will say “well, you did get several letters”.

So in summary, laziness is expensive. Is there ANY legal option available to me that might help? I don’t think I have any way out of this one…

Cheers
Matt

Tixy

From the sounds of what you have written I don't think there is a legal option that may help, however if you are not in a position to repay the £1500, and I assume from your post that you are not then they simply cannot have money you don't have.

I'd suggest you prepare an income & expenditure account which shows how much you can afford to repay each month. Then send this with a repayment offer for that amount. They should accept this amount providing you haven't allowed too much for luxuries in your income & expenditure. If they tried to get a CCJ against you the judge would also look at how much you can afford and at the income & expenditure account (providing you send it to the court).

They would be within their rights to charge interest annd charges on the debt but if you tell them you are in financial difficulties they may be prepared not to.

I assume you already have another non Natwest account that you are using as your current account now?

Paying via a repayment plan is likely to affect your credit record as a default will be entered on the account and that does remain for 6years. But obviously it will affect your account less than if you do not pay it at all.

If you have other debts you are struggling to pay you may want to get professional free debt advice from CCCS or Citizens Advice.

In future make sure you open any letters though as creditors are usually more ready to help if you contact them earlier.

Joonyer

Thanks for the reply I appreciate it - if I pay the £1,500 and then they put the last 500 over to branch control, will I still be black-marked for 6yrs?

cheers
Matt