Nationwide reducing my overdraft limit - short notice?

Kate__5

Hi,

I'm 38 weeks pregnant, so about to pop, and I've used most of my overdraft facility buying all those things that babies need. My overdraft limit is currently 1,200 and I next get paid on the 21st October. With about 5 direct debits that are due to come out between now and pay day, my balance on the £20th October will be about -£1,050.

I received a letter from Nationwide yesterday saying that my overdraft facility will be reduced on the 20th October to £1000. I know that I'll be over this amount for just one day. I telephoned the helpline on the letter and the lady said that there was nothing she could do to extend this by one day and that I would incur charges if the account was over it's limit.

My problem is that there is no 'if' about it - my account will be over and there is absolutely nothing I can do about it. Next month I will have no problem with my overdraft limit being reduced to £1000.

I've not gone over my overdraft limit for many years, my debts are all coming down and I've not made any late payments on any of my other debts, so I'm not sure why my overdraft is suddenly being reduced. I also think it's unreasonable that the bank cannot see my circumstances and extend the current overdraft by just one day. Especially when the final line on the letter reads "Nationwide will always be sympathetic and positive if you are in difficulty"!

Is there anything that can be done in cases like this?

Ste_C

Is there anything that can be done in cases like this?

The best thing to do is not get pregnant until you're financially secure enough not to have problems paying for things.

Just a thought.

And a bank can reduce or cancel your overdraft whenever they like, without reason.

noh

What you need to do is find £50 from somewhere.
Either borrow it for a couple of days from family/friends or cancel £50 worth of DDs and reinstate them after 21st October.

Oldernotwiser

Ste_C wrote: »

The best thing to do is not get pregnant until you're financially secure enough not to have problems paying for things.

Just a thought.

And a bank can reduce or cancel your overdraft whenever they like, without reason.

Wow - you're Mr Helpful, aren't you?

vaporate

I don't want to sound intrusive but I take it you're a single parent?

Does you're ex partner, if that's the case, pay anything to help?

Kate__5

No, I'm married, but my husband has become recently unemployed, so he isn't able to help me out in this case. I'm currently the main earner and my income is about to take a huge nose-dive when my maternity leave starts, so I've been purposely working hard to pay off as much as I can in the way of outstanding debts and I have to say I've been pretty pleased with myself. I had however ignored paying off my overdraft as the interest for this is lower than my cards. I now have one card left which should be paid off next month.

I figured that a lot of my direct debits this month are final ones to get things paid off, so I've done a little 'robbing Peter to pay Paul' by using my Mastercard to pay off one of these payments. I've then cancelled that Direct Debit. The organisation that I have the debit with are happy, the Nationwide should be happy and I'll be able to pay the mastercard off the following month.

I don't particularly like using my cards/overdraft facility, but things have been a little tight these past few months with buying bigger purchases like cot/pram etc. Next month things will be fine so long as they don't want to reduce it again.

Panic over basically, but I'm still shocked at how Nationwide were willing to impose these changes on me at such short notice and were so inflexible at looking at my circumstances to allow me an extra day at my old limit. The letter seems to imply that 3 weeks notice is a sufficient amount of time, but the letter has to actually reach me first and then a lot of people get paid monthly. I would have expected a letter to say that the overdraft would be reduced for the following month.

vaporate

As a recent graduate, I am in the same position as your husband, albeit not the same financial strings, on the jobseeking front.

Nationwide, and any bank for that matter, can reduce or ask in full for the repayment of any overdraft.

However, they only usually do this if they think the lender is having trouble paying it back over an extended amount of time.

Only choice I can see right now is credit cards.

Rafter

I think a letter of complaint is in order - leaving you less that 31 days to rearrange your finances (given that you are probably paid once per month) seems unreasonable and could hardly be seen as 'treating customers fairly'. Make sure you mention that you are pregnant and that you could have done without the stress too!

Glad you managed to find a solution though.

Good luck.

R.

Kate__5

Hmm,
I'm wishing now that I had done things the other way around and got the overdraft sorted first and then the cards. I guess the temptation was that I didn't feel obligated to pay back the overdraft any time soon and the interest was lower so I could afford to leave it until later.

Well, this has certainly been a wake up call - I'll have to start looking at ways of getting this paid off quicker.

I hope after all your hard work at Uni that you get a job soon Vaporate!

Kate__5

Thanks Rafter. I've never written a complaint letter before, but I think I might give it a go this time!

vaporate

Kate_ wrote: »

Hmm,
I'm wishing now that I had done things the other way around and got the overdraft sorted first and then the cards. I guess the temptation was that I didn't feel obligated to pay back the overdraft any time soon and the interest was lower so I could afford to leave it until later.

Well, this has certainly been a wake up call - I'll have to start looking at ways of getting this paid off quicker.

I hope after all your hard work at Uni that you get a job soon Vaporate!

Many thanks, with the aftershock of the recession and the job market, it's a killer.

Best of luck for you too and your partner. :beer: