Under attack by the Banks

Kris55_2

Hi.

I am at the end of my tether. To cut a long story short, everything has gone tits up.
I graduated from uni in 2008, and despite my step dad divorcing my mother and trying his best to financially destroy us, I managed to complete/pay my uni degree with honours.

However the effects of the divorce are hitting both my mother and me very hard now. He has completed his true goal, he has financially destroyed us.

So there is the first part of the problem. Now the major part.
I was job hunting for ages, and was on Job Seekers Allowance for about 200+ days. Of course £50 a week isn’t going to cover any living costs, let alone the vampires which are the banks.

I had a graduate HSBC account with £1,700 overdraft. 3 days after graduating they closed it and demanded £110 a month off me. Then they demanded £100 for my Credit card.
I couldn’t afford it, and quickly fell into arrears with the credit card. However after some major moving and some good letters on my part I managed to get them to lower the payment to £30 a month.

However they refuse even to this day to reduce the £110 overdraft demand. Even being on JSA I was able to pay over £1,000 off the balance. Which I find to be an achievement (if not eating for 5 months can be classed as such):o.

:mad:Situation however got worse and I become unable to pay the £110 a month as I was having nothing left from JSA at all, not even enough for a single bag of or food or a loaf of bread. So I opened an Alliance & Leister Account… the biggest mistake to date:eek:.

I changed my JSA to the A&L account and at last! I had some cash to buy some needed food and pay some rent (yes food rent and car on £50 a week).

In the first month everything was fine. The 2nd month I went over my overdraft by £30 and was charged £70 for the privilege. (Keep in mind JSA is paid every 14 days).

Then 3 months ago, I went £5.86 overdrawn. I was charged £100. I wasn’t able to afford it! So I sent them a letter. Days past… they sent a letter 14 days later saying they are looking into it. I sent another letter on the 18th August demanding a reply and saying I can’t afford this! And to do something fast. (Reason I send letters is due to the high pressure, threatening tactics they use on the phone, HSBC is the worse.)

On the 18th of October they replied. And basically said “Pay up”
They have now charged £380 for £5.86.
I do not have the funds to pay. This is now a debt worse then a loan shark. I can not pay bits off a month as the £100 a month will just undo it, and I do not have the capital to just pay it off.

I feel I am having my situation made worse by these banks. And it is starting to effect my health. I am only 23 years old and I have no life already and I am having panic attacks at night and in public when I get to check outs with shopping.

I have applied for a graduate loan with Natwest and of course was refused. Due to ‘issues with other accounts’ – being refused for the very reason I want it!

I am not asking for a magic trick, but I need someone, anyone to advise me, I can’t take this any longer.

Lokolo

Get a job?

You're basically saying you got into a lot of debt. Have been unemployed for 18 months and you are in trouble.

p00hsticks

Open up a Post Office card account for your benefit to go into - that way you can't go overdrawn or spend more than you get in in benefit.

Then I'd suggest visiting the 'Debt Free Wannabe' board for further advice. If you haven't done so already then you need to send all your creditors a SOA (statement of Affairs) showing how much you have coming in, how much you have going out and therefore how much you can afford to pay them - probably a nominal £1 a month.

Do you have any assets ? Anything you can sell ?

You say 'I was job hunting for ages'. Does the use of the past tense indicate that you have now found a job ? or have you given up looking ?

daveyjp

car?

Flog it.

It's coming up to Christmas - loads of temporary work out there.

Ellie83

Hi Kriss

I understand where you are coming from. My boyfriend graduated this summer and we had a couple of rough months (thank God we were lucky enough to have my savings which we used to avoid debts). He is now working as a shop assistant: I know he was really lucky to get a job and I feel for people like you who are still struggling.

Anyway, I know the PO or Royal mail (I never know the difference ) are advertising for Christmas jobs. It is mainly night shifts and my friends working there (as permanent staff) told me that this is very popular so you should hurry if you want to try to get a Christmas job there.

For the debts, I can't really help as I don't anything about how it works, but for food I can This website regularly advertises coupons for free food. At the moment, there is a free loaf of Hovis break and a free litre of candia milk http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/deals/supermarket-coupons (scroll down the page a little to find them). You can print one per IP address, so maybe you could ask your friends to print them for you as well (if they don't need it of course!).

I wish good luck. Keep us posted on your progress.

fabforty

I'm not sure which part of the country you are in, and I know there's a recession on, but at this time of year (almost) every single retailer is taking on temporary staff, royal mail are taking 30,000 temps, - really there is no excuse for a fit able bodied person to be out of work for 18 months. There are jobs out there. They might not be the type of job that you want to do, but if it pays the bills/clears the debts, then you might not have a choice.

darrenlambert

I agree. There is lots of work around right now. You may need to commute a bit, or move somewhere closer to the work, but you should be able to save/clear a good amount of cash right now.

custardy

fabforty wrote: »

I'm not sure which part of the country you are in, and I know there's a recession on, but at this time of year (almost) every single retailer is taking on temporary staff, royal mail are taking 30,000 temps, - really there is no excuse for a fit able bodied person to be out of work for 18 months. There are jobs out there. They might not be the type of job that you want to do, but if it pays the bills/clears the debts, then you might not have a choice.

this comes up a lot,do people think RM just keep employing?
they were recruiting and the jobs went and were heavily over subscribed with applications
the OP should have been applying weeks ago.i agree though 18 months out of any work is a long time

darrenlambert wrote: »

I agree. There is lots of work around right now. You may need to commute a bit, or move somewhere closer to the work, but you should be able to save/clear a good amount of cash right now.

i know a young lad moving from Elgin to York just to get work

vaporate

Lokolo wrote: »

Get a job?

You're basically saying you got into a lot of debt. Have been unemployed for 18 months and you are in trouble.

O yeh. The Op should just click his fingers right?

Tosh.

I would look at factory/assembly line work or something. It's tough out there. Today on the news RBS cut 3700 jobs!

Lastly thanks to matters that were out of his hands.

fabforty

I realise that RM won't be recruiting indefinitely, but as of today they are still recruiting. My partner (who already works full time, but wants to earn some extra money) filled out an online application on Friday and received an email today inviting him for a test next week. If you go to website you will see countless adverts.

fabforty

I should add that this is for Xmas temps as well as other casual and permanent posts.