I really need some advise!!!!

bubblesash

Hi there , i could really do with a bit of advise if anyone can help , i have a account with halifax and have a £100 overdraft with them. i am now roughly around £800 pound overdrawn because of charges they have put on top over the last few months as i have not been able to pay it back at this time as , i have come into some money diffacultys , i am 6 and a half months pregnant and i am on employment support allowance which only pays me roughly around £110 per every two weeks. i would ofcourse have every intention to pay back the overdraft but i am now finding it impossible with all these charges and with what i am having to live of , i am also finding this very scary , and about 2 years ago i had a simuluar problem with natwest bank and ended up being charged somethink like a thousand pounds for a unautherised overdraft of somethink silly like £50 pound if i remember rightly and it just got so out of hand they ended up closing the account and i presume they took me to court for it in the end , but as i find all this so scary i tend to run from the part where i should actually put my foot down and try to deal with the problem. i dont want this to happen again with my halifax account and i would like to be able to get this sorted or atleast make it controllable so i can start paying back what i owe? ? i dont want to loose the account but i also cant afford to pay back what they are asking for and in one lump sum like they are asking for . please help if any of this makes any sense ?

natweststaffmember

bubblesash wrote: »

Hi there , i could really do with a bit of advise if anyone can help , i have a account with halifax and have a £100 overdraft with them. i am now roughly around £800 pound overdrawn because of charges they have put on top over the last few months as i have not been able to pay it back at this time as , i have come into some money diffacultys , i am 6 and a half months pregnant and i am on employment support allowance which only pays me roughly around £110 per every two weeks. i would ofcourse have every intention to pay back the overdraft but i am now finding it impossible with all these charges and with what i am having to live of , i am also finding this very scary , and about 2 years ago i had a simuluar problem with natwest bank and ended up being charged somethink like a thousand pounds for a unautherised overdraft of somethink silly like £50 pound if i remember rightly and it just got so out of hand they ended up closing the account and i presume they took me to court for it in the end , but as i find all this so scary i tend to run from the part where i should actually put my foot down and try to deal with the problem. i dont want this to happen again with my halifax account and i would like to be able to get this sorted or atleast make it controllable so i can start paying back what i owe? ? i dont want to loose the account but i also cant afford to pay back what they are asking for and in one lump sum like they are asking for . please help if any of this makes any sense ?

First things first, is the benefit going into a different accout?
Are you basic living bills being paid?
Have you spoken with Halifax to arrange a payment plan on the overdraft and what have they said?
Have you asked them to look at your case as financial difficulties under the lending code section 9?
I have asked someone else to look at the thread today as I gotta go to work now but if you can answer the questions then hopefully we can formulate something.

please make sure all Direct Debits are cancelled on this account though as a bare minimum.

bubblesash

hi there , thank you so much for getting back to me , nice to no there is some sort of help out there ,
well this happened once before about 6 months ago , i ended up paying back about £300 pound charges on the account , and at the time i called them up , to arrange to pay it if they could put the charges on hold and they was not very helpfull ,quite rude infact , i explained that i had actually gone of my own back with out them having to chase me up to sort it out to contact them . i told him that they say that if your in a financail situation then you should contact them for help which was what i was doing and i felt i wasnt getting that help . he told me that they will help me but they wanted me to pay £150 pound of it straight away on that day for them to be able to help me out , . i told them i couldnt do that , he said that if i didnt pay then they couldnt help , i said i could proberly manage £50 for now and then the rest when i had the money available , he said that it would have to be a card payment , i told him i didnt have any cards to pay it with and it would be cash . he wouldnt except it , so i had to go to the embarrasment of asking my step dad to use his card , he said he could nt at the time and i didnt want to ask anybody else , so i put the cash in . the guy i spoke to called me back up to arrange the (putting the charges on hold) and he said HE TOLD ME IT HAD TO BE A CARD PAYMENT . i told him i did try but it was not possible.... i dont understand why he was so adiment about it being a card payment either.?,,, so anyway i payed it in the end , the full amount .so because of all that happened before and with my natwest account i am just to plain frightened to talk to them or even think of asking them to help , (BECAUSE THEY DONT) but once again i have got my self into a muddle , i dont plan on making this a regulur thing but as i said i have a baby on the way and i have been trying to buy things he will need when he arrives. with also trying to live of the little i get paid , ,, i have no direct debits coming out of the account , and my benefit is not paid into it either , but i dont want to loose the accouint and i do appreciate i should pay for my overdraft but just not so much so that they charge me and charge me and charge me so much over and over again which makes it absoloutely impossible to get on top of it all and put it back in the clear..... sorry if this doesnt make a lot of sense to you but i feel like im under alot of pressure right not worrying about it all and i want to try and explain as much as i can to get the best help i can .

Alpine_Star

Don't panic - someone will be along later to help you with this.

esmerellda

Morning ((((((((((((hug)))))))))))

How did the problems begin, a debit card payment which took you over ?

I absolutely understand how a small error can snowball into this kind of debt and hugely stressful situation.

Do you have your statements which show the intitial error/s and the charges being applied ?

What do you have going in to this account ? Can you have that switched to go into another account ?

We need to stop the charges increasing further and try and get them removed from the account .

So.

1) get your money paid elsewhere

2) leaves you with this overdraft of £800 odd

3) write to the bank asking for the fees to be removed under hardship regulations and make an offer to pay an affordable monthly amount (with an attached income and expenditure form) on the proviso they stop further charges. (will help you with this this afternoon if u like - tho if u can let me know the other bits first )

Premier_2

bubblesash wrote: »

... i dont want this to happen again with my halifax account and i would like to be able to get this sorted or atleast make it controllable so i can start paying back what i owe? ? i dont want to loose the account but i also cant afford to pay back what they are asking for and in one lump sum like they are asking for . please help if any of this makes any sense ?

Have you contacted your bank?
Talk to them, and if you think you are in financial hardship, mention this to them also.

Let us know what they say.

Edit: forget about what happened last time. This is a new case and you'll probably speak to someone different this time.
Don't frag up bad history, it won't help you at all. You obviously put the matter behind you at the time as you elected to stay with the bank.
Regarding the bank closing your account because of the OD, they won't if you speak to them and attempt to come to a reasonable resolution.

How exactly do you plan to pay off your £800 you owe, you say you want to, when your only income is £55p.w.? Offering 10p per fortnight isn't going to be acceptable I'm afraid, even if you could afford that; on £55pw I really doubt I could.
Pop over to the Debt Free Wannabe boards and the Benefits & Tax Credits boards who should be able to ensure you are getting all the benefits you are entitled to.

Finally, you may be better off negotiating a resolution in branch rather than over a telephone so that any immediate payment can be accepted without you having to embarrass yourself by asking your dad to pay using his payment card as you don't have one.

mum2one

I'm in the same boat with the halifax, I ended up with a £1,250 od judt becuase of charges, they are the most unhelpful bank ever.

As the other posters mentioned do an SOA, your on the bare legal living allowance.

Just a couple of thoughts?
Is the account on an authorised or unautorised overdraft.

Just that Halifax have changed their bank charges saga, it looks like there not charging £38 an incident, but £1.00 per day for authorised OD, £2.00 perr day for unauthorised OD.

Can you not change the account, try Alliance and Leicster, they can offer the same as you have ie in tems of OD, as long as you pay income in.

Re the bank - I would put everything in writing, send it recorded delievery, state that any communication you want in writing,

Go to the GP as being 6 1.22 mths gone you need to keep an eye on your blood pressure.

I know its only a couple of thoughts, but good luck with the pregnancy, remember you and the baby are the most important people in this xx

Alpine_Star

Premier wrote: »

Finally, you may be better off negotiating a resolution in branch rather than over a telephone so that any immediate payment can be accepted without you having to embarrass yourself by asking your dad to pay using his payment card as you don't have one.

This is not good advice.

As mum2one rightly points out, in these circumstances any communication should be made in writing.

orc_2

Premier wrote: »

Finally, you may be better off negotiating a resolution in branch rather than over a telephone so that any immediate payment can be accepted without you having to embarrass yourself by asking your dad to pay using his payment card as you don't have one.

Premier,

you have already said on other posts that banks are manned by staff whose sole function is sales and that they have no authority. As you have said, the days of "Captain Mainwaring" are long gone for the cosy chats. Your words!!!!!!

Why the change now?

In dealings with banks all complaints issues and negotiating should be in writing. This advice has been consistently given for years.

bubblesash

esmerellda wrote: »

Morning ((((((((((((hug)))))))))))

How did the problems begin, a debit card payment which took you over ?

I absolutely understand how a small error can snowball into this kind of debt and hugely stressful situation.

Do you have your statements which show the intitial error/s and the charges being applied ?

What do you have going in to this account ? Can you have that switched to go into another account ?

We need to stop the charges increasing further and try and get them removed from the account .

So.

1) get your money paid elsewhere

2) leaves you with this overdraft of £800 odd

3) write to the bank asking for the fees to be removed under hardship regulations and make an offer to pay an affordable monthly amount (with an attached income and expenditure form) on the proviso they stop further charges. (will help you with this this afternoon if u like - tho if u can let me know the other bits first )

hi there , thank you for your help i really appreciate it , well the reason it went over was because i had a autherised overdraft of £100. basicly once i paid the last lot of charges i didnt realise it hadnt taken of the £100 over draft , and spent another £105. on my card , some how the bank once again let me do this , so they have been charging me , £1.00 for the autherised overdraft , and i cant believe this !!!! two charges of £155 and one charge of £145 for un autherised overdraft fees , wow this is alot. ....

i just looked online.so basicly i am infact £675.75 overdrawn.

i dont have any in comings or outgoings with the account and all i have is statements i can get online with my online banking as the statements or letters that were sent to me through the post i have thrown straight out in fear that my other half will realise i have messed up again!!
thank you

bubblesash

mum2one wrote: »

I'm in the same boat with the halifax, I ended up with a £1,250 od judt becuase of charges, they are the most unhelpful bank ever.

As the other posters mentioned do an SOA, your on the bare legal living allowance.

Just a couple of thoughts?
Is the account on an authorised or unautorised overdraft.

Just that Halifax have changed their bank charges saga, it looks like there not charging £38 an incident, but £1.00 per day for authorised OD, £2.00 perr day for unauthorised OD.

Can you not change the account, try Alliance and Leicster, they can offer the same as you have ie in tems of OD, as long as you pay income in.

Re the bank - I would put everything in writing, send it recorded delievery, state that any communication you want in writing,

Go to the GP as being 6 1.22 mths gone you need to keep an eye on your blood pressure.

I know its only a couple of thoughts, but good luck with the pregnancy, remember you and the baby are the most important people in this xx

hi there , thank you for your concern , yes i have a app with my midwife on the 15th and also see a few other people on the 25th as i have had 3 prev misscarrys so they are keeping a good keen eye on me and baby , this is another reason why i want to get this sorted , i dont need the stress and worry , i no its my own falt but i would atleast like a chance to try and make up for it , i also would like this baby to come into this world without me having to worry about my stupid debts i got my self into before the pregnancy.

the overdraft is autherised.
what is a soa? x