Closing my Santander/Abbey account

Fairzo

wishface wrote: »

I don't understand how that's actually any better?

Because you won't be paying any interest if you keep the OD under £250.

wishface

Fairzo wrote: »

Because you won't be paying any interest if you keep the OD under £250.

Are you telling me that First Direct won't charge me anything if i'm overdrawn; interest or otherwise?

I bet they need loads of ID to open an account. I find it next to impossible to find banks that accept people without passprts or driving licenses these days. It was all I could do to open an acount with the A&L a few months ago (who are now, ironically, also owned by Santander).

anselld

wishface wrote: »

Are you telling me that First Direct won't charge me anything if i'm overdrawn; interest or otherwise?

That is correct, plus £100 cashback for switching, however you need to be able to pay in £1500 per month to the account to avoid monthly fees so I guess that won't be any good.

... and yes you'll need ID!

wishface

it's great that we have such a flexible banking system.

daveyjp

We have a very flexible banking system, unfortunately it does rely on customers actually giving them some money every now and again.

Dave_save

There will come a time, in the future, when we will ALL be able to owe the banks money, and pay back over a period of time. I think they will call these arrangements 'loans'.

Inactive

wishface wrote: »

it's great that we have such a flexible banking system.

At long last, something that I agree with.

In many country's, if you do not have adequate funds in your account, the Direct Debits are simply not paid, that includes having water / electricity etc. cut off.

wishface

I'm sad this forum is not representative of the purpose of this site. Making excuses for the usurious and immoral practises our banks routinely indulge in and profit from while deliberately misrepresenting what people say is as pathetic as it is unhelpful. I expected much better from these forums.

I have been giving the bank money, that's what the overdraft charges are for. Charges that are not representative of any real activity or effort or cost. I would have paid about half that overdraft off had those charges actually gone toward it, and not the pockets of the shareholders.

But the shareholders gotta have a bit of bubbly haven't they!

ERICS_MUM

wishface wrote: »

what on earth are you talking about?

I can only assume you are being deliberately obtuse.

I can't afford to keep this bank account open. I can't pay more than a couple of quid a month. Why shoudl I not be able to have the account closed and that couple of quid instead go to pay off the amount. Quite where you think your money is being used here I don't know.

This forum is supposed to be used for people to get advice for just these situations, not for right wing lunatics to deliberately misread what has been said.

Don't be so silly and rude. We are trying to advise you, but obviously it's not the answer you want, so you feel it's OK to rant and hurl abuse ???

Even if your bank were willing to do as you ask, (but why would they, you knew the "rules" when you spent their money), no banks could do what you want because they are not geared up to handle tiny arrangements such as this - it would cost them far too much.

Closing the account wouldn't give the money back to your bank, so they still have to fund your o/d but are not getting any interest to cover their costs. Plus once the account is closed they cannot be sure you will carry on paying them back ( due respect - I'm not suggesting you would stop paying).

If they sell the overdraft account to their debt collectors they will get a certain amount and will not need to keep any records so this is an attractive option for them.

Try to get the money from somewhere and pay off the o/d then close the account. Borrow, sell something on E Bay, get a 0% credit card, use it just to repay your o/d then cut it up. Have beans on toast for dinner, stop buying a newspaper, see if you can get a couple of shifts behind the bar at your local pub etc so you save and or earn a few extra quid every month etc etc.

Hope this helps.

Linda

ERICS_MUM

wishface wrote: »

it's great that we have such a flexible banking system.

we do, that's why the majority of customers, those that manage their accounts properly, have more or less free banking.

Linda