desperate help needed!!!

student1010

Hi, not sure if i'm posting this in the right place so sorry if im not!!
Anyway so i am seriously in need of advice from some money savvy people out there or anyone who has been in a similar situation before and managed to get through it!

Usually i'm quite good with my money - always pay all my cards off in full and in time, budget well etc etc. Unfortunately i couldn't even begin to explain whats been going on recently and everything has fallen to pieces. As a result, i now need to find about £700 over the next couple of weeks. I get payed on this coming friday but that will have to be kept to pay my rent for march as it is due before my march payday. The £700 is needed to cover 2 credit cards (one with 30% interest - staff card) and bills and thats without even starting to consider how i am going to pay for food/travel.

I have a part time job which is how i usually pay for my cards and living expenses but as iv said this month i'll need that for rent
I am a student but my mum earns too much for me to get a decent loan hence why i need the job to keep me going. Unfortunately as a single mother with a messy divorce she doesn't have the spare money to give me.

I really don't know what to do, I do have a interest free overdraft on my student account but that is already maxed out from pure living costs over the past two years of my course.

Any advice would be so so appreciated!!
Thank you for taking time to read this!

Rob71

My first port of call would be the bank I do my main banking with - maybe they can help?

You give no indication about your credit "worthiness", but since you're a student people should (ought to be!) throwing money at you left, right and centre - they'll do this cos they'll make a shed load of cash out of you in the long-term.

I'm guessing they're not - but who have you asked? You need 700 quid in a hurry, maybe you could open a different bank account, get your current O/D limit raised, or take out an MBNA/PostOffice creditcard and do a money transfer?

Who do you bank with? That might help other people offer more assistance...

katsu

Maybe go see your student money advisors at uni?
You could try your local credit union for a loan - probably not the whole 700 but might help?

student1010

thanks so much for the replies, i hold my student account with natwest, i will go in and try and speak to someone tomorrow. I have a fairly good credit rating i think, have 2 credit cards, phone contract, internet/tv contract which they credit checked me for, and a couple of months ago got accepted for another store card which i used twice but haven't used since i payed that off. normally i pay everything off in full before the due date too.

I will ask tomorrow about the opportunity to get my overdraft raised even if it wont be interest free, i dont really understand how the post office credit card/transfer idea works (sorry im very limited in my knowledge!)

i dont suppose anyone knows of any banks that allow you to open a student account if you already have one?

if all this fails then i will go and see the financial team at uni and see if there is anything they could do.

student1010

right so i have been to the bank today who were useless and told me to call the student team, so i did and they said because i already had my overdraft maxed out they couldnt give me any more but could give me a loan of a minimum of £1000 and pay it back over a year at 92£ per month. they said the apr would be 24%, but i will be getting my student loan installment in 2 months so they said i could pay it all off then if i wanted.
so where's the catch? they are sending me the paperwork so its not final yet, could anyone explain the apr business?
many thankkkks

Alt

Are you sure the loan term is 12 months at £92/mnth? That adds up to £1104 which is only 6% apr. Also check the early payment penalty (usually 2 months interest or more)

Cheers

student1010

yes it also quotes these figures on the natwest website, but my apr would be 24% so is that on top of the 92 and 24% of what? (please excuse my lack of knowledge lol)

Alt

My mistake, the figures are correct. Make sure you still read the early redemption penalties if any

Cheers

student1010

thanks so so much for your help, so how is the 24% relevant? anyone? i will have a look when i get the paperwork for those penalties
thank you again!!!

Rafter

Only catch will probably be an early repayment penalty of one months interest.

Still seems to be better than your 30% card though.

Just be careful not to spend it but just use it to bridge your current position.

Good luck

R.

student1010

is anyone able to explain how the apr figure comes into all this, is it part of the £92 monthly payment or on top of it? Actually i dont even understand what it really means in this situation so maybe a basic explanation of how it's relevant would be a good start lol!
Much appreciated!!