Why have my bank asked for a meeting?

Bog-Pony

My apologies if this is long winded but I'll try keep it short.

I have a £4,000 loan with Lloyds (£3000 left to go after 12 months), never missed a payment.

I also have a credit card with Lloyds that has a £1500 limit and I owe £1,000. I had a direct debit to pay into the credit card every month but I cancelled it before Christmas. I then reactivated it but with one mess up after another with Lloyds it never kicked in so I thought it was being paid but after 2 phonecalls from them about late payments I realised it was not! Its sorted now.

I have a £500 overdraft which I am always into by about £250 by the end of the month but it always gets paid off.

I also have a €5,000 debt from a credit card in Ireland. This does not show up in any credit report. Not one of them. Paying that offf is the biggest pain. It costs me almost £20 a month just to transfer over money. It's coming down slowly but surely but as I said its not appearing on any credit report even though I gave all my details from when I lived in Ireland.

I called the bank today to ask about refinancing my load. I want to shut down my UK credit card (£1,000), my loan (£3000) and wanted to pay about £2,000 into my Irish card to make it much more managable.
The guy on the phone said I wasn't eligible to refinance at the moment but in about 3 months I should be. I don't know why he said 3 months.

About 2 hours after that phonecall I got a call from a woman at my branch of Lloyds. She wants to have a meeting tomorrow just to "discuss things". She didn't imply it was very serious and didn't ask me to bring anything with me but I guess that's just standard operating procedure. She did say it wasn't urgent but it works out that tomorrow is easiest for me.

I have NEVER been called into a bank before, ever and now I'm in a state of panic. Other than the 2 missed CC payments (which they won't admit were their fault) I have never missed a payment.

Would me querying the loan this morning be the reason I'm being called in? Am I in an unnatural amount of debt??? I earn decent money but my debt was racked up when I had to go to work 3 days a week instead of 5 due to illness.

Any advice would be really appreciated. I just have no idea what to expect. I'm going to lose sleep tonight regardless but being forewarned is forearmed.

jamesperrett

Lloyds seem to be a little keener to sell new products than they used to be. I had a call from my branch last week for the first time in many years and, while they gave me some useful information, they were obviously trying to sell me a new account. I wouldn't be surprised to hear that your local branch were keener to sell you a loan than the call centre.

Cheers

James.

Bog-Pony

jamesperrett wrote: »

Lloyds seem to be a little keener to sell new products than they used to be. I had a call from my branch last week for the first time in many years and, while they gave me some useful information, they were obviously trying to sell me a new account. I wouldn't be surprised to hear that your local branch were keener to sell you a loan than the call centre.

Cheers

James.

That would be music to my ears. I can't think of the worst thing that could happen other than them demanding all the money I owe them right now but without any sort of banking knowledge that wouldn't make much sense as they're earning interest from me.

saltnvinegar

As has already been said I expect its nothing more than someone trying to sell you something.

Think about it, you're a great customer, they are earning LOTS of money from you in interest!!

I had an account with Lloyds last year and shut it down after less than a year due to the constant phone calls from my branch wanting to have a meeting.

When I asked them is this just an opportunity for them to sell to me their response was it was an account 'review' meeting which they offered to all their customers, in other words its the same thing!

I really wouldn't worry, if they wanted the money off you they would have had to put in writing which you would have received already, but you won't because as I've already mentioned they are making far too much money out of you!

Robgmun

Agree with all here, this 'meeting' is going to be nothing more than hard selling there products.

Bog-Pony

Thank you all so much. I feel a million times better. I'll be back tomorrow to tell you all I've been taken to court or now have a new loan agreement

redpete

Bog-Pony wrote: »

Thank you all so much. I feel a million times better. I'll be back tomorrow to tell you all I've been taken to court or now have a new loan agreement

You're assuming that they let you home after the meeting ;-)

selecta_c

When my bank calls me to setup a meeting it only means one thing....................they want to sell me something!

HellsGranny

That's right, I'm with Lloyds, and every time we have a meeting, whether at their instigation or mine, there's always an attempt to sell you another product! Be strong-tell them NO thanks, I do.

Cheers HG

Bog-Pony

So they ended up trying to give me a loan of up to £20,000, life insurance and upgrading my joint account

When they looked at my partners details she (bank manager) got quite excited because she saw she earns vastly more than I do so probably salivated at the the thought of everything she can try to sell her. I have my OH warned to say no to a meeting request.

I said no to everything. The loan was being offered at just under 12% but my credit card and existing loan are at the same so it was pointless. I think they paniced as she realised I was well on my way to being debt free which of course means I'm a bit useless to them. Using a snowball effect, if I keep paying in to my debts what I am now I'll be free and clear by July 2011.

Long story short, thank you all for your posts. It really did make me feel a whole lot better going in and as it turns out, you were all right