Bad day yesterday

PigginSkint

Hi All

My turn to have a moan!

went to see account manager at my bank (LTSB) yesterday for an account review - her reason for inviting me was to try to 'save me some money' (which, being cynical - probably correctly - I tend to interpret as her trying to flog me some of the banks products). Basically she went through all my outgoings for the last month and told me that I was in a bit of a mess (tell me something I don't know!) and the only thing she could actually do for me there and then was to upgrade my current account so that I pay less interest on my overdraft - fine by me - but she was shocked at the size of my overdraft (limit is £5000 which I get up to just before payday). However, she also said that was not facing up to the situation (er, wrong), sticking my head in the sand (wrong again) by not dealing with my debt situation (still to do SOA but briefly c£23K on credit cards, c£18K loans). I have been trying to deal with it actually! Also, she said that I was robbing Peter to pay Paul by moving my credit card balances to save money on the interest (surely that's sensible).

Anyway she gave me the phone number of the bank's Financial Difficulties Helpline to see if they had any suggestions and if they couldn't help to go to Citizen's Advice. Has anyone done either of these things? What are they likely to suggest (besides trying to flog the bank's own products)?

She also said that I should go to my building society and see if I can use some of the equity in my house to pay off my debts. personally I don't think this is a very good idea what do others think?

My own feeling is that as I am still just about managing to make my repayments I should try other avenues first before I go down the route of (a) getting the CAB involved or (b) consolidating my debts. What do others think?

Had a thoroughly miserable day yesterday fretting about all of this and spent much of it in tears.

Sorry for the moan, I am sure others have got their own probs to worry about!!

james32_uk

To be honest it's quite refreshing to hear that banks are starting to give advice to get people who need help to take a hard look at their financial position. Obviously this was annoying and patronising for you because you know you are doing something about your debt at the moment and arent burying your head in the sand, but for every 1 of you there's probably 100s of ostriches out there.

I dont know much about releasing equity to pay of debts. I would have thought it's a good idea as long as you are sure you wont just pile up the unsecured debts again. After all, the interest you pay on a morgage must be much less than your unsecured debt.

file_wizzard

Whilst it is encouraging that some banks seem to be taking a more pro-active role in customers debt management I think the main points here are;

(1) All they are really interested in doing is selling you more of their own products
(2) They are quite sneakily trying to limit their own risk exposure by trying to get you to consolidate with another lender.
(3) In cases like this where a "personal banker" / customer assistant is giving advice such as borrowing against your home, are they actually qualified to do this!, any person purporting to offer financial advice must by law be FPC / FSA qualified.

I wonder if the bank themselves know that an advisor is handing our what could be interpreted as financial advice?, as any poor advise could potentially leave the bank open to litigation for any actions you took on their “advise”

In_Search_Of_Me

Hello there...unsure of you've posted your statement of affairs yet but suspect from post count that you havent? Would be a good idea to post it so people can make suggestions where you may be able to save money. See posts at top of page 1 which shows you what to do! Can totally relate to that "oh sh**" panic feeling & my advice would be take a deep breath, find your paperwork, post your SOA & get in touch with payplan/cccs for some advice...dont sign anything & definately dont rush into consolidation/remortgaging. You need gather facts (amounts of cards, interest rates, loans, repayment terms etc) at this stage & get some informed advice so you can make the best decision on how to reduce the debt.
Most of all know that you are surrounded by a bunch of people who know what its like being in debt & are generally a supportive bunch! Huge hugs & welcome to a new way of life! Its different but its good!! My life has compleatly changed since becoming a DFW (debt free wanabee!) & I really could not have done it without the support that I get on here...welcome aboard!!

PigginSkint

Thanks FishFace - great advice!

No I haven't done my SOA yet - it is high on my to-do list for the next couple of days

Having read a lot of the stuff on DFW today (and having had a good night's sleep and putting loads of books up for sale on Amazon) I am feeling a lot better today.

lynzpower

"releasing equity" is easy-to-swallow speak for securing the debt on your mortgage and ploughing headlong into negative equity. Your right to be worried about this plan

Stick with us love! We know whats best, not the banks- who as file wizard says, only further thier own cause

Mike_St_Helens

Hey there... Ill do what no one else has and give you a few ((hugs))

Well done for posting, we know your facing the issue, last thing you needed was to be patronised by someone in branch. Good on you for thinking hard and long about it !

As far as advice goes... Call someone like payplan.. They are fab, non judgemental, you dont have to face them 'face to face' and they are fab ahain !!

Mike

homersimpson_3

first things first- there are other threads on mse about lloyds tsb calling in people for reviews- basically they do it every 6 months claiming to save you money but have used it with others to try and flog them other products. the statement of affairs should be way at the top if not the top of the list- how can you manage money if you don't know what's going in and out. when you post statement of affairs on mse someone will usually save you money- the statement of afffairs should be continually reviewed because products offered by companies (banks, utilities etc) constantly change.
if you can shift debt to lower 0% deal then yes it is good financial management because money saved can be targeted towards debt which reduces interest you pay which means more money can be targeted towards debt which reduces interest again and so on. banks don't like this because they receive less money in interest.
consolidtation loans/taking further debts secured on house should be avoided at all costs because if you don't pay house (roof over head) will be repossessed. going to cab, payplan, cccs is a good idea- they can help you with financial planning, negotiating with creditors.

ZTD

file_wizzard wrote:

I wonder if the bank themselves know that an advisor is handing our what could be interpreted as financial advice?, as any poor advise could potentially leave the bank open to litigation for any actions you took on their “advise”

That's why it's done verbally silly!

Or am I just being cynical?

PigginSkint

homersimpson wrote:

the statement of affairs should be way at the top if not the top of the list- how can you manage money if you don't know what's going in and out.

I might not have done an SOA yet but I do keep a notebook (and have done for at least the past 18 months) noting down exactly what will coming in and going out of my bank account month by month so I make sure there is enough available balance to pay what I need to pay (and so I don't miss anything or pay anything late) and if there isn't to give the OH instructions on how much he needs to pay into my account and when (or which credit card bill he needs to pay for me)

For my SOA I will be supplementing this with details of exactly what the balances are on all my cards and what the APRs are on everything - I know roughly but I want to get it exact!

Thanks for the advice - very much appreciated.

hbl_2

I had a bloomin awful day on Friday. Was asked by work to drive somewhere I'd never been before, managed to get lost on route, be an hour late, muck up my parking so I got a £30 ticket, and then it turned out I wasn't needed after all.

I was pretty miffed to say the least. I thought, well as negative as this day has been, at least I can do something positive and give blood this evening. WRONG. I arrived for my appointment and they said, "We've taken all the blood we can, come back next time." In another month's time.

Then I found out my gran had fallen over and hurt herself earlier that day.

Seriously, the being late and getting the parking ticket was cos I wasn't really on my A-Game that day, but the other stuff? Hello wound, meet salt.

(I've written to the council to represent the ticket, cos they printed it wrong, so with any luck I wont have to pay it).