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Brother paying £30 p.m charges using o.draft with Halifax?

Hello. Today i found out that my brother is around £600 into his £1000 agreed overdraft with Halifax and he said they charge him £30 per month (£1 a day) for this. I was under the impression that it was a maximum of £20 per month with Halifax, please has anyone any idea what is going on?
Ps- i offered to lend him the £600 to get him into credit to stop these charges and maybe get him to another bank where the overdraft charges would not be so bad but he said his credit score is so low that Halifax is the only bank where he could get an account! I should point out that his gf works at Halifax so that's maybe how he got the bank account with them!
Please help if you can!
Not yet a total moneysaving expert...but im trying!!
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Comments

  • Mikeyorks
    Mikeyorks Posts: 10,377 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    buel wrote: »
    I was under the impression that it was a maximum of £20 per month with Halifax, please has anyone any idea what is going on?

    It's £1 for each day you're using the Bank's money (up to £2500) with their agreement. So the monthly charge is between £28 to £31.

    Not really sure what other help you want? He loses the charges if he gets out of the overdraft. If his girlfriend works at the Halifax .... can she not educate him out of giving money away in fees?

    There is an offset in that he should be getting a £5 monthly 'reward' if he's funding the account with £1k monthly.
    If you want to test the depth of the water .........don't use both feet !
  • iereboy
    iereboy Posts: 415 Forumite
    Lend him the money to clear the overdraft.

    Pooh on the gf for not taking action to prevent this from happening. She should know better.

    Educate him on budgeting and internet banking so he doesn't have to live in the overdraft - its not a god given right to use it just because you can.

    If the above does not work, move accounts if he can.
  • Consumerist
    Consumerist Posts: 6,311 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    buel wrote: »
    Ps- i offered to lend him the £600 to get him into credit to stop these charges . . .

    Well that would work, wouldn't it?

    Even if he can't move to another bank, the charges would stop. He could then repay you £28 - £31 per month to start with.
    >:)Warning: In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
  • buel
    buel Posts: 674 Forumite
    Hi there, ok i am lending him the money with the help of my mum! Phew!!
    One more thing: I have now found out he owes £2000 on his Halifax (bloody girlfriend again as she works for the !!!!!!s and recommended he get one) credit card, please can anyone hazzard a guess at how much interest he pays on the minimum payment that he pays?
    Not yet a total moneysaving expert...but im trying!!
  • Consumerist
    Consumerist Posts: 6,311 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Halifax do a number of credit cards so it depends on which one your brother has.

    At 15.9% AER on £2,000 that would be around £25 pm by my calculation. :(
    >:)Warning: In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
  • jambosans
    jambosans Posts: 1,493 Forumite
    buel wrote: »
    One more thing: I have now found out he owes £2000 on his Halifax (bloody girlfriend again as she works for the !!!!!!s and recommended he get one)

    Did she also hold a gun to his head and force him to spend £2000 on the card?
    Anything I post is my opinion, so from time to time I may be wrong. I try to provide answers based in fact, however I don't know everything, so (like all posters on MSE), take what I say with a pinch of salt.
  • buel
    buel Posts: 674 Forumite
    An expected reply from jambosans! No, obviously she didn't but she knew what he was like with money so didn't have to do it!
    Anyway, thank you to consumerist, please may i ask what you think his minimum payment is? I will ask but im just trying to get an idea you see!
    Not yet a total moneysaving expert...but im trying!!
  • opinions4u
    opinions4u Posts: 19,411 Forumite
    buel wrote: »
    An expected reply from jambosans! No, obviously she didn't but she knew what he was like with money so didn't have to do it!
    Maybe he asked her to sort him out with one?
    Anyway, thank you to consumerist
    Clicking the <THANKS> button is a way of doing this ;) .
    please may i ask what you think his minimum payment is? I will ask but im just trying to get an idea you see!
    Minimum payment is usually 1% of the balance owing and is invariably less than the interest being charged. Paying the minimum balance will mean the debt will increase.
  • Consumerist
    Consumerist Posts: 6,311 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    edited 27 July 2010 at 12:29PM
    jambosans wrote: »
    Did she also hold a gun to his head and force him to spend £2000 on the card?

    Just what is it with you Jambosans ?

    The OP is only trying to help his/her brother out of a mess he appears to have got himself into. Isn't that what posting on MSE is supposed to be about?

    If you've got nothing constructive to add to the discussion then surely it would be better to conceal your spiteful nature by saying nothing.
    >:)Warning: In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
  • My only advice to buel, based on my own experience with family, would be to treat the "lent" money as gift with repayment being a nice to have.

    If the brother's girlfriend works for a bank and has been unable to encourage him not to run up over £2000 of debt, that suggests he is living beyond his means and may quickly revert to using the bank overdraft again (even if only in the laudible attempt to pay the lent money back).

    The card is likely to be something like the Halifax Plus credit card, so the minimum payment may be more than 1% per month given the interest (for Halifax Plus it would be the greater of 1% of the amount owed or the total of any Credit Card Repayments Cover premiums, Interest or the minimum interest charge, overlimit and late payment fees plus £5).
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