We’d like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum.

This is to keep it a safe and useful space for MoneySaving discussions. Threads that are – or become – political in nature may be removed in line with the Forum’s rules. Thank you for your understanding.

📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!

Livid. The bank and the teenager's overdraft

1567810

Comments

  • Ultimately, the girl in question is an adult, and has been offered an overdraft. She's taken it up, and one of two things will have occurred:

    1) She'll have spent the money, not thinking she'll have to pay it back, in which case she's naive and stupid
    or
    2) She'll have spent the money, knowing she'll have to pay it back, in which case she either:
    a) budgeted for it, and can pay it back
    or
    b) didn't budget for it, in which case she's stupid.

    I expect she's stupid.
  • pupsicola wrote: »
    It is appalling that the bank allowed such a young person with so little income to have that amount on an overdraft. Of course at 18 she is going to be like a kid in a sweet shop and go on a spending spree.

    ....


    Crying out load - a person at the age of 18 is deemed an adult in our society - not the equivalent of 5 or 10 year old in a sweet shop.

    Get a grip.

    FF
  • opinions4u
    opinions4u Posts: 19,411 Forumite
    pupsicola wrote: »
    Is that really all you can come up with?
    It's far superior to anything you've contributed to the debate :) .
  • pupsicola
    pupsicola Posts: 1,175 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker Mortgage-free Glee!
    opinions4u wrote: »
    It's far superior to anything you've contributed to the debate :) .

    In your opionion, which we all get rammed down our throats whether we want it or not.
  • vusys1
    vusys1 Posts: 246 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Combo Breaker
    boracic wrote: »
    Hi Everybody out there,

    I am beside myself.

    My 18 year old daughter has been given a £2K overdraft by a well known high street bank on the strength of her weekend job income of £200 - £300 per month.

    She is now about £1600 overdrawn.

    I cannot believe

    (a) how stupid she has been - but that's a story for another day and
    (b) how can the bank have given her such a massive overdraft facility and then not monitored her account activity? It feels as if she has been set up to fail and moreover, as if the bank's hidden agenda is that my accounts (with the same branch) will be expected to make good the damage.

    I feel like marching her into the bank and giving them all a piece of my mind (what's left of it).

    Has anyone any similar experiences or suggestions.

    Thanks in avance for any help - I'm out of my mind with worry and rage.

    Boracic.

    heres the original post incase people have forgotten what the OP stated, pay attention item (a) and the OP`s question "has anyone......"etc.

    By the sounds of things when we all hit 18 we never did anything wrong,never got drunk, never received a motor conviction,never used an overdraft,never stepped on the cracks in the pavement, :A we are all little angels and santa will be good to us.
  • jimjames
    jimjames Posts: 18,799 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    vusys1 wrote: »
    heres the original post incase people have forgotten what the OP stated, pay attention item (a) and the OP`s question "has anyone......"etc.

    By the sounds of things when we all hit 18 we never did anything wrong,never got drunk, never received a motor conviction,never used an overdraft,never stepped on the cracks in the pavement, :A we are all little angels and santa will be good to us.

    Along the way and amongst the slanging match above there have been lots of replies answering (b), namely that the bank do not monitor your account. If you are within your agreed overdraft limit then all is fine. If you go outside what has been agreed then you will have problems.

    There has been some good advice about it being a lesson to learn from; beyond that I'm not sure what anyone else can say.
    Remember the saying: if it looks too good to be true it almost certainly is.
  • vusys1
    vusys1 Posts: 246 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Combo Breaker
    I thought someone would have suggested sitting down with the daughter, discussing outgoings,how to pay back the overdraft,budget for the month etc.Perfect oppurtunity to point out some of the advantages and pitfalls

    If somebody did, good, you read some posts & think....why are you posting that?

    ah well, we all learn from our mistakes. Wheres me halo:A
  • anna42hmr
    anna42hmr Posts: 2,897 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    edited 13 December 2010 at 7:29PM
    vusys1 wrote: »
    I thought someone would have suggested sitting down with the daughter, discussing outgoings,how to pay back the overdraft,budget for the month etc.Perfect oppurtunity to point out some of the advantages and pitfalls

    If somebody did, good, you read some posts & think....why are you posting that?

    ah well, we all learn from our mistakes. Wheres me halo:A

    several people have if you look back over all the posts, including mine in which i suggested

    "I would suggest that you and your daughter sit down and work out some sort of budget for her and an idea of what she is actually spending so she doesnt get in this situation again. i really recommend she starts using this site for a spending diary, at least she can then work out what she is spending the money on and what can be cut back http://www.spendingdiary.com/ "

    others have also commented on ways she can make back some of the money, ie if daughter can sell things on ebay etc, or parent pay her to do additional jobs around the house that she can use the money to cover.

    other members have also suggested the op looks to the debt free wannabe forum for other suggestions etc

    also if it is an undergrad account, some banks dont charge interest etc on these so if thats the case, would not be incurring extortionate fees, so therefore what is paid off the loan covers the loan costs not interest etc
    MFW#105 - 2015 Overpaid £8095 / 2016 Overpaid £6983.24 / 2017 Overpaid £3583.12 / 2018 Overpaid £2583.12 / 2019 Overpaid £2583.12 / 2020 Overpaid £2583.12/ 2021 overpaid £1506.82 /2022 Overpaid £2975.28 / 2023 Overpaid £2677.30 / 2024 Overpaid £2173.61 Total OP since mortgage started in 2015 = £37,286.86 2025 MFW target £1700, payments to date at April 2025 - £1712.07..
  • Thank you - you've got it in one.
  • Thank you for this - this is exactly what I am worried about.
This discussion has been closed.
Meet your Ambassadors

🚀 Getting Started

Hi new member!

Our Getting Started Guide will help you get the most out of the Forum

Categories

  • All Categories
  • 351.7K Banking & Borrowing
  • 253.4K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
  • 454K Spending & Discounts
  • 244.7K Work, Benefits & Business
  • 600.2K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
  • 177.3K Life & Family
  • 258.4K Travel & Transport
  • 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
  • 16.2K Discuss & Feedback
  • 37.6K Read-Only Boards

Is this how you want to be seen?

We see you are using a default avatar. It takes only a few seconds to pick a picture.