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Livid. The bank and the teenager's overdraft
Comments
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Amazed at the people saying "She's 18, it's her problem". Less than 12 months ago, she wasn't an adult. I don't know anyone who wakes up on their 18th birthday knowing everything. Suddenly she's gone from £200-£300 pounds a month to having £2K to spend, and the bank says she can have it, and the money comes out the machine so she spends it. Yes not the wisest thing to do but the most amount of money she's ever seen in her life all for her.
I was skint as a student and I didn't live a crazy lifestyle by any means, it's only now that I'm a few years older that I can see how I did waste money. At the time I thought that I was being good by shopping in Primark and not Topshop.
As for the OP's daughter, as long as the bank are not demanding the money back then she just needs to work out a budget and work towards getting back to zero and in the process learn a valuable lesson!Times is 'ard.0 -
Alpine_Star wrote: »So it was entirely out of the hands of anyone at the bank then?
Computers don't programme themselves.
It was the bank lent her the money and it doesn't get any more difficult to understand than that.
The bank did not " lent " her anything, they made a facility available, she chose to spend the banks money, nobody made her do anything.0 -
Why?ellanutella wrote: »Amazed at the people saying "She's 18, it's her problem".
The OP for some reason thinks they can march into the bank and tell the bank what to do.
People are just pointing out that legally it's none of her parent's business - the bank cannot discuss the matter with them. This also means that the parent cannot be made to pay it back for her under any circumstances.
There are lots of students who get into more debt then what their parents think is acceptable and it's been that way for a good few years. The students learn the hard way when their parents make it clear they are not going to bail them out that they have to sort the situation out themselves.
And yes the OP can tell their daughter to have a budget etc but if the daughter refuses not to listen there is nothing the parent can do. In fact the only thing the OP can ensure they do is not to bail them out in any shape or form. Otherwise the OP is setting themselves up for a lifetime of their adult child scourging of them.I'm not cynical I'm realistic
(If a link I give opens pop ups I won't know I don't use windows)0 -
The bank did not " lent " her anything, they made a facility available, she chose to spend the banks money, nobody made her do anything.
No wonder teenagers have difficulty understand the difference between banks making a "facility available" and being "lent money" if adults can't understand the difference.
One good thing about this site is that teenagers can access the advice, videos and Martin's blog themselves. So if you have a teenager or know one direct them to this site. (You will have to do it more than once over a year but it should help them not get into a complete mess.)I'm not cynical I'm realistic
(If a link I give opens pop ups I won't know I don't use windows)0 -
Every time I go to DH's bank to pay a cheque in or bill they give me a small business card with my receipt. On this is hand written 'based on your account you can borrow £24.500'. My DH is retired and only a small company pension goes into this account.
I imagine if a teenager was given a similar card based on her account usage it would have been very tempting.Doing voluntary work overseas for as long as it takes .......
My DD might make the odd post for me0 -
I just opened a bank account at LLoyds and was given a £650 overdraft without asking for it.
I was also given an £800 overdraft without asking for it when I opened an account with HSBC.
It doesn't mean that I have to use them.
My experience has been that when you open a current account the bank automatically checks your credit and offers you the maximum overdraft they can give you.
Wandering OT for this particiular thread but for me only Santander choose to ignore my "No Overdraft thanks" on application and make one available.
Lloyds, Halifax & FD all seem to understand my request.
FF0 -
ellanutella wrote: »Amazed at the people saying "She's 18, it's her problem". Less than 12 months ago, she wasn't an adult. I don't know anyone who wakes up on their 18th birthday knowing everything. .......[snip]
....less than 12 months ago she couldn't vote but she can now. If society allows, indeed expects her to make a "Adult" decision that effects all of us by putting a mark in a box then I would expect that same person to be able to realise the potential consequencies of dipping into a £2k overdraft.
Sadly that doesn't appear to be the case - an ever increasing number of our population expect to have their hand held and walked through life.
Aside from some guidance at home what exactly have the last umpteen years of education been for ?
FF0 -
Of course they lent her the money.Utter cobblers, they didn't " lend " her anything, they made the facility available, that's all.
Whenever somebody borrows money, somebody else lends it.
Nobody forced her to borrow, but that's not what lending means. Very few lenders actually put a gun to anybody's head and make them borrow under duress.
Of course an overdraft facility isn't itself a loan, but the lending is done when they don't bounce the cheques."It will take, five, 10, 15 years to get back to where we need to be. But it's no longer the individual banks that are in the wrong, it's the banking industry as a whole." - Steven Cooper, head of personal and business banking at Barclays, talking to Martin Lewis0 -
Of course they lent her the money.
Whenever somebody borrows money, somebody else lends it.
Nobody forced her to borrow, but that's not what lending means. Very few lenders actually put a gun to anybody's head and make them borrow under duress.
Of course an overdraft facility isn't itself a loan, but the lending is done when they don't bounce the cheques.
They did not lend her anything until she chose to use the facility, it was her adult decision to do that.
They ( the bank ) made the facility available, nothing more, nothing less.0 -
Oh, they're monitoring all right. Somebody at the branch has a list of people who go overdrawn every month, and a special list of people who don't clear their overdrafts from one month to the next.(b) how can the bank have given her such a massive overdraft facility and then not monitored her account activity?
The bank sees these people as commercial opportunities.
At some point, they'll call in this overdraft. They might offer a personal loan, or they might just go for the unauthorised overdraft charges. They'll have a good look at the pattern of spending to figure out what's likely to make them the most money."It will take, five, 10, 15 years to get back to where we need to be. But it's no longer the individual banks that are in the wrong, it's the banking industry as a whole." - Steven Cooper, head of personal and business banking at Barclays, talking to Martin Lewis0
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