Over Draft: Halifax

Big_boy_q

Hi,

I have quite a large overdraft with the halifax, and I requested a loan ealier in the year to consolidate it to a loan - but got refused.

I used a online application, and my credit score is not great.

How is the best way to convert my overdraft to a loan with my bank?

Regards

BBQ

thriftydaddy

i'm in the same boat just been refused as my overdraught bills me for usage and since im never ut of it i get charges every month would be good to know how to get out of it without loan halifax are no help also i heard they can withdraw the overdraught and demand th money from you is that true?

Peelerfart

BBQ - you can't, they refused you. You will have to go elsewhere,but be careful as the more times you apply, the more desperate you appear when prospective lenders look at your credit history.

thrifty - yes thats right they can withdraw the facility. It is at the banks discretion,although they do have to give notice.

VC76

Hi BBQ (and thriftydaddy)

Sounds like your situations are quite similar to mine, I have an O/D with Halifax which I use regularly but the interest (which it clearly still is even if they don't call it that!) is pretty huge. My credit rating is also less than perfect.

I recently applied for and was able to open a current account with Santander (yes, I know, but needs must!). Their O/D account has a much more preferential interest rate compared to Halifax, and is interest free for a year provided you transfer to them and pay in at least £1000 each month. I've decided not to transfer my actual account, just the O/D, and so the interest rate will be 12.9% (still have to pay in £1000, if you don't the interest rate rises to 19.9%). I plan to just transfer the O/D and pay it off over the next year, not using the account for anything else, i.e. treating it as a loan.

I guess it depends on how much your O/D is at the moment as to whether or not it would be worth switching, but I would certainly say you'd be better off with Santander if it's more than £2500 and you tend to go into it for the full month.

Hope that helps and makes sense, let me know if you want any more info.

VC

opinions4u

Peelerfart wrote: »

they can withdraw the facility. It is at the banks discretion,although they do have to give notice.

I'm struggling to keep up with legal and regulatory changes.

Can you provide some sort of link to support this?

I thought overdrafts were still repayable on demand.

Mat_Lock

Halifax are a disgrace when you're a customer of theirs. I have banked with them for 17 years. Never messed around with payments, only ever had the £100 overdraft which has been removed for years.

I recently applied for a 0% Balance credit card and requested the credit limit 10% more than what I owed on my Mint credit card. Which at the time was £4200. They only gave me a credit limit of £1800 !!

This week I applied for a Barclaycard 0% for 17 months card and within 2 mins had been given a substantially bigger credit limit to cover my existing cards and can now pay at 0% for that time. Will get it cleared well within that time which is also helpful.

My own bank screwed me over.

opinions4u

Mat_Lock wrote: »

Halifax are a disgrace when you're a customer of theirs. I have banked with them for 17 years. Never messed around with payments, only ever had the £100 overdraft which has been removed for years.

I recently applied for a 0% Balance credit card and requested the credit limit 10% more than what I owed on my Mint credit card. Which at the time was £4200. They only gave me a credit limit of £1800 !!

This week I applied for a Barclaycard 0% for 17 months card and within 2 mins had been given a substantially bigger credit limit to cover my existing cards and can now pay at 0% for that time. Will get it cleared well within that time which is also helpful.

My own bank screwed me over.

What a shocking example of somebody who feels credit is an entitlement.

Mat_Lock

Whenever I ring the Halifax they're always pushing me towards loans, credit cards quite forcefully too so when I actually asked for what I required they then couldn't offer it to me.

Of course credit is not an entitlement but they are my bank and they should be a little more helpful.

Apples2

Maybe far from being a disgrace and screwing you over, Halifax have looked into your affairs and come up with a reasonable amount of debt you could take on without getting into difficulties later on.

How many posts do we see where people have overstretched themselves by taking huge loans only to shout unenforceable afterwards?? They all cry that they should never have been given such a large loan as they cannot repay so it should all be written off.

Your argument is against responsible lending, not Halifax.

Please don't say you could easily afford the repayments on a larger CC Limit, you owe £4,200 on a Credit Card already so the alarm bells are quite rightly ringing.