overdraft charges

badgerbread

please advise me I have just got my bank statement in and have a huge amount of charges on it I know it's my own fault but these charges mount up to £150 which I just can't afford I am scared to move my money elsewhere because they might take the overdraft away which is huge (I am currently in the process of sorting things out) I don't want to have to pay even more charges. I have phoned Abbey to try and arrange where they make it a loan type thing and I pay off £50 a month because at present this is all I can afford but they do not want to know because my account is not at collections and the minimum they would want is £130 a month please help it just seems that as I am getting somewhere with my finances something else drags me down.

determined_new_ms

hi badgerbread i'm so sorry this must be awful for you, maybe it is an idea to change baks because it seems like ur in a vicious cycle atm. hopefully someone will give some advice, but i think the best place to start is dr awing up an soa x

Pollycat

Hi there
first step is to post your SOA:

http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html

then see what advice you get from that.

badgerbread

already done that previously and have cut my finances down as much as possible from all the advice I got on here I just wanted to see what advice I would get to get myself out of the bank situation

dazla

badgerbread wrote: »

please advise me I have just got my bank statement in and have a huge amount of charges on it I know it's my own fault but these charges mount up to £150 which I just can't afford I am scared to move my money elsewhere because they might take the overdraft away which is huge (I am currently in the process of sorting things out) I don't want to have to pay even more charges. I have phoned Abbey to try and arrange where they make it a loan type thing and I pay off £50 a month because at present this is all I can afford but they do not want to know because my account is not at collections and the minimum they would want is £130 a month please help it just seems that as I am getting somewhere with my finances something else drags me down.

I was in the same situation with my Barclays current account overdraft. My charges were around £90 a month because I was going over my agreed overdraft limit constantly over the last 6 months, due to other debts. I phoned Barclays and told them that I was not making any headway reducing the overdraft as the charges were making things worse. They agreed to put the account into 'collections' but I had to gradually reduce the overdraft by about £50.00 a month. But in the meantime I have opened another bank account with the coop, as I am about to start a DMP as with my other debts I need to try and sort it out once & for all. You could ask Abbey to put the account into collections, tho there will be a negative marker on your credit file

badgerbread

dazla wrote: »

I was in the same situation with my Barclays current account overdraft. My charges were around £90 a month because I was going over my agreed overdraft limit constantly over the last 6 months, due to other debts. I phoned Barclays and told them that I was not making any headway reducing the overdraft as the charges were making things worse. They agreed to put the account into 'collections' but I had to gradually reduce the overdraft by about £50.00 a month. But in the meantime I have opened another bank account with the coop, as I am about to start a DMP as with my other debts I need to try and sort it out once & for all. You could ask Abbey to put the account into collections, tho there will be a negative marker on your credit file

already tried that one but they want £130 a month because we have such a big overdraft and won't even consider taking £50 my credit rating is shot to pieces I have already tried to open an account with co-op and they refused me

dazla

badgerbread wrote: »

already tried that one but they want £130 a month because we have such a big overdraft and won't even consider taking £50 my credit rating is shot to pieces I have already tried to open an account with co-op and they refused me

Have you thought about starting a DMP with CCCS or Payplan? This may be an option for you, if there's nothing else u can do, especially if your credit report is shot to bits, just like mine is.

caledonian_princess

badgerbread wrote: »

already tried that one but they want £130 a month because we have such a big overdraft and won't even consider taking £50 my credit rating is shot to pieces I have already tried to open an account with co-op and they refused me

Was it a cashminder account you applied for? You can't do that one online, have to ring them for it. If you're going down the DMP route you will need a basic bank account, away from your debts where you can have your income paid. Your overdraft will be included in the DMP so it will get repaid at the rate that you can afford not what the bank is demanding.

badgerbread

I applied online so it must have been for another account I will give that one a go thanks

dazla

badgerbread wrote: »

I applied online so it must have been for another account I will give that one a go thanks

It was a cashminder I applied for, its a basic account with no overdraft facility

BigCraigJohn

Yep youve got to get another unrelated account asap. Thing is in my experience (HSBC and Lloyds), they wont charge fees if it is there fee that has took you over the limit and if they wont just remove the overdraft without giving reasonable warning.

Leave your account under the credit limit and move everything to a new account, then when they levy the charges they shouldnt add more as the only reason you are over the limit is there greed and in theory the vicious circle is broken. Treat that as a debt but dont pay anything off it unless they either freeze it or you can pay enough to bring it well under the limit.

Try and avoid speaking on the phone full stop, let them write to you.