Natwest Overdraft help.

jules1973

I started a DMP in February but held on to my Natwest Overdraft of £4k. There were no banks where I could open a basic account as connected to all of them via debt. :eek: Natwest is my only safe bank.

I am hopeful most of debt will be paid off in next 6-8 months. Problem is I want to reduce my overdraft as well, but I have heard that if you even apply to do reduction in o/d, Natwest do credit check.

If this was to happen, I would not be entitled to any o/d due to defaults on credit record.

Does anyone know anyway around this?

Sharon87

Discipline, set yourself limits of what your balance will be at the end of the month before you get paid and stick to it. So say it's at it's limit each month, say you want to pay off £100 each month, then don't let it go beyond £3900 overdrawn each month.

Only way to do it if you can't open another account to work out of.

You could put it in a savings account, but you'd want to reduce the interest.

jules1973

That is the obvious answer isn't. I just hope I have enough discipline to do it.

allybee101

Hmmm, I'm not sure. Perhaps you could call into a local branch and ask?

I reduced my Natwest O/D limit by £500 earlier this year and am working to clear my O/D. When I rang up they were a bit bemused (normally people are asking to increase their limit!) and they went through the security q's and tried to offer me a loan (I said no thanks - would have been paying more interest!). There is a chance that they will do a credit check as they are clearly following a set process for increasing/decreasing limits.

I work out my budget for the month add a little extra for emergencies and then fix on a limit to keep under, -£2500 this month (only 3 days to go).
I log all my spends in my diary and try to leave cards etc at home and use hard cash - more painful to part with than hand over the plastic! I keep a close eye on my balance via online banking - every day nearly.
It is tough to keep it under control when the money isn't going into a separate pot/account, but it is possible.

Have you done a Statement of Affairs to work out how much surplus you have left over at the end of each month? You could use that to work out how much money you can 'reduce' your overdraft by every month.

missladyannie

I saw the Natwest bank manager on friday regarding my overdraft, he suggested to me to reduce it by £50 per month (or whatever you can afford), if you have online banking apparantly you can reduce it online. I am going to do this each payday, so effectively i will be £50 less each month but my o/d will start to get cleared - good luck xx

jules1973

I am sure online one does a credit check and am worried they take full o/d off us. I have not told them I am doing dmp. Mind you they probably knew something was up when we cancelled most of our direct debits and started sending cheques for our token payments :rotfl:

missladyannie

Hi Jules, i don't think they do a credit check (apologies if i'm wrong), but i don't think they would if you are reducing, only if you are increasing? x

jules1973

def will never increase. I do not want to see a loan, cc or od ever again. I may pop in and see the bank staff next week as may be better face to face.

Thanks for advice

missladyannie

My manager was really helpful and i feel better for seeing him, he gave me good tips on how to chip away at my debt, its not overly huge in comparison to some but with childcare fees etc there isnt a lot left after the bills. my problem is that i just witter my money away so he asked me to do a spending diary to see where its going, hope you get on ok xx