Santander overdraft charge increase help

jemmah1983

I am in the situation of living in my overdraft.
After being made redundant about to have a baby and with no job to go to and being able to get very limited benefit, I am just below my overdraft and creeping to the limit.
I have just noticed the overdraft charge has doubled. I normally get charged £ 7.50 or £10 a month.
As I cannot repay the overdraft at present I'm between a rock and a hard place.
Can I refuse the increase like on a credit card when they up the interest rate?
I know it's only an extra £10 but when that's half your grocery budget it will really hit me hard!

IrishGypsy

Santander did provide 60 days+ notice of the increase on their bank statements as they're required to, so I don't think you can 'reject' them like with credit cards. Are you over £100 over your OD? If so then you can contact collections and recoveries on 0845 6039035 ignoring the first option about charges and instead choosing the next option and speak to an adviser there.

They can help suspend/freeze additional charges racking up bu that usually means the loss of some functionality (such as your debit card being replaced with a cash card until the OD is cleared).

Best of luck.

jemmah1983

Not over my overdraft I'm in it to £2000 which is my limit.

thatsean

You can reject the increase, but will need to repay the debt. As you can't do this I'd follow the advice of Irish Gypsy and speak to the bank. I'm not really sure what they can do other than offer you a long term repayment plan to pay off the overdraft, as from what you've said your situation isn't likely to change for the better financially for quite a long time. As you will struggle to repay an increase of £10-£20 a month I don't know if you'll be able to agree terms with the bank that you can afford, but best of luck.