Unemployed-Bank requesting £2000 overdraft to be paid in full..Help??

Anthorn

Miss_Spendalot wrote: »

Why are you still using your overdraft if you cannot pay it back ? Are you just going to squirrel it away along with your JSA and avoid paying off the debt you owe by defaulting?

You cannot run away from this debt it will come looking for you in the form of some agency or another once the building society sell off your debt to them.

Think carefully about how you handle this situation..

We could equally argue that it's the building society's own fault for lending in the first place. Judging from the history in the first post they should have curtailed the overdraft long ago and by small incremental amounts which would have been manageable. In slashing the overdraft in one swoop they must know that credits into the account are going to be moved elsewhere and the debt is likely to go delinquent.

Banks do have a tendency to purposely lead us into debt and when it goes bad they blame us when in fact they should be blaming themselves!

meer53

If your only income is from benefits, banks can't deny you access to these, even if you do have an overdraft and use it to it's limit.

The best thing to do is to contact Nationwide and agree repayments with them. They'll probably freeze your account which is why you need to open another basic bank account somewhere else for your benefits to be paid into. How much they will accept will depend on how much you have left over after all your bills are paid.

Anthorn

Yes they can take the benefits which is why Jobcentre Plus itself advises changing to a different bank account or a different method of payment.

Anyway, a further thought is that if the Opening Poster owns their own home then it all changes and any advice will be different.

Another further thought is how do people get a £2,000 overdraft? I've had the same account number for 22 years and been through two take-overs from Girobank through Alliance & Leicester to Santander and all I get is £200. I don't actually need an overdraft but it would be nice to have: You know, a bit of recognition for 22 years of loyalty!

tommytynan123

I'm no money guru but all I will say is:
Communicate
Communicate
Communicate
Talk Talk

don't hide !!

udydudy

From the looks of it Nationwide is not the only debt that needs worrying about, you mention Natwest(£1000). Frankly you would need to be clear about your statement of account, how much you can really save from your JSA(£112/fortnight) and how much debt you have.

As once you have spoken to Nationwide and they put a mark on yoru credit file the other lenders will follow suit. you do mention that Natwest is also on your case.

ofcourse you would then need to see how much you can pay both and any other lender.

Like some posters have previously mentioned, either get yourself another basic bank account or get you JSA in Giro, but this only means you have access to your cash without one lender taking the whole lot leaving you to default on others. Then you should speak to each lender alongwith your SoA and negotiate a bare minimum repayment and then repay extra whenever you can get a job.

Obviously you would need to up your job seeking and pick any job available so that you repay your debt.

Probi

As someone has said before you need to get yourself over to the DFW board and they will show you how to set up a statement of affairs (SOA) once you show them this they will tear it apart and take you down to the bare essentials which will then help you have as much extra cash as possible to start slowly paying back your debt.

meer53

Anthorn wrote: »

Yes they can take the benefits which is why Jobcentre Plus itself advises changing to a different bank account or a different method of payment.

Anyway, a further thought is that if the Opening Poster owns their own home then it all changes and any advice will be different.

Another further thought is how do people get a £2,000 overdraft? I've had the same account number for 22 years and been through two take-overs from Girobank through Alliance & Leicester to Santander and all I get is £200. I don't actually need an overdraft but it would be nice to have: You know, a bit of recognition for 22 years of loyalty!

I can only comment on where i work but i would imagine most banks operate using the same principles. Where a customers only income is benefits, even if they are using their overdraft facility to the maximum or are even in excess of it, we cannot use benefits to reduce this. If an account is frozen, we make arrangements for the customer to withdraw their benefits.

As for your overdraft, have you asked for an increase ?

Miss_Spendalot_2

Anthorn wrote: »

We could equally argue that it's the building society's own fault for lending in the first place. Judging from the history in the first post they should have curtailed the overdraft long ago and by small incremental amounts which would have been manageable. In slashing the overdraft in one swoop they must know that credits into the account are going to be moved elsewhere and the debt is likely to go delinquent.

Banks do have a tendency to purposely lead us into debt and when it goes bad they blame us when in fact they should be blaming themselves!

I do think equal blame is to be had here not just the Bank/Building society, I totally agree that them giving OP such a short time to repay the overdraft is definitely wrong and it would not be any fun for the OP if the only money he is receiving is going to be eaten up leaving him penniless at the end of the fortnight so moving his own money to another account is very important for the short term.

However my point is this, carrying on using money that is not the OP's (the overdraft) knowing that he is unable to pay it back is not right, yes he may default and the debt will go delinquent but it will not be without it's own problems, the building society WILL sell off his bad debt to another company which will be much harder to escape from causing all sorts of problems for him in the future, as we well know by some of the posts that are posted here. Money institutions do not like to lose money and Debt recovery agencies certainly don't.

I have not ever been in this situation thankfully so have no idea how desperate people behave but all I am saying is that you cannot run away from this problem and one way or another it needs to be addressed sooner rather than later..

I do wish you Good luck OP and hope that you can resolve this issue before it gets out of hand...

Samuel_

Anthorn wrote: »

We could equally argue that it's the building society's own fault for lending in the first place. Judging from the history in the first post they should have curtailed the overdraft long ago and by small incremental amounts which would have been manageable. In slashing the overdraft in one swoop they must know that credits into the account are going to be moved elsewhere and the debt is likely to go delinquent.

Banks do have a tendency to purposely lead us into debt and when it goes bad they blame us when in fact they should be blaming themselves!

Well said. The fact I have been in this overdraft for such a long time and then for them to take the whole thing away, is just pretty ridiculous. Off-course I am largely responsible, but they have also acted recklessly. I was always under the impression that whilst I was paying upto £30/month interest that it was all good. I could perfectly understand them reducing it slightly and hopefully they will agree with a £50/month reduction...

osborn99

I hear your pain Samuel. I had an overdraft with Abbey for £1200, they sent me a letter in December saying they are cutting my overdraft to £300 and I have 30 days to pay. They passed the debt to a debt recovery service and we set up a payment plan.

Just a warning to everyone to think twice before getting an overdraft.