santander new fees im screwed

dazrs

well i been with santander through abbey who i been with all my life, had a £1000 over draft facility, but it now at £500 dont really like using it but basically car broke down big time few years ago cost hundreds to fix had no choice as had no credit cards. Then among other things and other debts i now cleared and cost of living bills etc it still at £500 overdraft. I never gone over it but I was paying £7.50 in overdraft fee which i didnt mind, now with there new charges it £1 a day capped at 20 days so im now got to pay £20 a month i cant really afford and cant see how i ever can get out of it. The annoying thing is i get paid weekly so im always in my arrange over draft. How ever if i got paid monthly i wouldnt have a probelem and be well in credit and prob only go into my arrange over draft when my mortgage is due, they should be able to tell by monthly statement this. Dunno what to do now except look for another job i get paid monthly as i wont have to stagger my payments out. I cant see how i ever pay this overdraft off with £20 a month fee every month £240 a year . So much for fair banking

opinions4u

Spend less and / or earn more.

I'd suggest going to https://www.makesenseofcards.co.uk and completing a statement of affairs. Then post it on the Debt free Wannabe forum and ask for suggestions around cutting your income.

Additionally, take a look at the Up Your Income forum and Old Fashioned Money Saving forum on this site. If you can bring in an extra £15 a week and use it to reduce debt you will be out of overdraft within a year. £50 a week and you're free before the Summer ends.

Finally, consider the way you budget. Weekly pay and monthly bills can confuse. So perhaps open a basic bank account, have your wage paid in to that, and set up a weekly standing order for a quarter (plus £20 for fees plus 10%) of your monthly direct debits that go out of your overdrawn account. Make sure you get the timing right at the start and make sure you review both accounts weekly to make sure the right money is in the right place at the right time. Don't use the overdrawn account for anything else.

One account for spending and one account for bills has worked well for me for 25 years.

agrinnall

I can never understand why people don't see the fallacy of their argument that they are in debt because they are paid weekly but wouldn't be if they were paid monthly. You get the same amount of money whenever it's paid, the failure is in your ability to budget properly. You can either do as opinions4u says, or simply exercise a bit of discipline and not spend every penny of your pay the moment it comes in.

dzug1

Not only do you get the same amount of money weekly paid but you get it earlier - so it should be easier

The other approach would be to find a bank that has a charging structure more favourable to you and see if they will open an account for you. The Santander one favours very short term overdrafts - you want something longer term, at least until you have sorted yourself out.

callum9999

agrinnall wrote: »

I can never understand why people don't see the fallacy of their argument that they are in debt because they are paid weekly but wouldn't be if they were paid monthly. You get the same amount of money whenever it's paid, the failure is in your ability to budget properly. You can either do as opinions4u says, or simply exercise a bit of discipline and not spend every penny of your pay the moment it comes in.

I think they make a fair point. Their weekly pay isn't enough to ever clear the overdraft, so they pay the overdraft fee every day. If they were paid monthly however, they'd be taken out of the overdraft at the beginning of the month so would be saving the £1 a day for however long it takes them to get back into it. If it was a normal APR overdraft it would be the same either way, but this appears to be a flat charge no matter how deep you are into it.

If they are eternally stuck at minus £500, with the £1 a day capped at 20 days I doubt it makes much difference, but switching to monthly pay could theoretically result in lower overdraft charges. Though if that was true, surely the logical thing to do would be to switch your salary to another bank account and then transfer it over once a month - not quit your job and look for a new one...

timjim

But if you change to monthly pay then you have one month with no money going into bank.

Therefore the overdraft will increase and when the monthly salary goes in you will still be overdrawn by the original amount

callum9999

timjim wrote: »

But if you change to monthly pay then you have one month with no money going into bank.

Therefore the overdraft will increase and when the monthly salary goes in you will still be overdrawn by the original amount

Well I can't say anything for sure without knowing what's going in and out when, I'm just saying that it's definitely theoretically possible. Yes the overdraft will be bigger but then so would the credit.

dazrs

Im more annyoed by the fact i got friends who have overdrafts even with same account as me they get paid monthly, yet they prob go into there over draft in the last week of the month so paying £5 where for up to £1k overdraft, where as mine at £500 because i get paid weekly im always in it so paying £20 a month now instead of £7.50 where if i got paid monthly i prob be in credit for at least 3 weeks that why i dont think it fair. For those who say dont get in debt easier said than done, you either live at home or been very lucky and got well paid jobs. I had bad luck had 2 newish cars go wrong, who ever thinks new cars are good idea they cost hundreds to repair. Now got rid and drivng about in a old focus diesel so far all i had to replace was the battery in a year of ownership.

opinions4u

dazrs wrote: »

Im more annyoed by the fact i got friends who have overdrafts even with same account as me they get paid monthly, yet they prob go into there over draft in the last week of the month so paying £5 where for up to £1k overdraft, where as mine at £500 because i get paid weekly im always in it so paying £20 a month now instead of £7.50 where if i got paid monthly i prob be in credit for at least 3 weeks that why i dont think it fair. For those who say dont get in debt easier said than done, you either live at home or been very lucky and got well paid jobs. I had bad luck had 2 newish cars go wrong, who ever thinks new cars are good idea they cost hundreds to repair. Now got rid and drivng about in a old focus diesel so far all i had to replace was the battery in a year of ownership.

You can complain that it's not fair.

You can moan that your friends have it better than you.

You can blame bad luck with cars.

Or you can do something about it to help improve the position over time.

Up to you.

SnowTiger

dazrs wrote: »

Im more annyoed by the fact i got friends who have overdrafts even with same account as me they get paid monthly, yet they prob go into there over draft in the last week of the month so paying £5 where for up to £1k overdraft, where as mine at £500 because i get paid weekly im always in it...

Can't you pretend (to yourself) you're paid monthly? It's quite simple: don't spend any of your income for four weeks. Maybe set up a new bank account and transfer your wages in to it at the end of every month and pretend it's a monthly salary.

thatsean

It's a £12.50 per month increase - if there isn't that breathing space in your budget then you're in bigger trouble I'm afraid. Have you tried talking to them to arrange to reduce your o/d every so often to force you out of it? Assuming that you can stay in limit why not try shaving £100 a month off?