OD of £2000, What can I do?

[Deleted User]

Ok so as you can see from my signature I have a £2000 OD and it's maxed out always. My salary comes to this account monthly and all of my DD and SO are paid from this account.

It's now costing me £30 per month for the OD and a further £15 for the account.

I wrote to Halifax and asked for a reduction in charges, they wrote back and said they would consider this if I gave them a breakdown of expenditure and the reasons why I needed this support.

So I suppose my question is, how can I opperate my account. Would they agree to a monthly reduction of will they simply remove the OD facility and then take all of my wages when they come in.

I didn't want to change bank account, I just want a way to get this OD down and I need to start as I am with everything else.

Does anyone have experience of this or know what they might be able to do as an alternative. Eventually I don't want the OD as I don't ever want to be in debt again :-/

Thanks

opinions4u

The overdraft is only a tiny part of the overall problem.

If you don't use the insurances on the URCA ask Halifax to change your account to a Reward current account. That's £180 a year towards repaying debt.

To get help here about the bigger issue, in your signature, go to https://www.makesenseofcards.co.uk and complete a statement of affairs fully and accurately.

Then post your SOA here and suggestions from others will be forthcoming.

The solutions will be somewhere between spending less or earning more.

Jenny0050

Hello…
I have an overdraft with the Halifax- in my case it is costing me £2 a day. I am managing to pay the monthly overdraft fee (£60-£62) but not managing to reduce the actual overdraft. So I thought OK I’ll apply for a bank loan to clear the overdraft- it seemed sensible to me- I will be making a similar monthly payment but my overdraft will be clear…. I applied for the loan over the phone and unfortunately it got refused but I then got transferred to another department- ‘Money Management’ -or something similar to that…..


…the lady I spoke to over the phone was ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC!!!! –she couldn’t have been more helpful- she was advising me for over half an hour...

Exactly just like you I was terrified that because I had been passed onto this ‘Money Management’ department and I was admitting to them I couldn’t afford to pay the overdraft back that they would just remove the facility- but the very nice lady on the phone reassured me that they wouldn’t do that- she didn’t say it like this- but basically she said what’s the point in them removing the facility ?? –you haven’t got the money to pay it so if they remove it they still aren’t going to get their money- so they like to work with their customers….

I explained that I had recently been made redundant and my new job was a significant drop in salary comapred to my old job (she could she this from my bank account transactions), I also had to relocate due to the new job being at the other end of the country (again she could see this from my records). She went through all my expenditures and saw that I was currently struggling a bit- i.e. what I had to pay out was SLIGHTLY more than what I had coming in….


So she said for the next 6 months they will freeze my overdraft charges and also there is something called ‘control’ which you can add to your account- it stops you going over your overdraft limit and incurring unauthorised overdraft charges- it should cost £10 a month- but she has added it to my account for the next 6 months free of charge. I was also terrified that freezing my overdraft charges would also affect my credit file- but again she reassured me it wouldn't.

At the end of the phone call I thanked her so much for all her help and advice- I said to her I didn’t realise banks could be so helpful- she just gave a friendly laugh!

All I can say is that I was in a similar situation with the Halifax and they were absolutely FANTASTIC! But I guess it all comes down to individual circumstances- for example, I have been with the Halifax 9 years and never previously had problems….I had genuine reasons for currently struggling at the moment....


Like the poster above points out- your overdraft is only part of the problem…. maybe you should be looking at the bigger picture ?

mildredalien

You may want to try and figure out how much your OD is costing you in terms of interest, and compare it to your other debts. Personally my OD will be the last thing to go, as it is cheaper borrowing than my credit card. It always makes sense to pay off the most costly debt first.

From your signature it already looks like you are making good inroads to your debt - why is the OD bothering you so much? For some people it's the mental thing about always being 'in the red' but personally that doesn't matter to me, I'd rather tackle my debts in the most effective way possible.

opinions4u

Good point from Mildred.

Assume a rate of 18% for the overdraft. It goes up as the debt goes down.

[Deleted User]

Ok thanks for the replies, I like the idea of freezing it for 6 months.

I have already done my SOA and have made some progress with these debts, I don't want to default on my cards as I need to move home as this is also a problem for me at the moment.

I don't really know what else I can do regarding the cards as I have paid off as much as I can so far. We have a shared ownership house and this is the reason we will need to take a new mortgage and move on - this alone is costing me dear!

So I shall be calling Halifax and asking them what they can do for me.

As for the other debts what else can I do, I manage to may everything (just), and I don't want to do that anymore.

I thought if the overdraft is costing me I may as well see if I can deal with anything that costs and reduce costs will help me pay back debt.

The only think I use the ulimate reward for is the "AA" service, once my car would not start and it was a big help. I don't know what I can swap this for to be honest?

Thanks all - appreciated.

opinions4u

assj wrote: »

So I shall be calling Halifax and asking them what they can do for me.

I would hazard a guess that any help will impact negatively on your credit file. Or get no further than a partial refund of one month's charges.

The only think I use the ulimate reward for is the "AA" service, once my car would not start and it was a big help. I don't know what I can swap this for to be honest?
.

Buy via https://www.topcashback.co.uk and you can get a £71 breakdown policy with £20 cashback. PM me if you want an introduction link.

At the moment you seem to be paying £180 a year for something you can get for £50.

Jenny0050

Good Luck assj when you speak with the Halifax- I hope they are as helpful as they were with me….

Like I said, I originally I phoned up to apply for a loan- I didn’t know that freezing the overdraft fees for 6 months was even an option- I was VERY, VERY pleasantly surprised!!

Forgot to also say, she said the overdraft fee (£60/£62) I had paid last month she couldn’t refund in full but because I was almost at my overdraft limit she would do a partial refund of £30 to help me out- again I was just totally surprised!!
She was so nice and helpful!! –I wish I made a note of her name to pass on to you. I think you need to speak to somebody in this 'money management' department though....


I took out AA house contents insurance recently just because it was the cheapest quote but I think it came with free car breakdown cover or something – to be honest though I didn’t read too much into this ‘extra’ as I don’t have a car!! -but might be worth investigating when your house insurance is due for renewal.

Also how much is AA cover ?? I’ve no idea- but is paying £15 a month for a bank account the cheapest way of getting it??


Best Wishes!

Jenny0050

opinions4u wrote: »

I would hazard a guess that any help will impact negatively on your credit file.

Me again!! In my case, I checked with her half a dozen times that it wouldn't damage my credit file- I said to her I would rather struggle by paying the overdraft fees than damage my credit file- but she kept confirming it wouldn't.

BUT OF COURSE YOU SHOULD DO YOUR OWN CHECKING!

It will be on my Halifax 'inhouse records' -if not on my credit file- which I guess doesn't look too great ???

[Deleted User]

Thanks very much for your help.

Well if they helped you I can only ask if they will do the same for me.

If they did it would be well worth the call and they did write to me and say if I provided income and expenditure lists they would consider something (just didn't say what).

Anyway I now need to find out what time they are open until, because quite frankly I am tired of being broke and need to sort out these debts quicker than I currently am.

Thanks again all. The AA link would be fab! :-)

[Deleted User]

Oh no they closed at 3pm today! - Looks like I will be on the phone first think Monday morning. I must be honest and say that Halifax did help me with my credit card - that's when they were not messing it up (but that's individual staff and not Halifax as a whole).