refused load

JJ248

hi i have an overdraft of £4000 that i'm currently using with the halifax, i want to turn this overdraft into a loan and pay it off but the halifax are refusing to lend me the money. they would rather take me for the interest as it pays better than the load, is this right? and what can i do?

[Deleted User]

Apply elsewhere, but living in your overdraft won't look great to any lender.

Nobody has to lend you any money if they don't want to.

Tixy

You could try applying elsewhere.

You say (I think) that the interest on the overdraft is higher than a loan with them would be, but you have no way of knowing if this is the case. Even if they did let you have a loan it could well be at a higher rate than the overdraft (the interest rate you are comparing to will be the representative rate only - which is the rate only 51% of successful applicants get, even if accepted chances are it would be at a higher APR than the one you have seen advertised).

If you have just been refused for a credit product with your own bank then its not uncommon that the bank will then recall your overdraft or reduce the limit significantly so you might want to prepare for that possibility.

BrownBear9

Hello...

I was in the exact same situtation only a month or so ago-

did the Halifax give you a reason for turning down your loan application? In my case, they said it was because I had been using payday loan companies, this raises questions about my ability to repay a loan (sensible lending and me being able to afford the repayments and all that), and they said if I could go 3-6 months without using a payday loan company then they would reconsider my application.

Payday loan companies now paid off in full- NEVER, NEVER going near them again!!!- so I am just waiting a few more months before trying again.

arbroath_lass

Can you ask them to reduce the overdraft limit by x (whatever you can afford in loan repayments) amount each month and pay it back that way?

DevCoder

arbroath_lass wrote: »

Can you ask them to reduce the overdraft limit by x (whatever you can afford in loan repayments) amount each month and pay it back that way?

Most banks view an overdraft reduction as an application for new credit. Thus they remove the whole overdraft and re-credit score you. Fail this and you won't have any overdraft at all.

VC76

Hi

I was in a similar situation - had an overdraft with Halifax and when I enquired about a loan to pay it off they said they weren't able to offer me one. I assumed it was because of the amount they were making from me (£1 a day!!) but I guess I also wasn't showing them that I had much left over at the end of the month to make any loan repayments. I was finding it a lot harder to make any dent in the overdraft as it was my main account so would pretty much just spend what I had.

But on deciding to tackle it properly I found it helped to use another account (actually I now used several other accounts, each for different things), and treat my overdraft as a loan, i.e. leaving a certain amount in it each month and then reducing it so that I can't just spend the amount I've left in it. Halifax don't make it easy to reduce your o/d - I tried to do it online (as I had done in the past to increase it) but had to phone up. They tell you that you need to be sure as you may not be able to increase it again once it goes down but I am always adamant that I want it decreased!

Have been able to reduce it by £500 over the last couple of months by doing this, and I must be doing something right as all of a sudden they have offered me a 'guaranteed acceptance' CC!

So might be worth trying to use a different account for your main one and putting whatever you would have used as a loan repayment into Halifax account. Just be sure to make regular payments into the account so that they don't suddenly recall the full amount (I still have my salary going in there but then transfer as much as I need to out to my other accounts).

Hope that helps,
VC.