Are Banks Sympathetic

Panicker_2

Hello Everyone, this is my first post on here so please be gentle with me!.

Im Kate, 31 I have a good job and I'm married but my husband doesn't know about my debts. (We have a friend who got into a similar situation and I know his opinion on it, we've been through a tough patch lately and I honestly think the marriage would be over if he found out. - I don't mind telling him perhaps when I've found a way forward or paid off a chunk of it).

I left Uni som eyears ago with just £4k or debt which should have been paid off in no time. However, I consolidated my store cards (2 back then) and I've been consolidating ever since.
My debt is huge but to be honest becasue I earn a good salary I haven't been too worried about it, just exended the overdraft again and again.
In January I realised I'd hit the limit of every credit option I had and when I consolidated, the bank gave me a loan with 18.9% APR!!
Everything hit me at once, the realisation, the sheer scale of it etc. etc. I've since got some of my cc debt shifted onto 0% for 12 months and I've done a budget and all the things you lot advise.
I still have a £6,500 overdraft with Lloyds which is killing me at present with £100 monthly just in interest. I've met with a financial advisor and he says we need to meet with the bank and firmly ask them to reschedule the £10k loan at a lower APR and possibly consolidate the O/draft at the same time.

Problem is, at present I'm making ends meet (just) with about £20 per month over - he says I need at least £100 over each month, just for 'elasticity'.
My worry is that becasue I meet all my repayments the bank aren't really aware that there's a problem and meeting them in this way will cause them to panic and call in my overdraft in which case I'm done for.

I'm with Lloyds TSB, has anyone else tried talking directly to the bank in a similar situation and what has been the outcome?
What do you think the chances are that they will call in my overdraft?
If they just say 'no' I don;t mind meeting with them, I'm just afraid they'll start calling in the O/D.

Any Advise appreciated.

Kevicho

Banks are amoral, they dont care or otherwise about customers, just the money.

I think what you should do is post your SOA on here, so we can help you find ways to cut your spending, and give you some money for debt repayments, maybe switch to some cheaper suppliers and get you some cashback.

Also I would talk to the hubbie, he should be caring enough to understand the situation, id make sure he realises that this is a shared issue (unless the debt is in your name only), and as a husband should be supportive of you.

Anything you can sell, may help in the short term, to ease you monthly payment amount

Good luck and welcome

Kev

Panicker_2

Debt is all in my name. It was starting to spiral when we got married three years ago and I thought I was in control of it. It's since doubled mainly due to High APR's.

Financial Advisor has gone through my costs and seems to think I've cut back too far so there's no flesh to take out there.

I just need to calculate the risk of going to the bank, possible lower APR. vs. calling in my overdraft and personal insolvency.

FA seems to think banks sometimes react differently face to face rather than via phone banking or internet options.

Anyone out there with similar experience?

lonely_2

How much are your total debts?

I was with LloydsTSB. I found them to be OK. I really don't think they would recall your overdraft.

Panicker_2

Total is £35k with £4k of that on 0% and £6.5k of it on teh O/Draft
I have never missed a repayment on anything and have been late only twice on cc repayments (but that car was not a Lloyds bank card)

I currently repay £1045 per month and I'm treading water becasue of interest rates.

I'd need to get it down to £7 - 800 to make life a lot less stressful.

What's your story with the bank? - how were they with you - what did they ask you.....sorry to ak so many questions, as you can see I'm very worried.

southernscouser

Firstly it's difficult to advise you without seeing a full SOA.

As for your financial advisor. Are you paying them? Firstly you can't afford one and secondly they can do nothing for you that you can't do for yourself. Plus there is more than enough knowledge on here.

As for your OH. You need to tell him. You are going to probably need to make some big lifestyle changes and he will notice. Would you want him to keep this from you? If he loves you he will be OK with it. Sure he might be a bit p!ssed but he will come round.

Bunnyinthelights

Hi Kate,
I will echo SS post above.
I was in the exact same postion as you, only I owe MORE! I told DH fully expecting to be getting a divorce but it is ok now.
You will not get out of this by consolidating anything
Bunny

lonely_2

No problems. I had to change from Lloyds to Abbey because I started a debt management plan. Like you I had to bring my payments down bcause debt was spiralling and only just managing to meet interest! I have 50K outstanding to several creditors. My husband doesn't know either and all my problems started from living beyond my means at uni. Never seemed to get a handle on things after that.

But this year I turned 30 and I thought I can't let this get any worse. So I started checking out forums and getting advice as to what was the best option for me. I decided against an IVA because I have a joint mortgage with hubby and didn't want the equity to be released to pay for my mess. I wasn't even going to consider a consolidation loan because for that amount it would need to be secured against my property and again I didn't want to bring my house into it. DMP seemed best option because there was a good chance that creditors would freeze interest, which would allow me to pay it off quicker. Downside is that all this will be marked against my credit files for 6 years preventing me from taking out further credit (a good thing).

So I talked to Payplan and CCCS - and decided to go with Payplan. They were the ones that advised me to change my bank account because they said that Lloyds have the right to offset, which means they can dip into your current account and take what they want to pay towards your debts. As my salary was paid into my Lloyds account, and I also had a loan, o/d and cc with them totalling £18K, I changed to Abbey. Lloyds have always been nice to me but I couldn't take the risk staying with them. I have heard some real horror stories about them (as well as other banks).

I would advise you not to pay for any financial advice when you can get this for free (CAB, CCCS and Payplan). Also, seems your adviser is pushing you into another loan, albeit at a lower interest rate. But there are other options. Let me know if you need to know anything else. And try not to worry too much - you are now prepared to do something to change things and that is the first step.

Kevicho

To be honest if i was the husband, i would want to be told as soon as possible, because this could affect him more the longer you leave it, also it gives you both chance to work on this sooner

SunderlandBlackCat

Firstly if you haven't already you need to cut up your existing cards to stop you spending on them - then call them up & ask them if they have any deals available for existing customers - they may offer you a low balance transfer rate or be able to reduce the apr on your existing debt - if you don't ask you wont get & you're no worse off if they say no.

As for the bank overdraft, Initially when I maxed everything out almost all of my financial products were with Barclays & they just said no to everything I asked but didn't call my o/d in - A lot seems to depend on who you talk to though regardless of whether its over the phone or face to face.

As you are currently making all your payments you might be able to do a bit more shuffling of your debts onto lower aprs.

A&L are offering up to £2500 overdraft at 0% for 12 months when you open a current account with them (You have to pay £500 per month into the account but theres nothing to stop you transferring it straight back out again - Use the link on www.quidco.com to get cashback if you apply)

With your level of debt it is also worth looking into the &More card from Marks & Spencer which offers 3.9% for the life of the balance with no transfer fee so you won't have to worry about getting the card paid off in a set time limit or finding another card to transfer to. They seem to be quite easy to get although the credit limit may initially be low (they will review it after 3 months)

Cards Issued by Egg & MBNA will pay directly into bank accounts to pay off overdrafts & loans (if the loan will allow you to overpay or even pay it off in full without penalties)

If you space out your applications to 1 every month or 2 months you should still be able to get most if not all of the things you apply for without having much of an impact on your credit score.

If you can keep doing this & between new cards paying as much off the highest Apr products as possible (known as snowballing
http://www.whatsthecost.co.uk/snowball.aspx you'll quickly start making a dent in your overall debts)

Once you have paid off a card make sure you immediately cancel the account so it shows as settled on your credit report.

Also have a read of this article http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi-bin/viewnews.cgi?newsid1103204730,72152,,

Lennylegs

Hi

I got into debt with Lloyds too - similar amounts - I negotiated reduced monthly payments with them, after making 6 payments on time they moved all my debt with them (credit card, OD and loan) to a managed loan at 2%APR, it will take years to pay off but at that rate it is now, its not top of my list of debts to pay off and I have some breathing space. Whilst going through the 6month 'test' or whatever they want to call it the collections department were absolute hell but once they decided to offer the managed loan/refinance loan thing the people that talked me through it and arranged it all were lovely. Setting up the 6 months reduced payment option was fine it was just the problems i had with them after that. (taking wrong payments etc) I wouldn't let it deter you anyway if your finding it hard to manage.
Also i would tell your OH as i think you need the support he has to offer & anyways - 2 heads are better that 1 !
Take care x