Consolidate 14k Halifax cc to Halifax Loan. Bank say no.

meer53

Cash_Flow wrote: »

The OP could refinance his CC with his bank if he could convince them he was in financial difficulty.

Once you get to the stage where you have £14,000 pounds on a credit card and only paying the minimum and still spending on it - the said product is no longer suitable.

Taken from the Lloyds Banking group website:

Talk to your creditors
Don't put off talking to the people you owe money to - this includes your bank. They will help you, which may seem strange, but it is actually in their interest to do so. Plus, by letting them know as soon as possible that you’re struggling to make your repayments, they may be able to help you manage them better

Consider a personal loan
One way to approach your debts could be to put them all together in a single personal loan. Not only could doing this make your repayments more manageable by spreading them out over a longer period of time, but it could also help you stay on budget. But, remember, taking out a personal loan could mean it takes longer to pay off your debt and could cost you more in the long run. You’ll also need to be sure you don't rack up any more debt while you’re paying off this loan.

I agree that refinancing is sometimes a good option. However, what we don't know is what the OP earns and what his outgoings are. Refinancing may not be an option for him, his options may be limited dependant on what his financial situation is.

I speak to people like the OP every day and look at refinancing where possible. BUT, sometimes, that option is just not available.

If the OP doesn't get any joy from Halifax, my suggestion would be to speak to CCCS. A good start would be for him to post a SOA on the DFW board.

Monkey2401

I dont own any property. I now earn £16k and although we live with my wifes parents we pay most of the rent and bills as one is unemployed and the other only works part time.

I dont have any savings and this is now my only debt. I recently had a £1100 bonus from work and used that to pay off my overdraft with Halifax, ive never missed any payment I have had on loans with them or the credit card and it seems that as a few people have said im basically a cash cow for the bank.

I still cant understand how this is treating me fairly as I owe them 14k and I wish to pay it back, but at the moment all im doing is giving them £3600 a year without denting my credit card becuase they will not transfer the 14k to a loan instead. I understand the comments about risk but what are they risking? I owe them the money already as i have a Halifax Credit Card and now want to pay that off with a Halifax Loan and then pay the loan which will finally allow me to pay it off. The money would just go from one account to another without any involvement from me. As I have said before, the bank have me between a rock and a hard place and they know it and that is the one and only reason they keep saying no. I would understand the comments about risk if I was asking another bank for money to pay my Halifax credit card off.

With all that is going on with economy you would expect banks to commend and help people that wish to pay back the debt, but from my experience with halifax all I can see is that really couldnt care less and push people to default on the debt. I could easily default if I wanted to. I have nothing of value and the house I live in is rented, yes I would have a CCJ but whats another 7 years as its going to take me longer than that to pay off the credit card.

I think I will contact the bank direct instead of my local branch and put together a statement and try and explain how a loan would benefit me and my family and although I can see why they wouldnt want me to have a loan, they can hopefully see I want to pay it back ASAP and get on with my life and have my own family home.

I just like to thank all the people that have taken the time to give ideas and constructive comments, its very much appreciated.

Monkey2401

meer53 wrote: »

I agree that refinancing is sometimes a good option. However, what we don't know is what the OP earns and what his outgoings are. Refinancing may not be an option for him, his options may be limited dependant on what his financial situation is.

I speak to people like the OP every day and look at refinancing where possible. BUT, sometimes, that option is just not available.

If the OP doesn't get any joy from Halifax, my suggestion would be to speak to CCCS. A good start would be for him to post a SOA on the DFW board.

I will have a look at CCCS as I have not heard of them but hopefully I may get some where with Halifax if I approach it differently.

opinions4u

I recently had a £1100 bonus from work and used that to pay off my overdraft with Halifax

Recent use of overdraft won't make getting a loan any easier. Stay in credit.

, ive never missed any payment I have had on loans with them or the credit card and it seems that as a few people have said im basically a cash cow for the bank.

Like it or not, you're not going to get a sub-9% loan with them.

One "trick" to improve credit rating a little would be to pay at least £1 over and above the minimum payment for the credit card. I'm not saying it will change the situation overnight, but it may make things easier at some point in the future.

meer53

Monkey2401 wrote: »

I will have a look at CCCS as I have not heard of them but hopefully I may get some where with Halifax if I approach it differently.

CCCS will give you free advice, let you know what your options are, and you can make up your mind as to what you decide to do.

Good luck with the Halifax

redpete

You've said that the monthly repayments on the loan you'd hoped to get (but as other have pointed out even if you could get a loan it would be at a much higher rate than this representative rate) would be £345 and your monthly CC payments are between £290 and £340.

So this means you could afford to pay between £5 and £55 in addition to the monthly minimum. This will start making a dent in the balance, albeit slowly, and is what you need to start doing now.

zozza26

Hi Monkey,

See my post earlier today 'Halifax CC Rate Jacking Success'

I sent an email on their website and got a letter today saying they will reduce the APR on my credit card from 29.95% to 6.95% aslong as i close my account.

Im not daft enough to just say yes though i want conditions in writing so i have emailed them back on the website. Dont speak to them in person, get it all in writing (i.e. ignore calls after complaint until they put it in writing).

Great result though and all i emailed was that i thought the constant APR increases were unfair and unreasonable. I said i would never be able to pay it off and they werent helping people in financial difficulty. I did mention that if i wasnt happy with their response i would complain to FOS (Financial Ombudsmen) so hopefully this helped!

Good luck!

Cash_Flow

opinions4u wrote: »

Recent use of overdraft won't make getting a loan any easier. Stay in credit.

If the OP goes down the route of refinance via customer support, constant overdraft usage will go in his favour not against, the op needs to convince Halifax he can't get himself out of the hole he put himself in.

opinions4u wrote: »

Like it or not, you're not going to get a sub-9% loan with them.

Correct the rate of interest is around 10% for refinancing Via customer support, the reason for modest rate considering the obvious RISK is no further lending within the Lloyds banking group will be allowed whilst paying off the refinance loan.

Monkey2401 Halifax will help you so long as your Income is more than your outgoings and you are deemed to be in financial difficulty, in cases where outgoings exceed income and one is robbing Peter to pay Paul they will advise you contact the CCCS.

Another option is to have a read of the following post:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4044837

Cash_Flow

dan160987 wrote: »

hi,

this happens quite a lot with lloyds. I have personal experience almost identical to this.
loan ended, was offered a consolidation loan of £13500 over 5 years 24% apr 398 per month.
I accepted then foolishly (due to a change i job and circumstance, though i do take responsibility) ran up my cards again.

my advice to you is to go through to the customer support service that lloyds operate. after paying the loan above for about a year i rang them and they immediately set up a "true" consolidation loan whereby they restrict access to your other lloyds credit facilities but at a significantly lower apr 8 or 9% i think, despite me being over extended in my opinion.

so worth a shot?

Another example of how the customer support unit can help