Nationwide reducing my overdraft

beamer88

Hello there!
I am in a bit of a pickle, today I received a letter from Nationwide stating that they are going to reduce my £1000 overdraft to £500 on the 29th of July, basically giving me two weeks to come up with £500! I am a self-funded postgraduate student and earn just over £100 per week. I know that an overdraft is meant to be a temporary measure but I have found myself relying on it this year to keep myself afloat

Does anyone know of anything I could suggest to Nationwide to delay this that might have worked in the past? Maybe asking them to delay the reduction date so I have longer to get the money up, or even a repayment scheme? I don't really want to take out a loan as I am paid weekly and work unreliable shifts (which are due to be reduced due to financial difficulties at work) and don't know that I would be able to make the repayments each month

Any help would be very much appreciated - I am panicking just a little bit at the mo :eek:

InsideInsurance

Have you actually just spoken to them yet? Sometimes these things are just system generated with staff being perfectly happy to override the system.

scott1358

Maybe contact them and suggest a sliding reduction of maybe £50 per month? Yorkshire Bank agreed such a thing with me last year when they asked me to reduce my then overdraft of £1600.

beamer88

I haven't got in touch with them yet. They have reduced my overdraft basically as I have gone over my limit a few times in recent months, not by much maybe £5-10, but the resulting charges have also sent me over the limit a few times without me realising. I did ask for them to cap my account but they won't, their online banking is a bit behind so it appears that i have money in my account, but in fact it isn't there, i spend what I though I had and incur charges - vicious circle. I have tried to stop this recently by avoiding paying for things by visa, only spending cash so I know what I really have in my account.

I just wanted a few ideas to maybe put forward when I do talk to them. Thanks for the replies!

Consumerist

I'm assuming your credit record has suffered recently so you've probably nothing to lose by asking them to agree a repayment plan which you can reasonably afford. What ever you do, don't agree to make payments that you will no be able to afford so you are forced to break the terms on any agreement.

For the record, banks now have a duty of fairness to customers who are in financial difficulties. You will need to tell them and then they usually ask you for a Statement of Affairs to complete so they can make an assessment of your ability to pay.

You can get plenty of useful info about dealing with debt on the <Debt-free Wannabe forum>.

beamer88

I talked to them this morning and they were actually very nice about it all and very understanding. They tried to get me to agree to a £90 reduction per month over 6 months which i told them wouldn't be possible, and managed to make it a £50 a month reduction over 10months. Figuring it out as scrimping £12.50 a week seemed doable in my books, and realistically I'd like to be rid of this overdraft asap.

Anyone else in this position needs to know however that the terms of this agreement are quite strict. I was told that if I didn't stay within the new limits each month my overdraft facility would be stopped entirely and that this repayment plan would be cancelled, even if I go over the limit by a few pence. I'm just going to have to be more disciplined with my spending...

thanks for the help guys!

teeni

When I did this I was told this will show as an arrangement to pay on your credit file but it didnt, but may be worth checking if it matters to you .