Advice needed regarding overdraft charges

bpj87

Hi, for the past couple of years I've been living in my overdraft of £2500. I'm with Halifax and their current charges are £1 a day on overdrafts under £2500 and £2 a day over that amount. Whilst this isnt ideal, it is just about managable.

However, from the 2nd November, they are reducing the £1 a day limit to under £2000. This means I need to reduce my overdraft by £500 or end up paying double.

The trouble is, I'm doing a full-time college course which means I can only work part-time in a minimum wage job. I take home about £340 a month, which barely covers my outgoings. There is absolutely no way I can save £500, so I feel I am destined to be paying £2 a day charges.

Is there anything I can do such as writing to my bank (what would I say?) or moving the debt somewhere else (I have poor credit rating)??

Please hellllppppp.

Thanks in advance for any advice

Ps. In case its relevent, I also owe £550 on a credit card

bpj87

Anybody???

tenbob84

i would imagine the only way is for you yo pay the £2 a day fee, moving the debt elsewhere with your bad credit rating is likely to cost more than 64 pounds in interest on borrowing 500.00.

look around the house and sell some none-essentials on ebay, do you have an iphone etc?

in the past when i have hit rock bottom im afraid you need to make some sacrifices to pull yourself through as the bank will start charging you even more for going over your overdraft limit all the time and will call the whole overdraft in if you are constantly breaching it.

bargainbetty

Start by talking to your bank. Find out if they could make an exception for you for an extra period (say three months) to enable you to get out of the situation you are in.

Next, go through your cupboards and do an inventory of everything you have from loo rolls to lentils. Work out what you can use up over the coming month, meal plan, reduce your meat intake for a bit (it's cheaper to have a few veggie meals each week) and see if there is anything you can put on ebay to raise some extra funds.

If you can minimise your expenses, you will start to make inroads in reducing the overdraft. Every little bit will help, so look at downshifting any brands you have too. I know you study full time, but can you do one extra evening a week for a month? Could you connect to the survey sites or click-through sites to try to raise some money that way (you can use the vouchers to not spend cash). Have you checked and cashed in any loyalty points you might have?

Can you raise money other ways? Baby-sitting, cleaning, dog-walking (cash payments).

Ultimately, they can not only refuse to help, but they could withdraw the full overdraft if they wanted to. Gradually reducing it the main total, even by £20-50 per month would help avoid a larger version of this problem in the long run.

Good luck