Want to close Halifax current account

pinkdalek

lancunian wrote: »

I have opened an account elsewhere.
Due to credit score I would be unable to get a personal loan.
The charges come November would be £90, realistically I could only pay £10 on top of that to bring the overdraft down.
If there is no solution there is no solution, i will just have to pay off what I can.

Really? Did you apply for the loan with Halifax? In some circumstances they would repay your overdraft with a loan, remove the overdraft facility and place an indicator so you cannot apply for more overdraft with them whilst the loan is in place.

Cee

I too am struggling with the same issue, I'm trying to pay off other debts before tackling the overdraught as at £1 a day it was cheaper than other high interest accounts I was trying to bottom.
Now its been raised to £2 "paying it off, simple" is not an option. I've tried 3 times in the past few years to get a loan to clear my debt, my first application is logged on here somewhere & although I would have been able to clear it and save money while paying my loan off, no one would give me a loan due to my bad credit history.

I'm getting some funds from my Mum to help me out of some of it because finding out about the overdraught fee recently put me into a panic. I'd hoped to contact the Halifax about changing the OD into a loan I could pay back without occuring so much interest at the end of the month but I doubt they would help, they never have so far in all the time I've known them.

Having just been turned down for an 8k loan I'm not sure what to do anymore.

opinions4u

Cee wrote: »

I too am struggling with the same issue, I'm trying to pay off other debts before tackling the overdraught as at £1 a day it was cheaper than other high interest accounts I was trying to bottom.
Now its been raised to £2 "paying it off, simple" is not an option. I've tried 3 times in the past few years to get a loan to clear my debt, my first application is logged on here somewhere & although I would have been able to clear it and save money while paying my loan off, no one would give me a loan due to my bad credit history.

I'm getting some funds from my Mum to help me out of some of it because finding out about the overdraught fee recently put me into a panic. I'd hoped to contact the Halifax about changing the OD into a loan I could pay back without occuring so much interest at the end of the month but I doubt they would help, they never have so far in all the time I've known them.

Having just been turned down for an 8k loan I'm not sure what to do anymore.

If it's doubled your overdraft sits between £2,000 and £2,500.

Get that below £2,000 and you half the cost.

lancunian

Just remembered starting this thread so I thought I would just post a few thoughts.
I have been reading that claiming back bank charges might be possible if you can show hardship, I took on a more secure job but with lower pay whilst training for 12 months, I did inform the Halifax about this but they just said what really amounted to "tough" and charged me when I went overdrawn. I am thinking about starting a claim, as the guide says "the worst they can say is you are not in hardship".
I have also been reading on other forums about the recent BCOB rules although to me there appears to be conflicting information about how effective these are and even if they apply to overdrafts.
As said before I'll hold my hands up and say that my credit score took a battering by my past errors so applying for a loan may not be possible, unless anyone else knows different!
Any thoughts would be appreciated.

jonesMUFCforever

I think you are taking the biscuit to be honest.
Were you not in 'hardship' when you were racking up the overdraft but only complained when they changed their charging structure?

Suggestion - de clutter your house - sell items in a boot sale, E bay or Facebook. Throw all available cash towards the overdraft.
Cut back all unnecessary spending - you can pay it back but whinging about hardship won't do it for you.

Better_Off_1983

I had a Halifax account, only had a £100 overdraft and when they wrote to me advising me of the £1 per day, I just paid off the overdraft and closed the account.

jonesMUFCforever

Better_Off_1983 wrote: »

I had a Halifax account, only had a £100 overdraft and when they wrote to me advising me of the £1 per day, I just paid off the overdraft and closed the account.

If it was me I would have paid off the overdrawn amount, kept the account open with the O/D facility in place JUST in case of an emergency need.

lancunian

JonesMUFCforevever:
I have already sold everything not required, cut bills, outgoings etc.. and yes I did admit that I am in this situation due to past errors, I was not in hardship when the OD was increased, although I was stupid for taking advantage of the increase. My point is that I have spoke to Halifax to put forward solutions, they won't budge, so now I am looking at all options. I checked my credit file at all the agencies but it only told me what I already knew, that I had got into difficulties of my own making and now I am facing the consequences. As I said I can only afford to reduce the O/D by £10 a month, it's all I can afford at the moment I told Halifax this but they said there is no other way.
The hardship route may be an option, as for BCOB, I'm not sure.

Cass85

Unless you are in financial difficulty and they can identify your income doesnt cover your outgoings and you are in a cycle of charges normally over a 3-6 month period, theres not much to be done other than you reducing it down each month yourself. The sooner you do this the better because overdrafts can be substantially reduced or removed by the bank at any time (which usually depends on how you manage your account).

I dont bank with Halifax personally, but even I knew of the changes to the overdraft charges structure as of last november. I cant see Halifax allowing you to come to an arrangement to get off with the £3 a day charge....

Good luck.

lancunian

Yes, I do think the period where I was being charged counts as hardship so I will give it a go.
As a personal opinion, when I looked around the internef for information and pointers, I thought it was odd that some topics seemed to have a " the other sites are wrong" viewpoint, without explaining why.
IMHO I think that consumer sites should stand together, now more than ever, rather than be saying negative things about each other.