Not allowed to reduce my overdraft

johninblackpool

This is a good one.

I am trying to reduce the amount of overdraft I have,
My bank (Santander) has refused to let me reduce it on the grounds my credit score isn't high enough
I can't afford to cancel it all together so was wanting to reduce it by £50 every other month

What's the saying "The Computer Says NO"

its crazy

recoverydust

Why don't you just spend £50 less of it each month till you pay it off?

zzzLazyDaisy

Recoverydust beat me to it! Just because you have an overdraft facility doesn't mean you have to max it out each month.

johninblackpool

Try telling my missus that

opinions4u

johninblackpool wrote: »

Try telling my missus that

She needs to grow up.

SnowTiger

johninblackpool wrote: »

Try telling my missus that

Well, if she's unable to control her spending, at least she's spending an arranged overdraft, rather than an unarranged one. Looks like Santander charge a fiver a day (for twenty days/month) for that on most of their accounts.

It seems quite common for banks to credit score, and maybe even credit check, all overdraft changes. They, effectively, cancel the current OD arrangement set up a new one.

stclair

Effectively with some banks your cancelling your old overdraft altogether and replacing it with a new one.

Gromitt

johninblackpool wrote: »

I am trying to reduce the amount of overdraft I have,

I can't afford to cancel it all together so was wanting to reduce it by £50 every other month

That may harm your credit rating further, as they'll most likely want to cancel your existing overdraft entirely and setup a new overdraft, which may involve a new credit check.

A better idea might be to open another account with no overdraft which you'll use for spending and transferring £50 + the cost of your DDs to the other account and pay it off that way.

meer53

If you're going to be spending less each month in order to reduce your overdraft, what difference will it make whether it's reduced or not ?

Each request for an overdraft, either increase or decrease, will be looked at as a new request so your credit file information will affect it.

zzzLazyDaisy

johninblackpool wrote: »

Try telling my missus that

Then open a new current account that has no overdraft facility (eg a basic account, where the card is declined if there is not enough money) and transfer the money she needs to have access to into that account each month.

The normal bills, DD's etc can remain in the main account and you can take control of reducing the overdraft.