Overdraft AND car finance advice please

gmd06

Hi folks,

Looking for some advice on my best move. Married with 4 kids, two incomes and seemingly skint every month. Here's the situation:

I have Halifax Ultimate Reward account. The overdraft limit is £3700. We pretty much use this every month. Recently I've noticed Halifax have started hammering us with bank charges. Last month it was £32, next month they want £48. I'd love to be able to pay this overdraft off and get the hell out of this Halifax account. On top of this I just bought a used car on finance. I'm paying £136 pm over 3 years. I've decided that I want rid of the car as it'll be too expensive to run. I've not asked the finance company for a settlement figure yet but plan to very soon. The only other debt I have is my mortgage (still 20 years) and finance on my new mac book which will be paid of in a matter of months. I'm thinking of getting a credit card 0% finance and paying off the car and overdraft. Is this a wise move of are there other options out there?

Would love some advice here. Thanks in advance.

PS Hope this is the right forum.

jessie4109

Could you apply for a new bank account somewhere else and have all of your income put in there then pay of X amount per month to the overdraft. Yes you would loose the £5 but may stop getting charges. Are the charges just for the use of the overdraft? Could you ask them for breakdown of their fees to help understand why it varies etc? Before you look at the 0% cards have you looked at the MSE pre eligibility checker to give you a rough look at what you may be able to get without it effecting your credit rating? such as https://creditcards.moneysavingexpert.com/?l3e2pyTnRS8=

gmd06

jessie4109 wrote: »

Could you apply for a new bank account somewhere else and have all of your income put in there then pay of X amount per month to the overdraft. Yes you would loose the £5 but may stop getting charges. Are the charges just for the use of the overdraft? Could you ask them for breakdown of their fees to help understand why it varies etc? Before you look at the 0% cards have you looked at the MSE pre eligibility checker to give you a rough look at what you may be able to get without it effecting your credit rating? such as

The new bank account is an option but then I'd be in breach of my Ultimate Reward Ts&Cs I think. Pretty sure I need to put a certain amount in each month. The charges are just for overdraft use. I received a letter detailing the breakdown. Charges up to £1900, more charges up to £3000 etc. It's an agreed overdraft and these charges have only been in the last month. I haven't looked at the MSE Pre-eligibility checker but will do now. Thanks.

The_Boss

Do you have an MBNA card or was that one that you were thinking of applying for?

What is your salary? Do you have any other credit cards that are not in use? Any missed repayments? Can your repay the overdraft amount within 18 months?

ilovelondontown

I had a halifax reward account and it felt like they were robbing me every month on interest alone. I ended up moving banks and having the same overdraft and only paying a pound or 2 in interest. It's made all the difference. I definately suggest you move banks if you're being charged a £1 a day on an overdraft you're never out of.

gmd06

The_Boss wrote: »

Do you have an MBNA card or was that one that you were thinking of applying for?

What is your salary? Do you have any other credit cards that are not in use? Any missed repayments? Can your repay the overdraft amount within 18 months?

Don't have any credit cards at the moment. Hadn't even looked to be honest but if I do go down that road then it'll be 0% finance for as long as possible.

gmd06

ilovelondontown wrote: »

I had a halifax reward account and it felt like they were robbing me every month on interest alone. I ended up moving banks and having the same overdraft and only paying a pound or 2 in interest. It's made all the difference. I definately suggest you move banks if you're being charged a £1 a day on an overdraft you're never out of.

Haven't moved banks for years. I assume it's fairly easy these days? Plenty of direct debits etc to sort out.

The_Boss

gmd06 wrote: »

Don't have any credit cards at the moment. Hadn't even looked to be honest but if I do go down that road then it'll be 0% finance for as long as possible.

It's not just 0% for as long as possible. You need a card that lets you transfer at the promotional rate to a current account (such as MBNA).

What is your salary?

Also note that the eligibility checker linked above took me to travel credit cards...

ilovelondontown

gmd06 wrote: »

Haven't moved banks for years. I assume it's fairly easy these days? Plenty of direct debits etc to sort out.

You can move banks in a matter of mins, they WANT you to move to them, they make it very very easy and even handle all your direct debits for you. I have (had) been with the halifax since I was born and felt loyal to them, but when they started being unloyal to me, I moved!

gmd06

The_Boss wrote: »

It's not just 0% for as long as possible. You need a card that lets you transfer at the promotional rate to a current account (such as MBNA).

What is your salary?

Also note that the eligibility checker linked above took me to travel credit cards...

Salary is 40k. Ideally I'd like to transfer the overdraft and car loan and then just pay that debt as cheaply as possible. Overdraft isn't covered by "balance transfer" is it?