Anyone else received a Halifax letter about removing overdraft facility

rb10

lifestoogood wrote: »

Worryingly I've received a letter this morning dated 30th December withdrawing my overdraft of £2000 in full!!! With only about 2 weeks notice from today!

Called them up and apparently they can't do anything into the day after which is going to cause me huge financial issues with the potential of bankruptcy.

Any suggestions?

Post details here: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=&f=76

There are more likely to be people able to help on that forum.

Picky

I've received this letter today. I spent well over an hour on the phone trying to find out why my overdraft has been removed and they weren't able to give me any answers other than "We review overdrafts from time to time." I was told to call back on the day it is removed and apply for another one. It all seems a bit ridiculous - the people in the call centre were able to tell me that I was eligible for an overdraft extension of £1000 (which would still be cancelled in a few weeks' time), but that I'm also eligible for a loan! So they'll give me a loan for £7k, but not an £800 overdraft? Ridiculous!

Jaxer

Thanks for all the feedback.

I called them about the removal and was told something similar, ie. the overdraft was being removed as part of an automatic review process and the fact I hadn't made use of it would have been a factor. I was also told that they couldn't halt the removal, but I should call up after the indicated date to re-request it. The lady I spoke to said that looking at my account information there's no reason why they wouldn't re-instate it on request.

All seems a bit of a pain but nothing too alarming ultimately.

Guggul

lifestoogood wrote: »

Worryingly I've received a letter this morning dated 30th December withdrawing my overdraft of £2000 in full!!! With only about 2 weeks notice from today!

Called them up and apparently they can't do anything into the day after which is going to cause me huge financial issues with the potential of bankruptcy.

Any suggestions?

Did you use your overdraft? Rarely? Always? Are you at the full overdraft limit right now? How long had you had the overdraft?

Thrugelmir

Providing the unused facilities costs the banks money. With the emphasis on affordable and responsible lending as well. Seems a timely exercise.

What the letter does do is to get a customer to make contact. In itself an opportunity for the bank to review an account. Switch an overdraft into a loan etc.

Guggul

I just rang them up and asked them what's all this about you removing people's overdrafts. I've had an overdraft limit of around £5k in place with them for about 8 years.

The person I spoke with went away and put me on hold. She came back and said that I clearly had regular income coming into the account and I also used my OD limit fairly regularly and that there were no plans to remove the OD facility from my account in the foreseeable future.

She said typically the facilities get taken off people who aren't using it as their main account or who aren't paying in a regular salary

Picky

Guggul wrote: »

She said typically the facilities get taken off people who aren't using it as their main account or who aren't paying in a regular salary

This is what I didn't understand about why I got this letter. I use my overdraft regularly. Unless they don't want me to use it anymore, meaning they don't make any money off charges? It makes no sense to me at all.

Picky

Jaxer wrote: »

Thanks for all the feedback.

I called them about the removal and was told something similar, ie. the overdraft was being removed as part of an automatic review process and the fact I hadn't made use of it would have been a factor. I was also told that they couldn't halt the removal, but I should call up after the indicated date to re-request it. The lady I spoke to said that looking at my account information there's no reason why they wouldn't re-instate it on request.

All seems a bit of a pain but nothing too alarming ultimately.

Did you get it reinstated after it was removed? They told me that there shouldn't be a problem getting mine reinstated, but I'm worried nonetheless.

Guggul

Picky wrote: »

Did you get it reinstated after it was removed? They told me that there shouldn't be a problem getting mine reinstated, but I'm worried nonetheless.

how long had you had the overdraft? How old is the account itself? How OD did you go typically - were/are you usually in credit or usually overdrawn right up to the limit?

Tbh I think they like people who are overdrawn almost up to the limit and have to pay them those huge fees they charge ( £1, £2 or £3 a day for planned overdrafts)

Picky

Guggul wrote: »

how long had you had the overdraft? How old is the account itself? How OD did you go typically - were/are you usually in credit or usually overdrawn right up to the limit?

Tbh I think they like people who are overdrawn almost up to the limit and have to pay them those huge fees they charge ( £1, £2 or £3 a day for planned overdrafts)

I've had the account for over 8 years and I'm usually in the OD for around 25 days each month, most of the time using it up to the limit. Not very moneysaving, I know! I started to reduce it last year (it was a £1250 OD, now it's £800), but circumstances meant that I couldn't reduce it by the £100 each month that I was trying to reduce it by.

So all in all, I'm a huge profit-earner for them. I don't understand at all why they've removed it!