levi: la vida loca

Levi-

Hopeful, great mental images I had of you rapping to Eminem :rotfl: ( I hope this took place *IN* the classroom)
Don't thank me.. it is the LEAST I can do to provide support to you, you were the person that welcomed me on to this forum and started everything going for me so I am forever in your debt (:eek: more debt)
Lilty, Lucks, MeandO, Edwink and greyfox... I;m afraid I haven't called Instead I have been feeling ill all afternoon about it and ended up talking to someone in Natwest online-chat. The guy was pretty helpful.. assured me that
A) They wouldn't just take overdraft without a discussion/making me aware or notice.
He would be able to leave an note on my file to explain that I have problems with anxiety and sometimes find it hard to talk on the phone (this issue is more or less exclusive to talking about my finances as I am overcome with panic:() He will ask branch guy to email me.
C) Gave me the number for their team who can help with payment holidays, stopping charges, etc...although I said I'd written, he thinks the call would be very helpful and put things in place to make things easier for me as temporary measure while I get sorted. It's all a big storm in a teacup because the main areas of my debt are bouncing between 3 Natwest products. If I could just catch a break on the charges of one of them, the sooner I could clear the others.. esp if they stopped the credit card interest for say, 6 mnths, I would be able to slay my overdraft very fast. I'll phone tomorrow.


And as I've been reminded today:
A) I'm making money for them every month (£80 in overdraft fees alone, without even counting credit card & loan) so why wouldn't they just sit back and enjoy it?
My OD amount *is* lessening albeit slowly.
C) My account is very active with payments (incl salary) always going in.
D) I never go past my authorised limit and in the other 18 years of my account holding with Natwest everything has been in good order.
E) I have made them aware of the difficulties of the present time and have a solid plan to address them. Now with child benefit, tax credits etc, my income is higher than it has been in the past, so they will also start to see this.

:heart2: I feel totally drained from todays worry and emotion.. its amazing how little it takes to send me back to square 1 mentally and feel all the scary feelings I had when all this begun. I feel like I've been skateboarding along with the wind in my hair, grinning-- when suddenly I hit a pebble and go flying off the skateboard. I guess I just have to get right back on it.

Mentally I'd feel most secure to pay my OD back first I guess. This "WE CAN DEMAND IT ALL BACK ANY TIME!" thing doesnt apply to any of my other credit lines. Like we talked about before. So maybe I should just put everything else to one side (minimum payments) until it is. :undecided

Levi-

PS Lilt - yeah, me too, it is likely to not be anything to worry about after all this.. they usually phone me once a year to sell me things, but atm they are already making lots of money off me so why don't they just shut up and enjoy it while it lasts At least if they do withdraw my OD I have now Barclays ready and waiting for the next salary to go into -- and I don't presume they can insist I pay it back as a lump sum? How would anyone really do that (if they could, why would they be using an OD).. bleh.

Hopefuljoy

Hello Levi, indeed the rapping was in the classroom! EMIMEM ft rhianna. The natwest person sounds very helpful and I also think your idea of minimum payments for now to everything else and killing off the od which worries you more is a brilliant idea. As a fellow mental health sufferer I know that sometimes only I know what will help me and even if others may disagree my methods keep me sane. Do whatever keeps you healthy and takes the worry away from you.

You are doing ever so well. I am sooooo proud to know you!! Nite nite and lots of hugs to you and LL. Xx

hummingbird

Hi Levi, please try not to worry about this "urgent" message as if what I've been through in the last couple of years can help you, the only thing I can say is that I've had it all.......and waited for the "sword of Damacles" (or whatever it is) to fall. I know what that awful feeling is like. If only I'd known then what I know now!!

Just to say that despite everything I'm still here and have learned how to speak to creditors - and have learned that actually, in the most part, they actually will try to help you once they have a clear idea of where you're at.

In many cases I tried to make things sound better than they were, whereas they would have been more helpful if I'd shown how totally impossible it was for me to make my payments. I no longer fear doing any income/expenditures that a creditor asks me for, and if I get a message to call I always do. Sometimes it's just been an error that they've contacted me believe it or not. For example I have a credit card that has been sold on and the company I make the token payment to send me a text nearly every month saying to call them "urgently"! Very strange.

So glad you have your new a/c with Barclays now, so if the worst came to the worst and Notbest want to reduce your OD you will still be OK and you have a new home for your salary.

Great that you have had the online chat and you've let them know about the stress/anxiety etc. Once again, the more in the picture they are, the more they can help you.

I don't think they would demand the OD to be paid back as a lump sum. Anyway, you couldn't do it, and they can't have what you haven't got hun. If that happened, get straight on the phone to Stepchange for help. I have an OD with Halifacts for £1k which is frozen at the moment - no interest or charges. That's because they are fully aware of my situation and they've been great. Before, they were charging me £5 a day for being over my OD limit and I had no way of getting out of the cycle.:eek:

You are a great negotiator I'm sure. You'll do it all the time in your job. That is a huge key in dealing with creditors. You negotiate again and again sometimes, and if you speak to someone who isn't helping you, politely end the call then ring back and speak to someone else. Get the free numbers so you can do this without running up a big phone bill. Or of course the online chat option etc.

And you're improving your situation every month and reducing your balances. You're not in the same position as you were when you wrote the letters asking for help as you've made a lot of progress since then - they should be able to see this.

Sleep well hun, love & hugs xxx:money:

edwink

What a great post Hummingbird!! And great advice for our Levi from someone who has experience of what he is going through. Well written too!!


GO FOR IT LEVI!!!!!!!! YOU JUST GO FOR IT!!!!!!!!!!!


Edwink x

hummingbird

Thanks Edwink, you are a huge encourager too xxx

greyfox

Excellent post, Hummingbird. I love the way you all rally round each other on here. It's like a big "virtual family".

MeandO

liltdiddylilt wrote: »

Ahem... What's all this about being spoken for? I'll have you know I am in a committed relationship with Me&O :rotfl:
:heart2: xx

She's even moving in don't you know... :rotfl:
(although I have sneaky suspicions it's for cake and funky chair reasons, not for 'me'.... :cool:)


Great that you found someone 'human' to have that online chat with Levi, and hope you've managed to get to the bottom of the calls without it being anything too stressful.

Keep your head held high sunshine, you can deal with ANYTHING and you are doing soooo well. Sending you all the 'brave' I have today

xx

hummingbird

Thanks greyfox, you're right, we are like a family on here!!:j

edwink

greyfox wrote: »

Excellent post, Hummingbird. I love the way you all rally round each other on here. It's like a big "virtual family".

hummingbird wrote: »

Thanks greyfox, you're right, we are like a family on here!!:j

Hi Levi


Bet you had no idea how big your family was did you???


Hope you had a good day!!


Edwink x