levi: la vida loca

Levi-

Literally can't stay awake long enough to catch up/write a proper update today Barely had time to stop for 2 minutes all day - work absolutely crazy, on my feet running around for most of it - and this evening, hectic - LL and I made Rice Krispie cakes for him to take in tomorrow, had to go shopping for some of the stuff and while there got some other shopping items we needed, then had to a load of last minute laundry as we both ran out of clean clothes, thank goodness for tumble-dryer! Flat is an absolute tip - no time to do anything about that - it will have to wait until the weekend (but the mess makes me feel stressed just looking at it gaaah) - normal evening routine stuff obviously too, dog walk, bath, bed, packed lunches - done now but I'm still feeling a few steps behind. Have (good) news to share tomorrow re: Natwest so will update tomorrow as I'm back in sync with msyelf!x ZzZzzZz.

Levi-

PS - meant to say thanks so much my amazing :money: family.. Hummingbird your post was so helpful and insightful, reassured me no end, thank you so much. And to the rest of you too, you guys are :A and I'm grateful for everything you take the time to write to me and help me with. x

Levi-

I'm at work with a little time to kill (heck, its Friday, I'm allowed to skive a bit right?) so just an update on the Natwest call yesterday

Spoke to someone in the 'special needs' department as it were (not being flippant - that is actually what they are:o) and spoke to a very kind and sensitive lady there who I ran over everything with including how anxiety-inducing I find it when the bank calls, my change of circumstance, how my branch ignored my letter where I spelt it all out, and a few other factors. She was genuinely helpful and said she would put a note on my file to let the branch know not to call me and make a not of my 'vulnerabilities' so that that is considered before any action is taken on my account. I told her all about how one of my major worries is the OD being removed out of nowhere or demanded to be repaid in full. I told her this worry consumes me and causes me to near enough have panic attacks. She looked at my account and said there was no signal at all from it that there was any prospect of my OD being removed or even reviewed, she said it looked all fine.:o

That reassurance was worth the phone call alone!:beer:

Anyway then she transferred me to this other dept (who knew they had all these depts?) where I spoke to a guy who then emailed me the SOA sheet and an address where I can send it, medical evidence of my anxiety disorder (I have lots due to missing work from it a fair bit over the last 18 months).. and evidence of my change of circumstance and he said from there they can look to helping me with suspended charges if possible. He was nice too. So I'll get that done over the weekend.

So all in all that call made me feel a lot lot better. I assured them that my situation is only going to improve but that I may just need a bit of patience and understanding from my bank - I'm not looking to miss payments or any of that, I will always continue to meet my obligations and when my o/d and natwest visa are clear I will be so much better because the interest won't be mugging me every month.

One bit of help if poss - a question on the form is "how do you think suspending interest on your o/d or credit card will help you?"
^ what am I meant to say to that? it's quite obvious one would have thought,:rotfl: but at the same time I don't want to seem like I'm just using my illness as an excuse to get free money/be a leech? Advice appreciated if anyone has any

Have a great friday! Will try and catch up on threads on my lunch break as I have no errands today.. I dunno what is happening to me but my time seems to run away lately.. it is certainly la vida loca...:heart2:

riverdance

Hi Levi

Just checking in after 4 days of not! Wow lots has happened ! Well done for phoning bank remember they are just normal people like you and me . Whilst banks are making money out of us they will not pull the blanket from under us ! I must admit it was better for me to get rid of the overdraft first see my account in credit again , keep it that way and then start to bring down the credit card debt .Keep your chin up its Friday ! Riverdance x

MeandO

Levi- wrote: »

I'm at work with a little time to kill (heck, its Friday, I'm allowed to skive a bit right?) so just an update on the Natwest call yesterday

Spoke to someone in the 'special needs' department as it were (not being flippant - that is actually what they are:o) and spoke to a very kind and sensitive lady there who I ran over everything with including how anxiety-inducing I find it when the bank calls, my change of circumstance, how my branch ignored my letter where I spelt it all out, and a few other factors. She was genuinely helpful and said she would put a note on my file to let the branch know not to call me and make a not of my 'vulnerabilities' so that that is considered before any action is taken on my account. I told her all about how one of my major worries is the OD being removed out of nowhere or demanded to be repaid in full. I told her this worry consumes me and causes me to near enough have panic attacks. She looked at my account and said there was no signal at all from it that there was any prospect of my OD being removed or even reviewed, she said it looked all fine.:o

That reassurance was worth the phone call alone!:beer:

Anyway then she transferred me to this other dept (who knew they had all these depts?) where I spoke to a guy who then emailed me the SOA sheet and an address where I can send it, medical evidence of my anxiety disorder (I have lots due to missing work from it a fair bit over the last 18 months).. and evidence of my change of circumstance and he said from there they can look to helping me with suspended charges if possible. He was nice too. So I'll get that done over the weekend.

So all in all that call made me feel a lot lot better. I assured them that my situation is only going to improve but that I may just need a bit of patience and understanding from my bank - I'm not looking to miss payments or any of that, I will always continue to meet my obligations and when my o/d and natwest visa are clear I will be so much better because the interest won't be mugging me every month.

One bit of help if poss - a question on the form is "how do you think suspending interest on your o/d or credit card will help you?"
^ what am I meant to say to that? it's quite obvious one would have thought,:rotfl: but at the same time I don't want to seem like I'm just using my illness as an excuse to get free money/be a leech? Advice appreciated if anyone has any

Have a great friday! Will try and catch up on threads on my lunch break as I have no errands today.. I dunno what is happening to me but my time seems to run away lately.. it is certainly la vida loca...:hearts2:

A big well done Levi, it really does sound like they will genuinely try to help. As for the question regarding the interest suspension, I would literally just state that:

a). It will help you to pay it off more quickly, which will ultimately help your anxiety levels which are mainly caused by your debt and improve your life greatly after the sudden change in your circumstances, now that you have full custody of your son.

and b). Ease the anxiety about being charged every month if the interest knocks you over your limit, again reducing your anxiety which has caused you to take time off work.

Really pleased things look like they're going your way Levi, once the bank has stepped into help a little then hopefully the horrible, crippling anxiety will dissolve somewhat too.

Lots of love
xx

MessyBetty

Morning Levi

So pleased that you plucked up the courage to call the bank you can now look forward to your weekend and not be worrying yourself sick, which I'm sure you would have done in the past you have come so far :A.

MeandO has as always given fab advice I would just add that the 'saving' of interest will enable you to pay your debt off quicker. Seems obvious however it will reassure the bank of your intention and show your commitment to debt slaying

Have a good day

MB xx

hummingbird

Huge well done on ringing up, and great that you got to speak someone helpful and considerate straight away!!!:j

Yes to answer that question on the form, say something like "since at present I am only able to lower my overdraft by a small amount each month, the interest and charges put me in danger of going back over my limit. This causes me severe anxiety and distress. I would therefore be greatly helped by the suspension of interest/charges."

Now you can have a great weekend!! Yay!!:T

greyfox

Did they say whether they'd look at the interest/charges on your other loan & C/C as well, or just the OD? Would it be worth doing a "back of the envelope" calculation of how much you'd have been able to pay off all three in the last couple of months had it not been for interest/ charges?

Then you could make the point that you've been doing your best to reduce all three (as they can tell from your records) but charges/interest on the three things has meant that you haven't been able to reduce the OD by very much, nor build up any form of emergency fund. This makes you extremely anxious as you know that any sudden emergency could tip you over your OD limit. You could also mention that your level of anxiety affects your son, too, which in turn makes you more anxious. Any help they could offer would help break this vicious circle.

Or something like that! I'm really no expert on this sort of thing, but know there are others out there who've "been there, done that".

Good Luck

Levi-

Those ideas for the 'reason' sound great, thank you so much ducklings

greyfox - they were going to look at all areas of it and also look at the refinancing option so that sounds good too. I understand if they can't do anything but at least this way I have tried - I have taken copies today at work of medical evidence documents and my prescriptions etc and am going to compose a letter and the budget sheet to sum everything up. But this guy really seems great and is going to be looking after stuff for me directly. He also emailed me again this morning and assured me again about how my OD deffo won't be taken away and even more deffo not now having given them all this extra info about the situation.
I'm actually impressed by Natwest at the moment for even HAVING this department... and they have so far been very respectful and compassionate.

I'm desperate for the weekend to come... I'm dying for a a proper rest and chill out, whether or not I'll get one is yet to be seen between dealing with hurricane Luca and all the outstanding housework.. but I'm certainly gonna try :heart2: x

Willowpop

Ah Levi, I'm so pleased you've got through to these people at the bank and they can help you at the very least by reassuring you, even if they don't manage to do anything else...though I'm sure they will prove to be even more helpful.
I know this will be of great comfort to you, but it means that your diary can continue to inspire others who are way back down the road from you when they see that banks are not necessarily all big and bad, and sometimes can help too.
Have a great weekend.