LLoyds Halifax New Overdraft Fees

Rob666

Like a lot of people I have been caught having an overdraft with one of the banks - Unlike a lot of people I have an overdraft with BOTH!!!!
I write this to help other based on my experience.

I have had the Lloyds overdraft since I was at uni, it now stands at £2000 and I have obviously never been able to pay it off.

I took out the Halifax overdraft of £1750 to help pay for son's college costs last September.

Now with both of these accounts, my fees shot from about £65pm to over£170pm!!!!!:mad:

I have poor credit rating and a low income.

I hate people who simply say "change bank accounts" no bank will give me almost £4000 overdraft with my credit rating, this advice is simply naïve and stupid (sorry Martin).

I phoned up both banks weeks prior to the change over and both of them instantly refused a loan to pay off he overdraft but advised this may be different after the start.

a week after they kicked in (so I could see how much they would be costing me) I went in to both banks. Each step I shall separate between the banks to compare their responses:

Lloyds: Can't give you a loan, call this 0808 number (which is free)
Halifax: Make an appointment with and advisor tomorrow morning :j fill in this budget questionnaire.

Halifax: Spoke to advisor, she spent most part of the interview advising me to phone debt charities or get loan with pay day lender - not going to happen. I insisted that I deal with this matter direct with the bank, I don't want to give hundreds, if not thousands and take the rest of my life to pay off 10% of my debt, plus I just want to sort just the overdrafts, not everything else which would mess everything up.
We spent over an hour on hold to their "customer help team" I think everybody is phoning them. The chap simply went through my budgeting questionnaire and told me that my details would be passed over to a team and they would contact me, in the meantime they would refund the fees that I have already paid and stop them for this month and next month. result, sort of.

Lloyds - phoned the free phone number and spent over an hour again on hold waiting (good thing its free) chap was very helpful, if not in a rush to deal with me. After going through the budget and being very honest about what I spend where, he instantly offered me a £2000 loan over 84 months at £32pm to pay off the overdraft, he also promised to stop any further fees (no rebate but still result).

Lloyds: Just waiting for the paperwork for the loan, fees have been stopped from the day I spoke to him.

Halifax: received random £20 fees refund but fees are still being charged to my account, going to go in on Monday and find out why.



Two different responses from basically the same company. But the advise that I can give, go in and talk to them, phone Lloyds on 0808 145 0411 and have ready a complete breakdown on what you spend and your income, be completely honest.

Try not to be fobbed off on to debt management companies, they will ruin your credit file for decades to come.

Finally and most importantly, offer to repay the overdraft instead of just complaining about the fees - whilst the bank loves your monthly income from the fees, they don't want you to walk away and leave them with costs having to chase you.

I hope others have better results and get this farce sorted for themselves.

I hope anything I've written may be help to someone.

rozmister

TBank you so much for your post. I have a £2700 overdraft with Lloyd’s that I can’t afgord to clear, my fees have gone up from £36 to around £120 and the paying daily is making me so anxious.

I didn’t understand the letter that came before the charges and thought they’d be much less. When I realised I called the customer support unit they’d shut 3 hours early to deal with the high volume. When I complained they didn’t do what they said or call back my request for help was turned into a complaint and it’s remained with the complaints team for 4 weeks, today they said they’re closing my complaint and sending me back to the customer support unit.

I’m honestly at my wits end, I’m in the middle of moving house, being counselled at work due to trauma and stress (work related) and being forced to take time off. I have days where I sit in the shower and cry for half an hour before I get ready for work and the idea of paying these charges as well is too much. Hearing that a solution was found for you gives me up that if I keep pushing I might find the right person and get one too.