best choice against account fees and keep access to high overdraft

carlt1966

hi
i have had a Natwest Advantage gold account for too many years to remember and am fully aware i have been paying the monthly fee knowing there is nothing in the incentives that attracts me - apart from the free travel insurance - which i know isn't free when i am paying such high monthly charges for the account.
i SHOULD transfer my account to another bank - and possibly pick up a bonus for doing so - but my concern is i also have - and continually use - a £3k+ overdraft with them, again paying monthly fees for being overdrawn all the time.
my monthly incomings are circa £2200 pcm with approx £1500 Direct Debits going out, so, my question is

which bank/account would you suggest i transfer too if i finally decide to bite the bullet and move?.

any advice would of course be greatly apreciated.

cheers Carl.

eskbanker

Personally I'd have thought it would be unlikely for any bank to offer a new customer on average(ish) income a £3K+ overdraft so in your shoes I'd concentrate on getting the existing one paid off. Why not check if downgrading your NatWest account to a fee-free one would result in overdraft limit reduction (buy separate travel insurance if necessary) and/or ask them to convert the overdraft to a loan?

Or consider some of the various options listed at https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/loans/cut-loan-overdraft-costs, including trying out the eligibility checker for money transfer cards.

Edit: see this parallel thread for other thoughts on this: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5775822

Tanative

Hi Carl,

Moving to another bank and getting a £3,000 may not necessarily happen as the bank you choose to move to will do a credit search and it's whether they will offer you an overdraft that high or not. Naturally, being in an overdraft for a long period of time can be more expensive for you as you will incur interest and/or fees and charges for doing so.

In your original post you mention that your income is £2200~ monthly with expenditure of £1500~. With that in mind, are you already in your overdraft and struggling to get out of it due to fees and charges or do you just dip in to the overdraft every now and again, and if so do you maximise the overdraft to its' £3000 limit?

If you feel you are not benefitting from your bank account that you are paying the monthly account fee for then it may be worth visiting your local branch to see whether or not they can transfer your account to a different one that they offer as this may mean that you get to keep the £3000 overdraft as they have already offered it to you, however this cannot be guaranteed!

If you are in your overdraft and struggling to get out of it because of the fees/charges that are incurred being in there, then you could look at options for debt consolidation personal loans and if that is what you were looking for then I would highly suggest looking at an eligibility calculator to see the loans available at the lowest rate.

Hope this helps a little.

~ Tanative