-£1800 graduate overdraft.. But a mum

eskbanker

I can see why "£1800 is not a big overdraft by any means" is contentious - even if it was intended in a reassuring way, it could easily come across as dismissive and belittling. That figure may not seem large to many posters on here, airily considering their investment portfolios and so on, but from the perspective of an unemployed young mother I can imagine that things look rather different.

Out of curiosity, I looked for stats on overdraft sizes and came across this analysis by Statista, unfortunately from several years ago, which indicates that, out of those overdraft users who answered, 7/8ths didn't exceed £1,000, so by that measure £1,800 would be some way above the average....

xylophone

https://www.gov.uk/tax-free-childcare

might be worth a look.

Ask for an appointment to discuss your overdraft and repayment.

Shakin_Steve

eskbanker wrote: »

I can see why "£1800 is not a big overdraft by any means" is contentious - even if it was intended in a reassuring way, it could easily come across as dismissive and belittling. That figure may not seem large to many posters on here, airily considering their investment portfolios and so on, but from the perspective of an unemployed young mother I can imagine that things look rather different.

Out of curiosity, I looked for stats on overdraft sizes and came across this analysis by Statista, unfortunately from several years ago, which indicates that, out of those overdraft users who answered, 7/8ths didn't exceed £1,000, so by that measure £1,800 would be some way above the average....

Saved from the righteous mob

masonic

Shakin_Steve wrote: »

Saved from the righteous mob

What the ones who falsely report people's posts as spam?

masonic

eskbanker wrote: »

I can see why "£1800 is not a big overdraft by any means" is contentious - even if it was intended in a reassuring way, it could easily come across as dismissive and belittling. That figure may not seem large to many posters on here, airily considering their investment portfolios and so on, but from the perspective of an unemployed young mother I can imagine that things look rather different.

Out of curiosity, I looked for stats on overdraft sizes and came across this analysis by Statista, unfortunately from several years ago, which indicates that, out of those overdraft users who answered, 7/8ths didn't exceed £1,000, so by that measure £1,800 would be some way above the average....

In fairness, another statistic, again from yesteryear (small sample size acknowledged), suggests "the average person in the UK owes £8,000 - on top of any mortgage debt."
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2017/oct/30/average-uk-debt-at-8000-per-person-not-including-the-mortgage

Shakin_Steve

masonic wrote: »

What the ones who falsely report people's posts as spam?

I've already said I was sorry for that. I ain't about to kiss anyone's butt

Mnd

eskbanker wrote: »

Remind me again, who was it who sang:

It's the season
Love and understanding
Merry Christmas everyone
!

Shaking Stevens I think

eskbanker

masonic wrote: »

In fairness, another statistic, again from yesteryear (small sample size acknowledged), suggests "the average person in the UK owes £8,000 - on top of any mortgage debt."
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2017/oct/30/average-uk-debt-at-8000-per-person-not-including-the-mortgage

That's not really a like-for-like comparison though as it includes credit cards, store cards, personal loans, student loans, car finance, etc, etc, as well as overdrafts.

masonic

eskbanker wrote: »

That's not really a like-for-like comparison though as it includes credit cards, store cards, personal loans, student loans, car finance, etc, etc, as well as overdrafts.

The OP was in a niche group (university students) who are offered interest-free overdrafts during their time at university and a few years beyond. It makes sense for that group to borrow using overdrafts rather than credit cards, store cards, personal loans etc. For most people, overdrafts with favourable terms are more difficult to obtain and so borrowing takes place by different means. However, the specific type of debt is not relevant to the financial impact, especially when it stops being an interest-free debt as is happening to the OP. So I think the level of personal debt in general is what needs to be compared. We are perhaps assuming the OP doesn't also have maxed out credit cards, personal loans and/or store card debt to add to her £1,800, but this would probably have been mentioned.

Student loans are of course different, because a stay at home mum is likely to have these written off in due course and they are effectively another layer of income tax prior to that.

masonic

Shakin_Steve wrote: »

I've already said I was sorry for that. I ain't about to kiss anyone's butt

You don't need to "kiss anyone's butt" as you so eloquently put it. You are describing others, presumably including me, as a "righteous mob", but it was you who wrote about someone else that they were being "Condescending and, esp in this case, unhelpful". All I did in this thread was defend that person from your attack by providing an alternative interpretation of what was said.