Just received a "We want to help" letter from Natwest

elle_gee

My DB (boyfriend) has just received a letter from Natwest, as follows:-

"Having reviewed your account(s) we note that your paymens are currently behind schedule. We wish to assist you in resolving this situation and can potentially reduce your monthly outgoings."

Outstanding balances are as follows:-
Mortgage - £79819.85 (£903.27 in arrears)
Unsecured Loan - £19112.33 (£360.61 in arrears)
Current Account - OD by £2250.14 (OD limit is £2000)

He also has a credit card with them but that's been passed on to Triton and is on a payment plan.

Stupid thing is, he went in to his local branch about two months ago when things were going downhill and asked for help and they said there was nothing they could do!

Any suggestions as to what they might suggest/recommend? He is going to phone them after he's had a cuppa! Lines open until 9pm.

TIA

immoral_angeluk

In other words they want you to take out a consolidation loan.. avoid!!! Might be worth calling to see what they have to say though.

RAS

This will either be a consolidation loan - avoid like the plague, or a managed Loan account ditto.

would suggest that he comes on here, with you if you live together, and put up his statment of affairs , see here for how to do one http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=107280

Then the DFW folk can help him work out how to get his finances back on track. You would be amazed what can be done to sort things out once you get the collabaritive brain and fund of experience on here on your side.

dancingfairy

Natwest - lets see if we can sell this guy a loan and say look it's lower monthly payments are we great. Well that's all well and good but how much more will it cost over the long term. Would phone them and see what they are offering- how much of a loan, apr, how long to pay it all off etc and come back and post on here to see whether it is good or bad or whatever.DO NOT SIGN UP TO ANYTHING. TELL THEM YOU NEED TO THINK IT THROUGH FIRST. An SOA is a good starting point as well. They probably have targets to meet of how many loans to sell etc so be wary.

hitback

Nat West...the slogan should be 'Another Way to make money out of customers'. Avoid any suggestions of loans o/d increases etc.!!! Close the account and open another one for wages and ddebits etc and pay them off!!

elle_gee

Hmm.. consolidation loan - that's what I feared! Somehow I didn't think they were going to give an actually helpful to us suggestion!

DB is now asleep on the sofa after muttering something like "I'll do it tomorrow" - GAH!!

I think he's done a SOA on paper. Will go rummage in the study and be back later to post what I find.. (am aware of it all after forcing him to confess everything, just need to remind myself of which repayment figure goes with which debt!).

Thanks so far!

silvercar

To be honest you have to talk to them.

Reject the consolidation loan but still talk to them.

I'm guessing your mortgage arrears are over 2 months now, possibly 3 or 4. If you refuse to comunicate they could well start repossession proceedings (this would only be a first step - don't panic). You have to talk to them and agree a way of repaying the mortgage arrears.

They are going to mention the mortgage arrears, they will want you to agree a repayment plan. Now I have not read any of your other posts so I don't know your circumstances. I would suggest that you agree a plan that you can afford, failing to agree a plan that is affordable will make things worse as will not talking to them.

If I was trying to put a plan in place I would suggest an extra £100 a month, so after 9 months the arrears will be gone. This would be on top of your current payments. As I say only agree what you can afford.

For specific mortgage advice go to the mortgage board, there are options and people will be able to advise. Depending on your mortgage deal, payment holidays, moving to interest only could be suggested.

elle_gee

Right, this is what I’ve found so far:-

Income is approx. £1500pm (works guaranteed overtime alternate wkends, plus odd other wkends that come his way). This will be down by £135 a month between Jan and Jul 2008 due to an overpayment of salary – not his fault, long story but this is the only way to sort it without getting chased by the bank and getting a CCJ.


Mortgage £79819 - £482pm (£900 in arrears too) - 6.75%
Overdraft £2250 - Not paying anything right now - 29.9%
Unsecured Loan £19112 - £180pm - can't find it!
Secured Loan £4300 - £112pm - 14.9%
Credit Card £2000 - £14.68pm (accepted reduced payments) - frozen interest
Car Finance £4000 - £142pm - 11.7%
Career Loan £540 - £10pm (accepted reduced payments) - none, i don't think!

TV licence £11pm
Mobile £30pm
Phone/internet £35pm
Petrol £60pm
Car insurance £42pm (inc some arrears)

Electricity / Gas / Water
Have taken all of these off DD and seem to just scrape to find the money to pay them off as they come in – or I pay them! ETA: Found the bills. £56 Gas and £30 Electric a month(!!!) with Atlantic. We did change recently, so I thought it would be heaper than that! Water is on reduced repayments of £12 a month, next one due on 8th Feb.

Council Tax:
I’ve just cleared the council tax arrears (after receiving an AEO – I work in the payroll dept of his employer!) and got myself put on it (before one of the neighbours reports me for being here every night and him claiming discount!) so we will get a new bill for the coming year in mid-March. Last year was £90pm inc 25% discount. I will put it on DD from my bank account when the bill comes in.
ETA: Have just found last year's bill. It was £931.21 - £232.80 = £698.41. The £90 was payments plus arrears. Found a court summons too!

Food:
I pay for it. As you can see from my signature, I’m trying to do the grocery challenge to keep on top of it rather than going to Tesco, spending £50 and still coming home without anything for tea! (sooner I can get my money sorted the sooner I can help him with more!)

That’s all I can think of for now – please tell me what’s missing!

Just to add, all of these debts were incurred before we got together (about a year ago) and none of them have my name attached to them – though we have used my cards to pay them off several times. His salary is already going into an old current account of mine – quick fix a few months ago to save his salary being swallowed up in his OD – hence using my card to make payments. He doesn’t seem to want me to assist in paying off ‘his’ debts, so I (like to think that) help by paying the food and utility bills.

Took things off DD due them bouncing left, right and centre and incurring endless bank charges. Really ought to set up standing orders for the agreed repayments by never seem to get round to it – he’s gone back to playing at being an ostrich lately!
I’m going to rummage for the proper statements now for the APRs etc.

.. and breathe! Right, hit me with it… all help gratefully accepted

elle_gee

Anyone?

Lemon_Tree

hi you've been very clear, well done for giving your OH so much help.
I'm sure someone will be along shortly with some words of wisdom. Only thing i'd comment on is the mobile is quite high especially as there's a land line. I spend £10 on my mobile per month and about £13 on the land line.

elle_gee

Thank you LemonTree