My story

demeck

Fist off i would like to say hi to everyone and big hugs for the help.

What has annoyed me about my lloyds account is the treatment. ill make this as brief as poss, so no one falls asleep reading it.
I've had my account for about 4 - 5 yrs now and everything was fine as far as i knew. Im not grt with cash so i left it to my partner to handle things and she wanted it that way.

However it came to my attention about 2yrs ago in the form of a notice to quit letter from our local council regarding our current home. Basically my partner had been spending cash i earned on the kids over the summer holidays and not paying the rent. 5 months rent approx 3000 pounds.

This is where the problems started, because of the large amount owed i had to agree to make a substantial payment totalling 1500, thats 2 weeks work money and 900 pound from my 1000pound overdraft limit:eek: .

because of this and a few other bills my partner had not been paying it got to the point where we had just enough coming in to cover what was going out (also involved some juggling ). a few months after this has been going on i finally get the appointment for an operation from the nhs that i have been waiting 5 yrs for to correct a problem with a previous operation on my foot.

Quick rundown on this so you dont just think i shouldnt have had the op at this time. i was a labouer, i smahed my left heel bone to pieces , split my ankle in half and had hairline fractures all the way up my left leg.
so i had a metal heal put in and my ankle pinned. i was on crutches for a yr and my toes curled under my foot . needless to say walking was extremly painful for my foot and toes and my back, i worked for 2yrs in this condition and was constantly in pain. this for a labourer is not good so the op was a must.

Anyway knowing i was going to need atleast 4 to 5 months off work and having no income (partner in fulltime education and only a grant coming in) i knew we were headed for problems with bills especially the bank.
so i contacted my local branch and explained the situation, they listened and then told me get in contact with thier finacial people and gave me a contact number.
I of course phoned this number and it turned out to be the same number as my local branch who then gave me another number to phone. after ringing this number and spending 10mins explaining the situation again they told me i had to contact my local branch. So i contacted my local branch again and they said come in and have a chat. so i did and they basically told me they couldnt increase my overdraft to cover the 5 months of work, which would have been 4 to 500 pounds and they couldnt do anything to help because i was going to be unemployed. Would just like to say the 500 pound increase would have been to cover thier charges nothing more as i put a stop on everything coming out.

needless to say the accoutn went over by a few pounds when they tried to take thier intrest. i had to endure 4 months of endless calls from thier payment people..sometimes this would be 3 or 4 times aday each conversation atleast 10mins long explaining the situation again and again until one day i lost the plot. The guy doing his job on the otherside of the phone couldnt get a word in edge ways , and i think i used more colourfull metaphores in that convo then i use in a yr ,and then i hung up on him.:D

I didnt hear from lloyds for over a week until one afternoon. i was cool calm and collected and i explained the situation yet again. Bear in mind my account is now 400 pound in charges over my agreed overdraft limit of 1000. The response i get from him left me speechless when he says "i can increase you're overdraft to 1490 to cover all the charges and the end of month charges that would be added.

so basically they have stiffed me for 400 pound in charges and made it look like thier doing me a favour by giving me an agreed overdraft limit.. but why didnt they just do it when i asked . how is my finacial position any better then it was. its not. so now i have an agreed overdraft limit with them.

when this 6 month agreed overdraft limit ended i was apparently sent a letter. I never saw this letter niether did my partner. so its ended as far as the bank is concerned by neither me or my partner know ( so banks would phone wouldnt they) if they have not heard from u.

well they did, but not for over a month and i incurred a whopping 60 pound fine straight away and i think it was either 30 or 15 pounds a day for everday it was over for upto a month.

well i now i have 1690 pound overdraft limit and i have to say im sick of it and am quite willing for them to take me to court. i have not put in an application to reclaim my charges as i didnt really see the point as things stand with them at the mo. But i dont want to pay this charges as its obvious i have been manouvered in to this position by the banks themselves and then they have made themselves out to be the knights on a white horse that have come to my rescue.

sry to go on and on but there was no real way to explain this without going on, but if anyone has any ideas about what i can do it would be appreciated.

i know one thing i still have my account with them and the limit is reduced 20 pounds a month . But i dont feel i should pay this back and they should stick it where they think the sun shines. im quite prepared to go to court as this way i will get to tell myside of the story and would hope the courts would agree with me. anyway ill shut up now:T

Chesnut1

Hello Demeck, I read your post with great interest and I am sure there will be something you can do about all the charges. Someone more knowledgable than myself will be able to put you right I am sure. I would say though that you should demand you partner gets a p/t job to help with those debts! I know you say she is a full time student and you have kids but it is possible. She could work evenings when you are in? or a couple of night shifts per week. I have done this as a f/t student and so have friends who have more than one child. One had 3 kids f/t uni course (final year exams) and 3 night shifts a week to survive. Partner was in the house at night and she still managed a first class honours. Most of this is your partners fault and you should hold her responsible, I am sorry if this sound harsh but if she is stupid enough to spend money you do not have (especiely knowing you are waiting for surgery) then she requires a big wake up call as it sound like you are taking all the flack! and that is a bit one sided in a relationship. I hope everything turns out OK for yo.

bengal-stripe

demeck wrote: »

Im not grt with cash so i left it to my partner to handle things and she wanted it that way.....Basically my partner had been spending cash i earned on the kids over the summer holidays and not paying the rent. 5 months rent approx 3000 pounds.....a few other bills my partner had not been paying........

Are you still with that same partner???

demeck

yeah i am still with the same partner. we've been together for 8 yrs and have 2 children.

im not the sort to let money effect the way i feel. but i do keep a very close eye on the money and what she spends. not that we have anything to spend anymore , it all goes on bills. i got another letter today from bank. they must have taken thier intrest out which has yet again taken me over my agreed overdraft limit so expecting yet more obscene charges.

cml2508

Demeck,

I feel I need to point something out here - it is one thing to blame the banks for the over estimated charges they take from you each month however they are not the reason you get the charges! If the bank applies charges to your account but you are within your overdraft limit they will NOT charge you any further charges - It is only when you then go further over your overdraft limit through your own irresponsibility that they charge you.
My suggestion is to keep an eye on your account - If you are within your overdraft limit and they apply charges to your account - do not spend anymore money that way you will avoid charges from them.
I know it is easier said than done but can I suggest you open a basic bank account with another bank and change your wages, child tax credit payments etc and any other income you recieve to be paid into your new basic bank account - use that to pay you bills etc and then any "spare" cash you have put into your other account - that was you are not incurring any further charges.
For example if you bring your overdraft back into you limit of 1500 and the bank applies £200 worth of charges to your account providing you do not go any further overdrawn you will only have £200 to clear - you can then set up a weekly or monthly agreement with your bank to pay as much in as you can afford - or at least try to. That way you know you have the money you need to pay all of your bills without worrying about it and all you will have to sort if paying as much as you can afford off your overdraft limit until it is clear.
Once you have cleared it you are free to change everything back to the way it was and begin banking with them again - but maintain your account within your limit to prevent any further charges.
I hope this helps, to be honest Lloyds tsb can be very helpful, I have been in this situation myself and am currently clearing my overdraft - they have made an agreement with me, they're happy, I'm happy and I'm sticking to it.

Its just food for thought.
I do understand however that it is easy to go overdrawn sometimes as certain circumstances cannot avoid it.

Good luck!