Completely new to feeling this worried!

Winston2019 wrote: »

Hi all,

I feel super embarrassed having to post this but I need a little help. I’m with TSB at the moment and have two overdrafts (2 classic accs) - one for £1650 and one for £1600 (total £3250) . I am in them completely with my £1200 paycheck each month going into one, with £50 to the other to cover fees. I’ve kept them for years but its got to a point i’m keeping myself awake at night worried.. especially as TSB have asked me for a personal review on Wednesday.
I have a monzo that i’m £400 overdraft into so total debt I guess is £3650 but i’ll pay that £400 off this payday.

I dont understand my options or really understand APR so feel as if i’m going to agree to a credit card or something and end up in huge debt or pay for thousands more due to not understanding it. I’ve been so stupid living my life carelessly so any help would be much appreciated on how to sort this mess out! Surely they have to advise me rather than force me to sign my name to something I don’t fully understand?

Please help!

Interest rates are explained on the MSE website:

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/interest-rates/

The things about overdrafts is that they can be withdrawn at any time. TSB are, quite rightly, getting twitchy about the fact that you are living in not one but two overdrafts and after getting paid you are still in the red. Ahead of the meeting it would help if you could present a plan of how you intend to get yourself back in the black.

A good starting point is to complete a statement of affairs and post it on the Debt Free Wannabe board.

https://www.lemonfool.co.uk/financecalculators/soa.php

Just as a general FYI, since I've seen people wondering if the "paycheck" crowd are actually American, I saw a 19yo write "paycheck" yesterday in person, in the UK - as young people are often completely unfamiliar with cheques (we don't get paid by cheque anymore), they don't even realise what it means, or that it's a different word from the verb or that we spell the money version with a q.

Anyway.

I suspect the reason for panic is the upcoming changes - TSB is suddenly about to dramatically increase the charges on the overdraft facilties. I got an email notice about it this week despite the fact that neither of my TSB accounts have any overdraft, so it's imminent.

In addition to the good advice of getting yourself another current account - which can be a basic bank account if you aren't able to get the standard ones - log into your free account here, the credit club, and see if you have any credit card offers for a one year 0% interest money transfer credit card (or even longer if you can). This would allow you to transfer money off the new credit card and to one of your TSB accounts, filling part of the hole. The card would have a small rate, instead of the huge horrible rate being charged on your overdrafts. This means it'll cost you less in charges.

You should only do this if you think you can show enough discipline to NEVER use that credit card for spending, and definitely pay the card amount off over time. So if for example you got a card that lets you transfer £1000, you MUST be able to pay off that thousand pounds before the special rate runs out, by paying some onto the card every month without fail.

As you chip away at the totals, your ability to manage your money will improve and so will the finance offers that you qualify for.

Ben8282 wrote: »

I wish I could say I don't believe you but unfortunately I do believe you.
It's the same with the posters who don't know the difference between a salary and a wage.

That'd be me - I wasn't born here - and I will admit I didn't know there was a difference. I just tend to use "salary" if it's yearly pay not based on hours worked, and anything else is "pay"... am I going to draw the ire of my workmates?

While we are on the subject, you get people saying train station instead of railway station and even worse are people now saying holiday period instead of Christmas.