Student In Debt, Don't Know What To Do :(

[evelyn_pannell]

ok... this will probably be fairly long.. compared to some people on here I know this doesn't seem much by way of debt, though I am not very financially aware and rather impulsive so bear with me and my ignorance

 

In june this year I went on holiday, and while I was away one of my payments from my job was delayed, so I ended up spending money that wasnt there - this was only about £120 but it ended up going over the agreed overdraft (£100) and I got slapped with £35 charges. I also had a fair few monthly direct debits at the time, including a £20 phone one, £25 for a gym and a few other little bits, but none amounting to anymore than I had been able to comfortably pay off. Thanks to the earlier mess up with my money by the time I had the job's pay put into my account I had more charges thanks to bounced direct debits, and before I knew it I was almost £300 overdrawn!

 

I was still working at the time, earning about £400 a month - I'm still a student doing A-levels so I didn't have much time to work, and I was working almost every evening at that point - and I tried to simply pay off the overdraft, but I kept getting charged for being overdrawn, having to withdraw to LIVE whilst being overdrawn, then for direct debits bouncing, and then having to pay them off whilst being overdrawn. I was being charged £35 a time up to three times a day for any money I had to take out or use

 

Before long I realised it wasn't working and I wasn't coping with it, even though I'd cancelled all direct debits etc. I came across this site after googling about the bank charges (since they were causing me the most hassle) and realised I could try and claim back - so after totalling it all up I realised they'd taken up to £900 from me

 

That's kind of.. the background of it all. I called them and arranged to pay £280 a month as I was then earning £500 a month (the woman on the phone was very unhelpful and direct with me which wasn't very nice to be honest) and I took up a second job to help pay for it as well. My problem now is that, I recently lost this second job because I was off for three weeks in a psychiatric ward for clinical depression and various other issues, and even though I still have the other job I've been off so much (including the fact I now have the bloody swine flu (!) that I have hardly recieved any money this month.. so at the moment I have no money coming in at all, let alone to pay off the debt.

 

I only have just under £500 to repay altogether to them, but I now only have the one job (I'm searching for another one as well) bringing in about £160 a month because I'm at school every day 8-4 and I have to go to the outpatient hospital three evenings a week...

 

I don't know. I don't know what to do. I only have so much time in the week, and I can't work more than two jobs, and study for my A-levels successfully, AND deal with any personal problems I have all at the same time. My personal problems aren't specifically related to the debt but it's certainly not helping the way I feel, I constantly want to avoid opening letters etc but I tell myself I simply can't let it get to that point. I have virtually ceased to spend on anything except travel to school (£2 a day) and it's getting me down so much.

 

Basically I don't know what to do - how should I explain this incredibly stupid and long ramble to the bank? Would they even be sympathetic to my circumstances? The last two people I spoke to at Halifax (the bank concerned) they were incredibly rude an unsympathetic to the fact that I'm an 18 year old student and my initial overspend had been completely accidental Any advice would be so greatly appreciated, I'm really at a loss for what to do, everything's seeming so bloody difficult!

[reallymadwoman]

Really important question - how old were you when you first went overdrawn?

[evelyn_pannell]

Really important question - how old were you when you first went overdrawn?

 

I was 18 already

[reallymadwoman]

OK, that's one defence demolished, so we'll just have to do something else.

 

First of all you need to open a new bank account (even if it's just a basic one) straight away and get any money you earn paid into that. This will mean that the overdraft is just a debt - they can't take what you need to live on in charges and they will have to accept whatever you can afford to repay each week/month.

 

I assume you live at home? Could you not speak to your parents about this? I think you probably have enough to deal with over your health problems without having to worry about a debt too. If you can't talk to your parents, is there someone else who could help?

 

If you really can't face talking to anyone, then try not to worry because you will get plenty of help on this site. I know that's easy for someone else to say but the vast majority of people on this forum have been there, done that and got a dozen t-shirts.

 

You've already taken the first steps by doing as much as you can to make sure you don't get into any more debt by cancelling DDs etc, however the most important thing for you at the moment is your studies and you really can't be expected to work two jobs as well. For now, work out how much you've got coming in from your job, deduct anything you have to pay for e.g. fares, and allow yourself a reasonable sum for living expenses. It won't do your health any good if all you ever do is work or go to school - you need a social life too. What's left over is the maximum you can afford to pay the bank, but before we get to that point we need to see if you can get any of these charges back.

 

Whilst I do know quite a lot about dealing with debt, I'm not brilliant at bank charges so I'm going to ask someone else to help with that. I hope they'll be able to give you some advice soon, but in the meantime do try to stop worrying.

[evelyn_pannell]

First of all you need to open a new bank account (even if it's just a basic one) straight away and get any money you earn paid into that. This will mean that the overdraft is just a debt - they can't take what you need to live on in charges and they will have to accept whatever you can afford to repay each week/month.

 

I assume you live at home? Could you not speak to your parents about this? I think you probably have enough to deal with over your health problems without having to worry about a debt too. If you can't talk to your parents, is there someone else who could help?

 

You've already taken the first steps by doing as much as you can to make sure you don't get into any more debt by cancelling DDs etc, however the most important thing for you at the moment is your studies and you really can't be expected to work two jobs as well. For now, work out how much you've got coming in from your job, deduct anything you have to pay for e.g. fares, and allow yourself a reasonable sum for living expenses. It won't do your health any good if all you ever do is work or go to school - you need a social life too. What's left over is the maximum you can afford to pay the bank, but before we get to that point we need to see if you can get any of these charges back.

 

 

Thank you for your reply! I forgot to mention that the first thing you advised I recently started - I opened a basic account with Barclays and have had my pay cheque relocated to that account so that the next time I get paid the money wont touch the Halifax account directly, I assumed this would help me avoid the charges for every little thing as you suggested.

 

I do still live at home but my parents are in considerable debt themselves and whilst we're not on the verge of poverty they definately do not have money to spare and have said that they wont bail me out on the basis that I got into the mess, which sounds harsh but it's a life lesson I won't forget soon, at least this experience came sooner from an overdraft rather than later from a credit card. I do pay rent to my parents to help out and I've stopped paying that for some time etc but other than that there's not much they can do.

 

My boyfriend has offered to pay it and then I pay him off because he has a considerable amount of money saved for university next year but if I were ever to consider that I'd really like that to be a final FINAL option; I have no right to take his money like that even if it is just to help me out, and I'd really like not to have that looming over me. I'd rather owe my bank than owe him

 

As for the charges I sent the first letter explaining my intent to reclaim and listing the charges (actually advice taken from this website, thank you all :grin:) and obviously recieved a letter saying that the charges were lawful etc. I proceeded to send the letter before action and gave them a fortnight's notice to which they responded by telling me the cases had been suspended, which is true as to my knowledge? So I am unsure which route to take now - how should I go about filing the reclaiming charges? The ombudsman is not taking any cases now until the whole hooplah is dealt with either are they?

 

And concerning your advice - so essentially I should budget out my potential earnings (since I work variable hours anyway) and call them explaining the minimum monthly payments I could make back? Is that likely to go down well?

 

Thank you again, I know this is all ramble Blimey, so much hassle for one holiday... I'm glad it was a nice one

[reallymadwoman]

First, do not phone them. If they get you on the phone they can bully you and twist everything you say. Put absolutely everything in writing from now on.

 

How long ago did you send the letter before action? Has the two weeks passed? If so, there's one fairly sure way to put everything on hold for the time being, and that's to actually issue the proceedings. I haven't ever done a bank charges claim, but you seem to be finding your way around the site fairly well so I'm sure you'll manage. You may have to pay a court fee, but better the money goes to the court than goes to the Bank.

 

They should put the whole issue on hold once you've started proceedings, but should and do aren't always the same for banks as you've probably realised, so before making any offers of payment decide what you're going to do.

 

One thing you may have already noticed is that taking control yourself is very good for your health - one fight with a bank and you'll be ready to take on the world!