Money panic. Advice?

[Spoongod]

Righty, I've been overdrawn before, but I'm about £100 over my previous worst. Sadly, since my account has been at standstill for about a month I have been ordered to return my chequebook and debit card. I'm about £300 over my agreed overdraft limit.

Now what I plan to do is sell my Gamecube and a spare (shite) electric guitar for some instant cash which will be deposited into my account.

I then plan to speak to my bank manager and agree on paying back about £40 per week. I only get £60 per week and I need some cash to see my beloved and such. I plan to pay until I'm within my overdraft limit or possibly untill I'm out of overdraft (but you know, Christmas).

So, does anybody have any better ideas? Am I being sensible here? And how quick will they be to fuck me up (and how badly will they do so)?

As yet my credit rating is unaffected. Will they see my plight and be reasonable?

[pyroxian]

Sounds like a good plan. I used be terrible at going overdrawn when I was a student, but found that the bank liked it more when you talked to them about it.

Steve

[fred_zen]

Seconded. As long as you can convince your bank that it's going to get better, not worse, they will most likely go for the "work out a plan" route, not the "fuck you up" one. It's happened to me a couple of times , I felt terrible (as in, physically ill) before going to the bank, but it actually went rather smoothly. I think it's when I finally realised that overdrawing 1. is expensive 2. doesn't allow you to spend more money, only to spend it a little earlier, that I started getting a grip on the problem.

[Bog]

Yeah, get out of debt as fast as you can, and stay out as much as poss. If your 'cube and geetar don't net you as much as you'd hoped, remember that it's food, shelter and heat that are your priorities - well, and 'net connection - and that everything else is a luxury.

[RageMatrix]

Seconded. As long as you can convince your bank that it's going to get better, not worse, they will most likely go for the "work out a plan" route, not the "fuck you up" one. It's happened to me a couple of times , I felt terrible (as in, physically ill) before going to the bank, but it actually went rather smoothly. I think it's when I finally realised that overdrawing 1. is expensive 2. doesn't allow you to spend more money, only to spend it a little earlier, that I started getting a grip on the problem.

Most banks are pretty forgiving as long as you tell them that you're in a bit of difficulty and (as mentioned) work out a plan with them. Its if you don't tell them anything that they're likely to nail you to the wall for it.

Except Barclays. Which is the Great Satan of banking.

The fuckers.

[betamax]

Look around for other stuff to sell too. Anything you can bear to part with, get it gone and use the cash to heal your OD. The pain you feel at giving up your stuff will teach you a sterner lesson than any amount of letters from the bank.

[RageMatrix]

Look around for other stuff to sell too. Anything you can bear to part with, get it gone and use the cash to heal your OD. The pain you feel at giving up your stuff will teach you a sterner lesson than any amount of letters from the bank.

Except your body of course. Don't sell that.

[kalmar]

Selling your body might be considered acceptable if you only earn £60 a week by other means

You could sell it for medical testing for example. A low chance of gigantism, or being used for a top secret cyborg experiment.

[fred_zen]

Look around for other stuff to sell too. Anything you can bear to part with, get it gone and use the cash to heal your OD. The pain you feel at giving up your stuff will teach you a sterner lesson than any amount of letters from the bank.

Except your body of course. Don't sell that.

Parting with a kidney. Now THAT's what I call a stern lesson.

/coat





Just kidding. Sorry sorry sorry.

[moosedude]

Make sure you can afford to lose £40 pound a week to pay off your debts.

In my experience, if I pay a bit more than usual off on my credit card one month, more than I can afford, it comes around and bites me in the arse again, because I run out of "real" money quicker, and have to use the credit card anyhow, which makes things even worse.

Just a matter of finding the correct balance, work out how much money you need to spend each week, and how many things you can do without! For example, do you really need that Coyote Ugly DVD, Special Edition?

This is assuming, that the amount you pay off is negotiable.

[moosedude]

Look around for other stuff to sell too. Anything you can bear to part with, get it gone and use the cash to heal your OD. The pain you feel at giving up your stuff will teach you a sterner lesson than any amount of letters from the bank.

Except your body of course. Don't sell that.

Parting with a kidney. Now THAT's what I call a stern lesson.

/coat





Just kidding. Sorry sorry sorry.

How many children do you have? any you haven't really felt attached to recently? Ebay!

[betamax]

Selling your body might be considered acceptable if you only earn £60 a week by other means

You could sell it for medical testing for example. A low chance of gigantism, or being used for a top secret cyborg experiment.

Actually that gives me a serious idea. Check your local Thesp rags and media websites/papers for extra work (work as an extra, is what I mean). The pay isnt great, but it's undemanding work, you often get fed and its usually cash in hand if the production is small enough. Also you can get your missus to join in with this as they usually have people doing crowd scenes in pubs etc. I once did a one-off bit of extra work for S4C. £35 quid, buffet and the opportunity to stalk across a shadowy Rhos street seven times in the feezing cold. Life rarely hits such high points.

Failing that, go and see what medical trials are happening in your local area and pick the least dangerous sounding one. The downside of this is that you might be made to explode. On the other hand you might get fantastic super powers.

[Governmentyard]

As yet my credit rating is unaffected.

No it isn't. When applying for any further credit, Equifax/Experian can show your potential lender any months in the last 12 that you've been overdrawn on an account, any missed payments and such. The best way to correct this is to be within your agreed limit (banks can often arrange short term increses to an overdraft to help you pay it off, so they put it just above your current actual overdrawn balance and reduce it by x each months or fortnight or quarter or whatever) and manage the account well for the coming months, which means not going beyond agreed limits. Lenders don't mind lending to people with debt, but they do mind lending to those who don't manage those debts.

[betamax]

As yet my credit rating is unaffected.

No it isn't. When applying for any further credit, Equifax/Experian can show your potential lender any months in the last 12 that you've been overdrawn on an account.

I hate these guys. From my time working as a debt collector I know precisely how hard it is to get these ineffable fuckers to back down, erase their own mistakes or generally stop acting like they are bulletproof. I've never known a company to trumpet about DPA as much as they do while simultaneously setting up charges and obstacles for the public to get at it's own information.

Do NOT let these guys put you on their shit list.

[tufty]

You need to talk to your bank; not over the phone, get an appointment with the manager and go chat it over. As has been pointed out, they take this kind of thing much better if you show that you're being responsible about it, and that you are taking action to make it not happen any more.

You need to work out how you're going to get out of the current situation without simply deferring it to next month. Talking with the bank should give you a good handle on this, and if they are at all reasonable they should be able to set up a schedule to repay. You might be able to get rid of some of the debt by selling stuff, but that won't always work (eventually, there's no more stuff to sell), might be time to seriously tighten the belt...

And finally, you need to work out a way of not getting into the situation in the future. That one's hard; life doesn't seem to get any cheaper, so it's either a question of increasing income or reducing outgoings...

Tough situation.

Simon