My bank is raping me....

[megadave]

and there aint shit i can do

I'm a student and i am poor. A few months ago i went overdrawn and i've been getting fucked over from it ever since. I'm with lloyds and every time i go overdrawn i get charged bettwen £6 and £20 a day, that can actually be more than i get paid (parttime work) The first bank charge i got was £185, prior to this i was ok but this charge made me overdrawn, which resulted in another load of charges totalling over £450 in under 3 months. I sorted it by getting a fat student overdraft which kind of fucks up my financial plan for being a university but what can i do? Anyway a few days ago i went overdrawn by 24 pence without knowing(ebay selling charge ) and i just got a letter today telling me that even if i rectify it today it'll cost me £40.

This is fucking ridiculous, how is this fair? I know theyre currently going through it in the courts because i was told i have to wait 6months before i can even try to claim it back. This bullshit is completely fucking me over, i had to cancel a holiday due to it and ended up selling class A drugs to make some money back.

MOTERFUCKERS >< had to rant.

 

[eksdee]

sucks, same kinda thing happened to me but not so extreme. not much you can do :/

 

[Golena]

What you can do is make sure you have spare money in the bank. Assume that your out of money and stop spending when your balance reads 100 quid not when it reads nothing. It still shocks me how many people insist on spending to their last penny every month, then bitch about it when it goes wrong. I know there's exceptions to this but I imagine it's less than 10% of people that fall into the exception category.

The banks do really screw people over more than is fair, but it's a business they are running. If you take their money without asking, which is what going overdrawn is, then you play by their rules, regardless of if you think it's fair or not (until the courts decide otherwise).

I know you don't want to hear it, but you raped yourself, not your bank. Read the small print wen you sign up for an account and you'll realise you signed on the botted line saying, this is fair.

 

[eksdee]

some people don't have a choice?

some of us don't have trust funds. bigsoz.

 

[Laddey]

some people don't have a choice?

some of us don't have trust funds. bigsoz.

rofl harris!

Voice or unmod the channel ffs

 

[Xandax]

some people don't have a choice?

some of us don't have trust funds. bigsoz.

It is not a matter of having "trust funds" but a matter of not spending more money then you can afford. It is simple mathematics. If you have 2 apples, you can't take 3 away.

If you can't afford to spend the money, you'll have to figure out something to avoid spending the money.
Now it might very well be too high interests which you have to pay to your bank - then you'll have to find another bank which can provide you with a better deal.

But ultimately if you spend more money then you can afford and then you earn, you'll have to figure out a way to change something. Whether it is long term loans with a low interest to give you security while studying, or changing living expenses, well - that is up to you. But it is "your" responsibility to do something about it.

 

[Huntingtons]

in denmark we have box-credits (kassekredit) which is basically a loan on which you can draft from thats on your account. So if you have a credit on 10000 danish crowns you can then spend till you hit -10000 on your account at a reasonably high interest. some banks offer this very favorable to students, maybe you should check if you can find a more student friendly bank.

 

[megadave]

But now it is at the point where every month i am being charged from being overdrawn 3 months ago. These charges make me go overdrawn and in turn they charge me again. It's a cycle that i can't really do anyting about.

 

[Xandax]

But now it is at the point where every month i am being charged from being overdrawn 3 months ago. These charges make me go overdrawn and in turn they charge me again. It's a cycle that i can't really do anyting about.

I lived the same way when studying.
I think I had about 10K € in loans when I was done with studying.
I had the interests (about 11% p.a.) on my credit line combined with student loans (low interest).

Now that I work, I've paid it all off again.

 

[eksdee]

It is not a matter of having "trust funds" but a matter of not spending more money then you can afford. It is simple mathematics. If you have 2 apples, you can't take 3 away.

If you can't afford to spend the money, you'll have to figure out something to avoid spending the money.
Now it might very well be too high interests which you have to pay to your bank - then you'll have to find another bank which can provide you with a better deal.

But ultimately if you spend more money then you can afford and then you earn, you'll have to figure out a way to change something. Whether it is long term loans with a low interest to give you security while studying, or changing living expenses, well - that is up to you. But it is "your" responsibility to do something about it.

you make it sound so simple. it is fucking obvious that in an ideal world you can't spend more than you have, but sometimes people have to. for example - my grandad has a few days to live and the average funeral cost is roughly £3,000. my family can't really afford that and will have to go into debt to afford it. by your logic we should basically say sorry, can't afford a funeral you'll have to just rot on a street corner. get some fucking perspective.

 

[Chronictank]

get some fucking perspective.

think you're the one who needs some persepctive mate,
this topic is not about unexpected need of a lump sum, it is about regular expenditure which can very easily be budgeted if you have the inclination (in most cases)

@megadave; live off beans and toast, baked potatoes (if you can stomach it supermarket own brand stuff) for a couple of months and drasticlly reduce your nights out/go to freebies so you can get back on track
It is only going to get worse unless you nip it in the bud as soon as possible, maybe borrow some money off your folks or something if needs be?

Overdrafts are a very bad thing to be in for long periods of time

 

[leviathane]

I thought lloyds student account has a £1500 interest free overdraft?

 

[kirennia]

All I can suggest is going into the bank, ask to speak to the manager and when he comes out, explain as calmly as possible the predicament, how it's going to effect your life and that you have no way of paying it back.

If he ends up saying he wont reverse any of the charges, ask him for all the information required for exchanging your current bank account to another bank. If he still doesn't budge, go to another bank, explain that you want to move from where you are to their bank but only if you have an overdraft extended to where it needs to be (i.e. £100 more then where you currently are).

I know it's a pain in the arse but countless times have people I know gone into the bank and done this and the threat of moving banks has partially reversed their fines. If it fails, other banks will be more then willing to accomodate you so long as it's not on unreasonable terms.

In the event of this getting fixed, further discuss ways around this happening again. I.e. to block card/machine transactions when your account is below £5 (should allow for interest).

 

[Marc]

How come Mey hasnt told Megadave its his own fault yet?

 

[russell]

How come Mey hasnt told Megadave its his own fault yet?

Yeh come on Mey, you're slacking.

 

[Xandax]

you make it sound so simple. it is fucking obvious that in an ideal world you can't spend more than you have, but sometimes people have to. for example - my grandad has a few days to live and the average funeral cost is roughly £3,000. my family can't really afford that and will have to go into debt to afford it. by your logic we should basically say sorry, can't afford a funeral you'll have to just rot on a street corner. get some fucking perspective.

I have perspective. Try getting some common sense

 

[ECA]

How come Mey hasnt told Megadave its his own fault yet?

He's on a break from being a ****.

 

[gunner440]

This is fucking ridiculous, how is this fair? I know theyre currently going through it in the courts because i was told i have to wait 6months before i can even try to claim it back. This bullshit is completely fucking me over, i had to cancel a holiday due to it and ended up selling class A drugs to make some money back.

MOTERFUCKERS >< had to rant.

May I ask how you got into the aformentioned debt?

 

[Edmond]

......and ended up selling class A drugs to make some money back.

Ah well, at least you being sensible about it.............FS

 

[Achilles]

Mans. Yeah that sucks, but how come you dont have a student account with an overdraft? I have a Natwest one with 1000 overdraft limit and all of my friends have similar arrangements such as mentioned above by leviathane. I have worked my way out of being overdrawn in summer, but will probably spend the atleast half of next year well into my overdraft. Its what you have to do if your a student these days.

 

[soze]

I pay £15 a month for my Lloyds account with gives me a load of crap including Breakdown Cover and a £500 interest free overdraft. I try to stay out of my overdraft but its there and free sould something unexpected happen.

 

[Overdriven]

Am I the only one who won't owe my bank money? oO

 

[Lamp]

What about getting a part time job ? Or you already got something ?

 

[Seanpaul]

1) Check their policy on overdrafts.

2)Most banks have a 'fair fees' policy which clearly states that they wont charge on top of charges, if this is the case then you should have these refunded if not immediately by the branch, then by writing to their department that they probably set up internally to deal with this type of thing, regardless of the test case.

3)Dont get irate with the staff, they do a mcjob and they only want to help and not be a punchbag.

 

[Mey]

How come Mey hasnt told Megadave its his own fault yet?

Cause I'm a disgruntled bank employee that hates his job!

I'll have a look on the procedures for you when i'm next in work mate, and see if I can work out how we can get your charges back, though it'll be more difficult now given the amount/time since it happened.

 

[Mey]

But to be fair, a single charge of £185 is 8 days overdrawn at the highest charging band so assuming you didn't get these charges from Direct debts you are abit of a dick.

Also Lloyds don't charge on charges. So say you have £10 in your account and you have a charge come out that takes you to £20- you won't be charged for going overdrawn in that situation, if this is the case I suggest you go in and speak to one of the Personal Account Managers fairly quickly.

 

[Mey]

Fee

Amount

Description
Monthly fee

£15

You will pay this fee if you have an Unplanned Overdraft at any time during your monthly billing period (even if your next monthly billing period is only a few days away).
We will charge you a maximum of one monthly fee in a monthly billing period.
Daily fee

Unplanned Overdraft balance is:
Less than £25 - £6 a day
£25 to £100 - £15 a day
More than £100 - £20 a day

You will pay a daily fee for using an Unplanned Overdraft. The amount of the fee will be worked out at the end of each day (including weekends and bank holidays) on the balance of your Unplanned Overdraft.
We will charge you a maximum of 10 daily fees in a monthly billing period.

For reference, if you need to talk to Lloyds, it's better to know what your talking about cause then someone can't try and fob you off.

 

[Binky the Bomb]

Megadave, its a sad fact of life that banks and building societies will take on student accounts, just so they can make you drop pants, turn round, bend over, and tell you "its for your own good".

"Your a student, its your job to be in debt." That's what bank managers think. If your not in debt, your a rich student or getting cash off mummy and daddy. See, bank managers are like muggers and rapists rolled into one. They steal your money, royally screw you, and can't be arrested due to a legal technicality.

But fear not, at least you don't have a mortgage.

 

[pez]

Ive accidentally gone over my HSBC overdraft a couple of times now, only for like 2 days max, and never been charged a penny.

 

[Golena]

some people don't have a choice?

some of us don't have trust funds. bigsoz.

Some of us also have some ability to read. 10% of cases are genuine sure.

But 26p overdrawn, I fail to see how that's "not a choice". Your trying to say that you couldn't possibly no matter what you did save 26p over a week? If someone told you that kebab was going to cost you 45 quid would you still buy it, or would you save the money so you had a bit spare?

People just don't seem to realise that charges don't come along in nice monthly chunks. Because you get paid in a week doesn't mean that what you have in your account needs to last you a week.

I don't have a trust fund. I've got the ability not to blow all my money just because I don't have a bill with that amount on it in my hand at the moment. There's a difference.

I've been stupid and got landed in the shit before. The only way out is to dig yourself out. That means stop spending money on crap for a month or 2 until you've got a cushion, then you'll be surprised how much more money you suddenly seem to have every month.