£30 a month for overdraft!

[MrsBloodcurdlingScrEames]

I just can't afford it.

I'm with Santander, have a £700 overdraft, I have at most £250 available at any one time. Never have any money spare and now it's gone from £20 to £30 a month to have the over draft!

I need to get away, I can't afford to pay back the overdraft right now, the minimum is £50 a month on top of the £30 I'm paying... Xmas is coming up and 2 of my kids birthdays.

I don't know what to do :(

So is it 30 a month on a 700 loan? Could you refinance it at a lower interest rate, such as via a credit union?

Can you move your account to another bank or change your account type at santander? Their overdraft charges are horrible. I totally understand!

I have another bank account that is unused but if I withdraw the money I have and start using my RBS one I still can't afford the £50 a month to Santander to repay it along with the £30 for just having it that I assume I'll still be charged.

I can't get credit anywhere. So refinancing isn't an option.

could you get a loan to pay it off and then either keep it there or shift to your rbs one

x-post

Borrowing the banks money each month comes with a cost. You can either go with the bare minimum for Christmas and birthday and plough as much as you can into the overdraft or pick up some extra seasonal work. Until you break the cycle of using an overdraft you are just wasting money.

can you speak to Santander and discuss your options then as it isnt sustainale to pay £30 every month just in charges

sustainable

www.santander.co.uk/uk/help-support/money-worries

Have they increased your limit without you asking? I think you should speak to them in branch with an advisor & ask them to help you get out of debt.

Could you go to your local credit union? Or temporarily change your account type with Santander (would their 123 account have the rubbish charges?).

Sadly you need to make sacrifices for a couple of months to get it paid off.
Plug your numbers into the budget spreadsheet (link at the top of the big Debt thread) and find out exactly where every penny you have is going and then pick off each item to reduce it. Hard but doable.

Are you sure you couldn't get something like a virgin or mbna card which allows you to transfer money to a current account in order to pay it off? They usually do introductory 0% deals for a period of time on the balance and a small fee.

kids will have to learn that money is tight and it is stocking-fillers only this year. No-one will be damaged by that.

I have to agree with the others.
Don't know how old your dc are, but it's very possible to have nice birthdays / Christmas without spending loads - if they are little they won't have a clue how much things cost anyway, so you can wrap up a few charity shop buys / £shop buys, or, if they are teens, they can understand that you will all be better off if you use the money to pay off the debt now, rather than wasting £30 per month doing nothing but maintaining the debt. That would translate as a very high interest rate and is not something to sustain.

I had a £.1000 od with lloyds that cost me about £25 a month. I just couldn't shift it although I can save and budget in other areas but not the od. Years ago they used to reduce my limit by £ 25 a month but they don't do that anymore. So now I've asked them to turn it into a loan for me and at least it'll be paid off in 2 years~just got to make sure I don't go od again

How much would a 700 OD cost at Lloyds?
So month one, pay into Santander, spend from Lloyds.
Month 2, switch any remaining cash (£250?) to Lloyds, leaving Santander with £0.01. Then just use Lloyds. Only if Lloyds is cheaper tho!
I agree with a cheep christmas and b'days this year. If you get out of the OD, thats an extra £240 (old Santander rates, £360 new rates) a year for presents.

I am with lloyds just explained to them that I was struggling. They stopped the charges on the overdraft for 6 months and I just have to pay the interest on a £1000 overdraft. Average about £12-£14 per month. Hopefully in the next 6 months I will be able to reduce it, mention stepchange to your bank and give them a call, as they can also negotiate overdraft fees. Good luck