Due to income restrictions (and a bit of head in the sand), I've fallen behind with an A&L authorised overdraft of £6500 ish.

A&L allowed certain DDs to be paid on the account which pushed into unauthorised OD territory and it's escallated from there.

There's now over £7k owing, they've cancelled the authorised OD and threatening me with a default notice under the CCA, section 87 (1).

What should I do? I don't have £7k to pay this.

Odd

one of the first things that you should do is to start cancelling the direct debits. The reason for this is that you may well find that you have other people try to levy charges against you for not having received direct debit payments. You will need to start dealing with all your regular payments manually – and make sure that they are done in good time so that payments clear and you don't get additional pressure from other directions – which I'm quite sure you don't need.

The next thing you should do is to make sure that you start talking to your bank. You need to do this to show that you have done everything you can to communicate with them and to be reasonable and that you are not trying to avoid the issue. You need to do everything in writing or else install a call recorder so that you can prove what you have been doing. This is because if you deal with your bank on the phone, there will be misunderstandings or you may even end up talking with somebody who is may be more sympathetic in some way and makes an agreement with you which later on the bank tries to deny. This is not uncommon. Don't trust your bank.

If this really is the full extent of your indebtedness – meaning that you haven't got other loans in arrears and you haven't been borrowing Peter to pay Paul, then it could be an idea for you to ask your bank for a consolidation loan. Normally I wouldn't dream of giving this kind of advice to anybody. However if you are clear elsewhere then this could be a way to go. A consolidation loan would have a cheaper interest rate than your overdraft rate. It would be attractive to whoever you're talking to the bank because they will probably get a commission for selling you the loan. However, here are some warnings: don't borrow more than you need to. In order to increase their commission, bank employees will often say – he is the amount you need and you may as well have 1000 or so extra because you have the money to pay it off. This is the beginning of the slippery slope.

If you get a consolidation loan, then do not accept the restoration of your overdraft facility either completely or partly. This also would take you on the slippery slope.

You certainly need to tackle this quickly in order to try and stop it sliding. The bank has a duty to discuss with you and to cooperate with you to help you solve your problems. If they do not do this then they are in breach of rules which require them to treat you fairly and which are imposed by the FSA. This is why you must document everything.

If the bank refuses to discuss with you. If you go to the bank with a realistic plan for sorting out the problem within a reasonable amount of time, and they refuse to cooperate, then they are treating you unfairly and you should begin a complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service.although this would not solve your short-term problems, it would put everything on record and I think that it might be significant enough to the bank to decide to help you.

A £6500 overdraft is not a comfortable thing to have around and if you play this correctly, this could be your opportunity to get your head above water. However you will have to deal with it – and if you don't then life will get tough.

Sadly, the extent of debt is considerably greater than this. Really struggling to make various payments and falling behind in other areas too such as BTL mortgage mayments and credit cards. Big tax bill to pay also.

We have property and some moderately valuable assets, but liquifying them isn't a quick enough process.

well you must at least make the contact that I suggested and keep the records I suggested. It sounds to me is if you should be working out income and expenditure schedule and then supply it will your creditors.

just a thought, but is your salary / benefits paid into this account? if so are they being swallowed up by the o/d? if so you may want to consider opening a basic bank account while you attemp to agree some kind of repayment plan with the bank and the rest of your creditors.

Ask for collection department that deals with old a and l customers. I too get stuck there and was unable to eat or pay bills I told them look take 15 pound off the overdraft every month as I obvoiusly was not on a situation to have one they agreed job done. I am butchering and getting rid of all the pre-recession credit I have as it's a cancer to my finances and like many I feel sometimes powerless as my expendable money was limited. Once you start to pay things of each month it gets alot easier.

Hi i am in same situation had overdraft of £100.00 borrowed £65.00 of it then lost job so unable to pay anything back i informed them that on benefit and no other income but they have refused to listen , sent proof of dwp letter but with charges they are now demanding payment in full of £845.00

Hi i am in same situation had overdraft of £100.00 borrowed £65.00 of it then lost job so unable to pay anything back i informed them that on benefit and no other income but they have refused to listen , sent proof of dwp letter but with charges they are now demanding payment in full of £845.00

you need to start a new thread

of your own

this one is +3yrs old

and you wont get seen here.

dx