Student in debt and struggling for food - help?

[BankFodder]

I can't think of much you can do in the short term except start looking for a job in a pub or supermarket - whatever - where they need extra people who are prepared to work evening or nights and on Christmas Day and on Boxing Day.

 

The other thing you could do is to explain to all of your family and your gf etc that they won't be getting presents this year - and why that is. That will take a lot of social pressure off you and you will feel a lot better once the problem is out in the open. If that causes a problem for your gf or her family, then frankly you don't need friends like that anyway.

 

You had better tell your friend about the problem as well. Better to lose a friend because you have screwed up your finances than because you have lied to him - or I think so, anyway.

 

As far as your commitments go, you are going to have to get into trouble with some of them, so here goes:-

 

Because you are going to fall out with your bank - big time, go and get a parachute account straightaway - Monday. Get a fee-free account - maybe a basic account which means that there is no overdraft, no debit card, nothing. However it will be somewhere for your student loan to go because you had better not let it be paid into your existing account or it will be swallowed up. Then change all of your direct debits so that they feed from your new account.

 

Do you need a phone contract? I'm sure that you need a phone, but you have a phone handset so you could go and get a pay as you go card and use that. You will be forced to adapt your phone usage according to what you have in credit on the card.

 

Write to Tmobile and give them notice that you are cancelling the contract and giving them one month's notice. TMobile will object, of course - and come after you - but you don't have much choice, and who cares about TMobile anyway? They will demand full payment of the rest of the contractual term but that would be an unenforceable penalty - and they really don't care about these kinds of legal niceties - they only care about what they can get away with.

 

Write to the bank and give them notice that you are cancelling your account with them. Tell them that you will be repaying the overdraft by regular payments of £XX per month and that although they may be charging you interest, you will expect them not to levy any account charges as the account is close, you won't be having the benefit of their account services and that any attempt to levy charges on a closed account would be a violation of their duty to Treat Customers Fairly.

The Bank won't understand these kinds of niceties either. They don't give a flying fig about treating you or anyone else fairly, so they will come after you too. However, the important thing is to pay them off without missing a payment and that will give you the upper hand when making an official complaint about them later when they come after you - because they will come after you.

 

Is your credit card provider, your bank? If so then they will have received the message loud and clear already. If it is a different company then do the same with them. Cancel the card, cut it up and then write to them and tell them the rate at which you will be repaying the balance. Give them a warning about adding charges.

 

Of course all of this will destroy your credit rating - but that was a gonner anyway, so you might as well use the situation in the best way possible to get back on your feet.

 

Hopefully the end result will be that you have a bank account with no overdraft which contains your living funds and that you are making manageable payments to your creditors for the duration.

Make sure that the payments really are manageable so that you don't let anyone down.

 

Two hints - firstly, the bank will refuse to close the account and will probably continue to add charges. Come back here and let us know.

Same with the credit card.

 

Second hint - set out all of your expenses and debts on a sheet of paper. Expenses include your debt repayments. This is your income/expenditure schedule. It is a projection of your finances over the coming year. Supply a copy of it to each of your creditors. They will tend to ignore it but at least they have got a copy and this will help you when you have to make a complaint - as you surely will.

 

Here's a hint for free - the bank at least - and maybe the phone company, will probably refuse to accept your instalments. They are not entitled to do this. Insist that they accept your instalments or else you will complain to the regulator or Ombudsman.

 

Here's a bonus hint - do everything in writing. Do nothing on the phone. you need evidence of everything that was said and every attempt there has been to discuss with them and of every failure or refusal by them to hold dialogue with you.

[BankFodder]

Final thought - make sure that you write to your bank and cancel all direct debits. If you don't do that, then they will receive the TMobile DD, refuse to pay it out and then levy a failed direct debit charge - once of the most heinously and unprincipled pieces of unfair and basically dishonest banking practices ever devised.

Protect yourself against it with a letter.

[BankFodder]

I'm afraid that I disagree with Rock as to going for broke and maxing out everything.

 

Best to learn some discipline. You'll have a much nicer time when your money is your own and no one is after you. Also, if you can show that yo have been acting fairly and responsibly then you will be very much more effective if you have to complain about the bank's behaviour later on.

 

As to survival technicalities, if the OP can manage on £55 per month then he isn't doing badly at all. However, you've posted two very interesting looking recipes and maybe someone will give them a go and report back on them.

 

I sometimes make up a pasta sauce using tinned tomatoes, a tin of tuna in sunflower oil, some basil, herbes de provence, and leftover red wine if there is any - and it always works out pretty good.

 

When I was a student, I existed for several week on stews of potatoes and red lentils with cumin, turmeric and some herbs. It wasn't too bad and it got me through!! But I remember that I didn't have a sieve and nearly broke a tooth several times on little stones hidden with the lentils.