How long till things get heavy with the Bank..

[VerdeMont]

Hi.

The quick version of it all:

 

I have a Clydesdale bank Mastercard. £7,600 credit limit.

I've been running over it for about 3 years.

 

I pay the minimum amount and by the time I get my monthly statement it's in the red by about £200 per month.

 

I've been playing the game of repaying the minimum of around £400, spending it down to zero, then ending up £200 in the red every month.

Yea, crazy I know.

 

a couple of weeks before Christmas I enquired about converting it to a loan. They said it should be OK.

 

having a lot of things to pay for over the festive season I only put a token £40 on the CC intending to get the loan sorted out in the next month or so.

 

I expected the statement in the next few days with the PAY US THIS IMMIDIATELY! on it.

 

Not tooo worried, because I had plans to get the loan.

 

being a bit unwell over Christmas and recuperating I decided not to bother with any of it until I felt better in a few days...

 

Then this morning 2nd Jan the phone rings..

 

"Is that [me]" "Yes", "Clydesdale Bank here" .. so I mimic a crackly line and hang up ;-) ... He didn't sound like a happy bunny..

 

here's the paranoid part, and make allowances here because I'm stressed out about this:

 

How long have I got before they start .

. umm freezing my bank a/c for repayments,

and all the nasty stuff that can happen.

 

I thought I would have a calm period to arrange a loan (at least a month, maybe two).

 

With that one phone call I'm now worried...

 

should I expect another final demand in Feb? (I haven't even got my statement for this month, it would be due posted in the next few days).

 

It's just that this small phone call has sent my mind racing to the extent that I'm thinking I don't have so much time to arrange things as I thought.

 

I knew I was pushing it, but this has borked up my whole week.

 

Thanks,

Verde.

[dx100uk]

hi VM

 

you would be extrememly foolish to convert a CC into a loan with MORE interest on top.

 

have you got all the statements?

 

have you ever been charged £12 PENALTY FEES?

 

have you got PPI or any other 'protection'

 

all of these can be reclaimed!!

 

see below

 

dx

[MSAR]

Did you request that the Clydesdale bank raise your credit card limit, or did they do it automatically? Do you know which months they did this (eg. April, December)? Also, have they been raising your monthly interest rates automatically? It seems they deliberately dig a debt trap for you to fall into, then raise everything so you can't get out.

 

I was in the same boat for the past decade (2001 to 2012). My credit card limit was raised to £8300 as well my monthly interest rates jacked up until the payments were soaked up by PPI and interest.

 

Your article here confirms that this was deliberate policy by Clydesdale Bank.

 

Start by sending in a SAR to get *all* the statements from when you first went into debt. Request an original copy of the credit card agreement. Look to see if the PPI box was left unchecked, pre-checked, checked off by someone else, or opted you in by default. Use the statements to calculate how much PPI you have payed so far, whether it would changed the direction your balance was going in (eg. if you were making payments of £200, monthly interest was £160 and PPI was £50).