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Bit of advice needed
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
I'm a Student and pretty much maxxed out on my overdraft, £5 under the limit and it cannot be increased. The overdraft is interest free.
I'm earning £60 per week, but it's just not going anywhere (times like this I wish I didn't have a horse). I'm going into town shortly to look for another part time job, which hopefully will be enough to get me back on the straight and narrow.
Mum owes me about £70, but that's for sending off for my passport and I really need the money before I can do it, but she hasn't gotten round to giving it to me! I also have to send off for a new counter part driving license, which is about £20. I need both of these ASAP. I can't ask for financial help from my parents as they don't know - its my mess and I will sort it.
I've read through a booklet on the Lloyd's website about sorting financial difficulty, and spoken to one of the call centre peeps. There is a credit card registered to my account and in order to find that out, she had to get the info/forms sent to me.
http://www.lloydstsb.com/credit_cards/student_card.asp
Can somebody give me a brief run through on that? I realise that I'm going to have to speak to somebody in the bank about it, but I don't know whether or not it's a good idea - I'd get these things paid for and then cut it up, before paying it off ASAP.
This is hard
I'm earning £60 per week, but it's just not going anywhere (times like this I wish I didn't have a horse). I'm going into town shortly to look for another part time job, which hopefully will be enough to get me back on the straight and narrow.
Mum owes me about £70, but that's for sending off for my passport and I really need the money before I can do it, but she hasn't gotten round to giving it to me! I also have to send off for a new counter part driving license, which is about £20. I need both of these ASAP. I can't ask for financial help from my parents as they don't know - its my mess and I will sort it.
I've read through a booklet on the Lloyd's website about sorting financial difficulty, and spoken to one of the call centre peeps. There is a credit card registered to my account and in order to find that out, she had to get the info/forms sent to me.
http://www.lloydstsb.com/credit_cards/student_card.asp
Can somebody give me a brief run through on that? I realise that I'm going to have to speak to somebody in the bank about it, but I don't know whether or not it's a good idea - I'd get these things paid for and then cut it up, before paying it off ASAP.
This is hard
0
Comments
Have you made yourself a budget? They can be very useful, both for money management and getting yourself out of debt.
I'm guessing you've tried asking to see if they will increase your overdraft? Just double checking.
If the credit card would only be used to pay for the passport and the replacement counter part then see if you can work out ways round it.
How about filling in all the passport forms, and then sending them to your mum and nicely ask her to get the back of your photo signed for you (this one makes sense as there's more likely to be someone at home who can do it for you), and then stick it in the post. If she's already said she'll pay she can stick the cheque in with the forms for you.
Do you really need to replace the counter part this minute? Plenty of people go for months if not years having lost theirs before they realise so you could put that cost on hold for a bit.
I don't know what your relationship with your parents is like, but would you really rather get into debt on a credit card than ask them for a little bit of help?
Credit card or not, I can't send off for it (which I've decided I'm not doing) until Friday, and I get paid on Saturday, meaning I can send off for the counterpart first thing on Monday. Mum comes home tonight so I will nag her for the money tomorrow and then get sent off for the passport.
They wont increase my overdraft limit, it's as high as it'll go for a first year student.
In the meantime, I need to go get some passport photos and go job hunting.
Same.
It's very good, especially if you're a student and new to managing your money.
Get a bog standard account from pretty much anyone and give yourself a weekly/monthly allowance into that (less than £60 a week). That way you know what you've got avaliable and you can use the difference to pay back some of your overdraft and build up a bit of a cushion for yourself.
DON'T get yourself back into the same situation two weeks after your overdraft limit goes up.
Which bank are you with and have you asked them about this? Mine (hsbc) extended my overdraft during the summer holidays on both years because I was skint!
If you are struggling with debts you could consider contacting CLS Direct, who will be able to advise you further on how to deal with your debts.
If you are simply spending more money than you have coming in then borrowing money will not be the solution to your problems. You know what the solution is, and that is to increase your income or lower your expenditure. You should start by creating a budget, starting with essential expenditure and take it from there. You should be able to live on about £25 a week for food and household items.
If you are using credit to pay for your lifestyle then you will encounter debt problems fairly quickly. Lloyds TSB, for the record, are also the most obstructive bank in the country should you begin to have any problems with repaying the amount borrowed. They will quite happily screw you over- don't believe the bullshit about "responsible lending".
The minimum payment is about 5% of the balance. If you can't survive on £60 per week how the hell are you going to pay that?