Bank threat...

LegacyUser

Got a letter from bank today saying there closing my account and due to arrears on my loan are looking for amount to be paid in full within 21days, or debt collecters will be used to get the money....

Bit of background, im a full time student for several years now, with a student account and a student loan for the last 4 years. Ive been paying off the loan (which was originally for college) and geting top ups for more college and living expenses and travelling. Ive recently fallen into 600 arrears which is about 3 months payments, and previously at start of the year 500arrears which I payed off in full after a month of working my arse off.

Ive received a call before asking why i'm in arrears and basically my Grandmother was the guaranteur for the loan and also paid it for me for several years, she has become ill and due to the illness has not been able to help me for the last year. I've been working part-time as well as full time college, which has caused me to give up sports as work needs me to work on sundays.

Ive asked the bank if I could reduce the monthly payments and they said no.
I told them my Grandmother had become extremely ill of late and is unable to help me and I said i will be working to get the arrears sorted.

The last phone call I recieved I told them I am starting a part time job and will be paying the money off as soon as possible, as Im full time student im only earning 100-150 a week, of which majority of that is living expenses.

Ive been paying off 50-80 euro a week for the last couple of weeks, but i recieved the letter today basically telling me they would be using debt collectors to get the money, and anyone who is a guaranteur on the account... What I really don't want them to do is go chasing my grandmother down on her death bed looking for the money...

Its really p1ssed me off, especially as its exactly 9 days before christmas...

Im going to ring them tomorrow but im not totally sure what i need to say or what I can do...

Sorry for the long winded post, but im p1ssed off/ worried about this and need some advice, the total amount of the loan is about 4k, ive had it for 4 years paying off a couple of thousand and geting another loan so on so forth...

Cheers for replys

Stheno

MABS may be able to help you.

Also rather than dealing with the bank over the phone, could you make an appointment to actually go in and present them with a payment plan that you could afford, and explain at the same time about your grandmothers illness?

Best wishes.

So you've a loan costing you €200 a month and you have been paying off only 60 to 80 of that?

As the last poster said-get an appointment with Mabs immediately.
They might not see you at this stage untill the new year but believe me if they are busy now and they are,they will be snowed under if you wait any longer.

Now for the rest of my advice.
I usually start with -you are where you are!
In my personal opinion the bank are probably sending you their stock letter.No doubt yours was signed along with a massive pile of others.

Assuming you have no assets,the worst that can happen is they bring you to court and get an installment order.
The judge is going to see that you've been doing something about it ie you have been with Mabs and you have proposed the best that you can with the bank.
I'm guessing a judge ain't going to be unsympathetic.

Lastly don't worry about it just get onto Mabs and formalise with them your contact on your side with the bank and thats all you can do.
I mean you have to live...like

Fletch123

Most universities' Students Unions have a Student Hardship fund, and those in charge of it may be able to give you some money and some advice on what to do. Worth investigating, talk to your Students Union.

LegacyUser

How about you cut down on 'travelling' and 'living expenses', and work more hours. I worked my way through college, managed to cover all expenses and still enjoy a decent enough standard of living without ever needing a bank loan or going into arrears. Pay up, or start making tea for the sherriff. One thing you obviously haven't learned is responsibility with money. Its the same as all these plumbers and brickies now complaining they cant afford the €500,000 mortgage, repayments on the car, repayments on the flatscreen tv, etc etc.

Rule 1: Dont live beyond your means, (means that you can maintain into the future)

It seems you were happy enough spending the bank's money without a thought.

Plek Trum

You've been a student for several years? What are you studying?

While I am sympathetic to your situation, I find the fact that you got additonal loan tops ups to go travelling and also for "living expenses" (I'm guessing holidays and / or treats) and your grandmother is apparently meant to be covering these for you insulting and ridiculous.

I am guessing you are at the very least in your mid 20's? At some stage you have to be realistic, weigh up your employment Vs educational balance and call your student life a halt and join the real working world. Are you guaranteed employment in the field you are studying with good salary prospects? If not I suggest you study evening or part time if required / possible and get out to work on a more fulltime basis, take responsibility and pay your own debts. Expecting your Gran to pay your loans STILL is baffling!

Sorry to sound harsh - I did not qualify for any grant or aid assistance in Uni, paid all my own bills and loans and worked 4 nights a week. I could not afford to go travelling when all my friends did as I would not be able to repay the loan at that time. It can be done - you mention sacrificing your "sport" on Sundays as some type of martydom. I'm sorry - grow up.

petethebrick

How much do you owe in total? As long as it's not a huge amount it will be a long time before you'll have debt collectors turning up. A few years ago I had a loan with repayments of something like 500eur per month. Due to a change in circumstances it was tight making the repayments so I asked them sould they reduce the amount and they said no. After falling in arrears they sent a letter saying the same as you - they'd close the account and call in the entire loan etc I basically just ignored them and didn't clear my arrears for over a year (was paying bits and pieces). I'm not recommending this course of action....I'm just saying don't expect them to be repossesing your house just yet!

segasega

Plek Trum wrote: »

You've been a student for several years? What are you studying?

While I am sympathetic to your situation, I find the fact that you got additonal loan tops ups to go travelling and also for "living expenses" (I'm guessing holidays and / or treats) and your grandmother is apparently meant to be covering these for you insulting and ridiculous.

I am guessing you are at the very least in your mid 20's? At some stage you have to be realistic, weigh up your employment Vs educational balance and call your student life a halt and join the real working world. Are you guaranteed employment in the field you are studying with good salary prospects? If not I suggest you study evening or part time if required / possible and get out to work on a more fulltime basis, take responsibility and pay your own debts. Expecting your Gran to pay your loans STILL is baffling!

Sorry to sound harsh - I did not qualify for any grant or aid assistance in Uni, paid all my own bills and loans and worked 4 nights a week. I could not afford to go travelling when all my friends did as I would not be able to repay the loan at that time. It can be done - you mention sacrificing your "sport" on Sundays as some type of martydom. I'm sorry - grow up.

I think when they said "travelling" I think they meant like bus/train fares to college, not a J1 summer.

Plek Trum

I dont know - to a student travelling is usually away abroad, not getting a loan to cover bus fares! Don't mean to be too harsh but gosh, live within your means if at all possible

therewillbe

Get yourself down to a credit union and get a loan to pay of the bank. Mabs can sort you out . Once you are paying something a week of it , nothing serious can happen. Just putting the frighteners on you mate.:mad:

seamus

€100/week @ €8/hour is only 12.5 hours per week.

You're not doing nearly enough work. You should be aiming to get €200/week, if you can - 25 hours a week minimum IMO. Yes that's hard going, especially if you're doing more than 25 hours a week in college, but you've gotta what you gotta do.

Look at places where you can save money - e.g. would it make more sense to cycle to college than get a bus. A yearly bus ticket costs around €600 (afair). You'd get an adequate bike for a quarter of that.

Also, do talk to MABS. The bank probably won't go after your grandmother - guarantors are usually only chased when the primary lendee has been completely exhausted.

I'm assuming since your grandmother's been helping you, that your parents aren't available. Have you any other family who could help out - siblings or even aunts/uncles who could lend you money to clear the debts?

Two things are very clear here:

1. You need to work more and earn more money.
2. You need to forget about getting any more credit from a bank (including overdrafts and credit cards) until you're at least a year debt-free

fits

New EU rules state that banks are obliged to initiate legal proceedings if you default on your loan for 90 days. I dont think many people are aware of this as its a recent thing.

OP, go in and talk to your bank manager face to face. There is a way out of this, you just havent found it yet. It may mean that you have to take on more hours.

marzic

Go to mabs as advised above, also as advised seek a meeting face to face with the manager, advise manager that you are engaged with mabs. Any further correspondence you receive, reply in writing, you can follow up with calls if you wish but at least you will have a record of all correspondence, also document calls made and the persons name. you have to be seen to be proactive, I would also advise that you get a letter from your gran's doctor and bring with you to meet with manager. contact the regulator and the ombudsman to get some info regarding your rights, and if the bank are acting correctly. good luck

iguana

seamus wrote: »

€100/week @ €8/hour is only 12.5 hours per week.

You're not doing nearly enough work. You should be aiming to get €200/week, if you can - 25 hours a week minimum IMO. Yes that's hard going, especially if you're doing more than 25 hours a week in college, but you've gotta what you gotta do.

You really do need to consider this. I worked 30 hours a week on average all through third level and I had 26 hours of classes most years. With coursework on top of that. I know it sounds daunting but once you are actually doing it, you do get used to it. I actually had a great social life on top of that and was in nightclubs 5 or 6 times a week in the early years.

ali.c

OP, you dont say how old you are but if you grandmother paid your loan for several years and you have been in college for several years I am guessing you are in your mid twenties at the youngest.

You have to take responsibility for the situation and try and sort it out using mabs as already suggested. Although your grandmother is sick the bank will not take this in to consideration. At the end of the day when she garanteed your loan she signed a legally binding agreement to pay it in the event that you default.

From your description it seems to me that you have not be taken responsibilty for your finances, if you are having issues with a loan or repayments then the time to sort it out is before you default on a single payment.

I understand that the loan pay off some and then top up and the pay off some cycle but you need to take responsibilty and deal with the situation. By continuously defaulting on payments you are damaging your credit rating which will make your bank less open to any alternative arrangements you suggest.

i don't like pretty much all the replies in this thread.. everyone so preachy.

i had a similar issue a few months back.. mine was that i was just out of college and had 2250 overdraft. never told bank anything and they had wrong address till i changed it one day and then i received my final 28 days notice.. thank god i changed address cause i thought i had a year after college to pay it off.


basically, if it's with the repo company, all you need to do is sort out a standing order of 20-30euro a week.. that's what i had to do and i've heard of other people having the same except i'm at 250 a month instead. they will rather do that than put your account into default so go into bank, tell them that's all you can afford and take it from there.

Jammyc

seamus wrote: »

You're not doing nearly enough work. You should be aiming to get €200/week, if you can - 25 hours a week minimum IMO. Yes that's hard going, especially if you're doing more than 25 hours a week in college

would it make more sense to cycle to college than get a bus.

To be fair tho, if your workin 25 hours a week and in college 25 hours a week and in your in-between time your cycling, your not going to be doing anything you do well at all.

Plus your 25 hours of college, goes more than that with assignments and whatnot.

It would almost make it pointless then to be there, if your going to be working so hard theres the risk of failing.

I really do sympathise with OP, its just an awfull situation that couldnt have worse timing.

Best of luck

RedXIV

Jammyc wrote: »

To be fair tho, if your workin 25 hours a week and in college 25 hours a week and in your in-between time your cycling, your not going to be doing anything you do well at all.

Plus your 25 hours of college, goes more than that with assignments and whatnot.

It would almost make it pointless then to be there, if your going to be working so hard theres the risk of failing.

I really do sympathise with OP, its just an awfull situation that couldnt have worse timing.

Best of luck

In fairness, its a situation that numerous students face. I had to work my way through college, its not nice but for most of the time i was just working saturday and sundays in the local Tesco but i was pulling out €200 a weekend. I had phases where i worked more too. I'd have to agree with Seamus, there's plenty of ways for you to get more money, and sacrificing sports is something that you'll just have to accept.

I'm not trying to be preachy, i'm just pointing out that if you want to go to college, you have to understand that sacrifices have to be made.

iguana

Jammyc wrote: »

To be fair tho, if your workin 25 hours a week and in college 25 hours a week and in your in-between time your cycling, your not going to be doing anything you do well at all.

Plus your 25 hours of college, goes more than that with assignments and whatnot.

It would almost make it pointless then to be there, if your going to be working so hard theres the risk of failing.

But lots and lots of people do just that. I spent 30 hours a week on a check-out in dunnes, and I worked short hours compared to those doing night pack. A lot of my friends did that and often worked from 6pm to 1/2am 3 nights a week and then full days Saturday and Sunday. Once you start doing it you just get used to the routine.

seamus

Jammyc wrote: »

To be fair tho, if your workin 25 hours a week and in college 25 hours a week and in your in-between time your cycling, your not going to be doing anything you do well at all.

I'm not really sure what you mean. If the commute is short enough, cycling will save time. A bus is only faster on trips over 5 miles or so. Under that, you spend longer waiting at the bus stop than it takes to cycle from A to B.

Plus your 25 hours of college, goes more than that with assignments and whatnot.

This is the life of a student. For the first two years in college, I did at least 30 hours in college and 20 hours in work. Sure, you've one or two assignments a month, but if you just use your time effectively, you'll still have plenty of time for other things.

There are also very few college courses that don't have a lot of down-time during the day. I may have been college from 9 till 6 some days, but there were a good few breaks of up to 3 hours within those days. If I'd had the cop-on I would have used that time to finish assignments instead of surfing boards or chatting in the canteen.