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Hi guys,

So the last week has been fantastic, such a great response to my admission about being in debt and so many supportive people, so much so that I got the courage to do what I was most dreading and scared of - talking to the banks - ulp!

In order to help me keep on the straight and narrow and also to help me help anyone coming to me with a fitness problem I keep using the analogy of starting January feeling really unfit or overweight and there are some definite similarities between the banking and fitness industries and, sad to say, they’re not good for either customer.

Let’s start with the credit card companies - I got a great first response when I called and asked for a reduced interest rate - I actually got a “balance sweep” which saved me £250 for the year in interest!  Yeay!  Unfortunately this was the only real win - with other companies who had asked me to call when I emailed saying no (why not say it in the email?) and others saying, “well if you cleared the balance we could offer you a 0% balance transfer, or 4.9% balance transfer...” unfortunately that’s not what I was asking.  I also got this wonderful response to “why does my interest payment go up in January when the balance on the card is less than in December?”  “Well it’s how we choose to work it out, we base it sometimes on 32 days in the months or 28 - it’s got nothing to do with how many days are actually in the month.”  Eh?  I’d love to trust that they’re doing it right but unfortunately, we all know the banks are not above doing sneaky things to make more money.  “Reputable” companies do disreputable things.

Waste of time moment - calling a credit card on which I actually have a £2.12 CREDIT to try and close it and get the cash.  (It’s not much but my attitude is everything helps and also it’s bad for the planet when they send me a paper statement each month.)  Half an hour later I was asked to write in to request the closure and balance, at which point I realised it was not worth the time and the price of a stamp.  (Note to self: prioritise!)

Then it was off to close one of my business accounts and pay off my commercial card.  On the upside I got a free coffee and the advisor told me that if I get a My Waitrose card I get free tea and coffee every day in central Wimbledon - score!!  She was very nice but first told me I had to call the helpline to close the commercial card, to which I replied “but I can’t close my account without paying off the card otherwise they’ll try and take the direct debit from a non-existent account”.  “Oh yes.”  Finally after her calling around for half an hour she got a final balance, er... but if I do owe any additional interest apparently I have to call back their helpline to check.  “Can’t they call me?”  “Oh, they’re not allowed to make outgoing calls.”  I think we sorted it out but I am left with the niggling feeling they might come after me with a fee if there’s outstanding interest.  (“Let them come.” she said with a battle cry.)

With a skip in my step I went to my bank to pay in some money and to ask them some very important questions:

“Can I switch my account so I don’t pay a monthly fee?”

“Can you do anything about my credit card interest rate?” - well, if you don’t ask you don’t get.

“Can I stop this charitable direct debit?”  I’ve decided to support a micro charity instead because I’m sick of this charity’s chuggers behaviour in central Wimbledon.

Although I had the nicest advisor the HOUR (yes, HOUR) I spent in there was like putting my head in a financial washing machine.

He started to go through all my borrowing and I cut him off, “I just want to know what I asked.”, “But, but, but...” to which I replied “You know when you go into the gym and they want to do a fitness check where they get those calipers to check how fat you are and check your BMI - I don’t want that - I just want to know what you can offer me.”

Takeaways were; why don’t you put it all on your mortgage?  “Because I don’t want to.”  “But you should.”  “But I don’t want to.”  I should have said “because I don’t want to lose my house should I have serious financial problems” but you know he might not have liked that.

“Oh, it looks like we could do a loan for you to cover everything you already owe us - overdraft and credit card.”  “Okay let’s try that.”  “Let me speak to the manager”  15 minute pause “Weeeeeelll... you know if we apply for that for you you may end up losing your overdraft facility because they might score you different because...”

“If you were a bit more well off we could help you, or if you were experiencing more financial hardship but where you are now, we’re not sure, if you hadn’t done this we could do that, or if you had done this...”

I’m glad he was nice because I felt comfortable in saying “you know this is all bullshit right?”  “You’ve already lent me the money we’re just talking about changing the interest rate.”  His response, “weeeeeeellll.”  As I said to him, it’s like letting someone really overweight join the gym and then saying “you’re too heavy to use the treadmill”. 

Since when did we become okay with a banking industry that makes the poorest people pay the most (thank goodness I never, ever went near a pay day loan!)  It’s like saying to someone in Tesco, “Oh no, I’m sorry you’re too poor to be allowed to buy the Value brand, you’ll have to pay for Tesco’s Finest.”  Seriously, what happened? 

Unfortunately it’s not the first time my bank has said to me when I’ve asked for help - “oh we might take away your overdraft facility”.  It feels so mean and so wrong when you’ve gone to ask for help - and it makes me feel very ashamed of anyone in the fitness industry who treats any newcomer like this.

On the upside I now know where I stand with bank fees - as in it makes little difference to my overdraft but I lose my travel insurance so would probably save me about £100 a year, but I thought I’d better get out of there while I still had enough brain power to find my way home.  Oh shoot I need to go back and sort out that direct debit too!

It is enough to put you off ever trying to get a better deal or sort out your finances, but I feel like I’ve been through the worst part and I’m ready to keep on keeping on.  (Oh man don’t get me started on automated helplines (or unhelpfullines - which is cleaner than the nickname I came up with earlier).)

And I would like to apologise on behalf of the fitness industry to anyone who has ever gone through a tenth of this trying to take a step forward in getting healthier - so much of these processes SUCK!

But, big drum roll, I made progress (though not in my bank) and have saved today a total of £557 this year in interest and charges so far!  Plus I got a free coffee and I’ve applied for My Waitrose (free coffee) and Tesco (free airmiles) loyalty cards!  You know how I love rewards!

Much love, Pearl x