Very confusing bank situation

[Viberduo]

What can I do about this? You could say its my fault in part but I had money in last weekend when I was paid then treated myself as I saved for a while then with what I spent had £97 in bank still so took out £70 to last a week so when I paid sky bill I had about £5 left and got £22 paid in leaving £27 then I paid for some gas at new property(cant remember exact amount but under £10) so assumed I had about £19 in credit.

Bank says the £27 was what I had BEFORE I paid the £22 which makes no sense as I paid the £22 to sky on Saturday and only made the other transactions last night and my balance after card payments came out Friday left me with the £97(not a single one was due to come off after)

This isnt the first time this has happened recently but first time I got overdrawn due to it so its very confusing.

[Find The Real]

I'm sorry my maths is not that good so I can't really work out the exact balance on everything at the time but you will find most banks tend not to update over the weekend so it sounds like the payments went out before the your payment went in therefore making the account overdrawn at some point.

It would probably be best rather than taking most of the cash out to make sure you have enough to cover any unpaid amounts, just have a small amount in reserve should there be any unexpected payments that you have not accounted for and that way you should avoid going overdrawn.

[Viberduo]

Yes, the thing is though when I went to the bank on the Friday, all the earmarked transactions had lowered my available funds at the time and that is what I went by i.e lets say I had £150 in the account on Thursday and spent £53 on card I knew I had £97 left and when I asked the bank on Friday they said AVAILABLE funds £97 and then I took out £70 cash leaving £27, so I knew I had £27 left so spent £22 of that on Saturday and had a £22 credit in on Monday so when I checked my account it said I had £27 left

So I assumed I had £27 in, minus £15 for a payment from Sky(which they took wrongfully) which would leave me with £12 in, I then spent about £9 on the card(cant remember exact pence so it could be 50p each way) not £20 overdrawn.

The other thing is, I know it takes a few days to clear but if the payment was earmarked to leave the account then the available funds should of gone down.

Forgot to say, I remember asking in branch on Monday that I was waiting for a payment in and they told me a £22 payment just went out to Sky so I had £5 left(so it had already been taken) then on Tuesday it was £27 in credit so I assumed the £22 payment was in.

Now I think about it I wonder of the £22 payment arrived in as that would explain everything.

[Find The Real]

Card payments can take longer to show up as a transaction as it depends on when the merchant puts it through the system so there may have been a overlap there.

The best thing to do would have a daily update yourself on a spread sheet so you can tick off what has gone through the account and what it is outstanding so you know how much cash to take out as banking systems are not instant and so the available balance may not take into account any recent charges or payments.

[Viberduo]

Originally Posted by Find The Real

Card payments can take longer to show up as a transaction as it depends on when the merchant puts it through the system so there may have been a overlap there.

The best thing to do would have a daily update yourself on a spread sheet so you can tick off what has gone through the account and what it is outstanding so you know how much cash to take out as banking systems are not instant and so the available balance may not take into account any recent charges or payments.

Normally I am fine but the whole confusion comes from the fact I now seem to have less than I thought taking everything into account and the woman in the branch confirmed the payment had been taken and even listed the name of company(which I thought they couldnt do unless it was taken)

[Find The Real]

I would check on that £22 payment in as without it I worked out you would be overdrawn. Do you not have internet banking as it is a lot easier to see when payments are going in and out of the account.

[Viberduo]

Well I do but its like a 28 digit long number you have to enter and I keep forgetting it, I can do telephone banking but hate the process.

Will try it anyway as I have a landline number(thank god for saynoto0870) for the call centre just hate the 5 minutes it takes typing in and going through security

[Find The Real]

If you can get used to the internet banking it would probably be better as you can see what is going in an out the account and get a better idea to be able to budget as it is a lot clearer to see it in front on you that given the information on the phone, who do you bank with?

I hope you can work something out but I would think about keeping a small amount in the account if you can for any payments you may have missed, especially over the weekend.

[harrys dad]

You do not need to "wait 5 minutes" to go through the call menu, or even type in your a/c number (they usually ask again anyway). When connected just press ####### and it usually puts you straight through to a person.

Does your "28 number" internet a/c have a "remember my customer" feature (Nationwide does)? If it does just be careful you only use it on a computer where you are the only person who can access it, although it will still need a password.

[Viberduo]

Hi, even more confusing, the next day was £15 in credit, then day aftert that was £7 in debt again.

No idea what is happening as I have made no more transactions and when I asked about the last few they told me last one was the same day as I was £19 overdrawn.