debit card ONLY - no overdraft - where?

M_Thomson

rockrat wrote:

NOTE
speaking with our bank - first direct - they offer no such product and cannot see a need for one. i think they are being irresponsible here. somebody is genuinly looking to control their debt here and they choose to ignore it. i have to admit its the first time i have had a negative word to say about first direct so far.

thanka all

First Direct only offer accounts to people with high credit scores. Banks do not make that much money from people with basic accounts and the cross sell potential for other forms of credit is a lot lower.

M_Thomson

weedav wrote:

Hi,

I transfer "spending money" every month into a Visa Electron account with no overdraft. My account is with Halifax - it's just a cashcard account.

The cardcash account is not offered to new customers anymore.

khdgsa

I was once in a similar situation. I solved it by telling the Halifax that I absolutely didn't want their overdraft. I couldn't get away with not having the debit card (I only wanted a cash card) as these are all they offer now.
But the key method I employed was ONLY to use cash (and in fact have only done so for over eight years now). I signed my wife's card so she couldn't use it in shops - without the ease of handing a card over and having to withdraw cash we managed to pay off over £3000 in overdrafts in a little under six months.

virgin_moneysaver

hang on - solo cards are not 100% safe in the non-o/d stakes - they work on the available balance at the time of transaction but if it is a small amount that falls below the 'floor limit' of the retailer they are not a reliable source of available credit in the account as the solo debit may not reach the account for 2-3 days - for example - Mrs J bloggs has 50.00 in the account & buys a book in WH Smith on Friday for £6.00 - the funds are available - on monday morning her direct debit goes out to BT for £48 but on tuesday morning the transaction for WH Smith hits the account & Mrs J Bloggs is now £4 o/d - the funds were available at the time of the transaction but not when it hit the account as the account holder MUST be aware of the debits & credits due on the account - unfortunately the card being accepted is not as guarantee of funds available when the debit hits the account