Tool to keep current account balance as low as possible without going overdrawn

The_Architrave

Hi,

I'm looking for a tool to help me keep my current account balance as low as possible without going overdrawn. I'm sure someone mentioned something like this recently but I've done some searches and drawn a blank.

I have recently been moved to a Halifax Reward account and want to avoid paying £1 a day for the small overdraft that I often use towards the end of the month. I'm aware that the simple solution is to keep a few extra pounds in the account, just in case, but I'd rather have that money in my savings account or piggy bank. I suppose it's more about the intellectual challenge of getting the most out of the Halifax rather than the few pence interest I make by playing this game.

Just to be clear, I'm not looking for a budgeting tool as overall my money is under control, but rather something that will allow me to enter regular payments once, variable payments regularly, cross check against actual balance and adjust as necessary. If one doesn't exist I will have to design something in Excel, which is what I did last month.

Thanks in advance (and apologies for the long post),

William.

Ken68

In the old days, people would run a Cash Book, together with a Petty Cash Book for trivial amounts. Both would have analysis columns for comparing month to month.
Enter all amounts as spent/or received not forgetting Direct Debits, make up a balance carried forward to next month.
Nowadays your computer spreadsheet would serve to do the same.

CLAPTON

I must say I admire the money saving determination, but just one £1 charge per year will probably wipe out any interest gain of a small balance in a savings account.

opinions4u

Stuff the complex forumlas.

Log on to your account using the internet each day and check your account!

It works!

milfordmadness

opinions4u wrote: »

Stuff the complex forumlas.

Log on to your account using the internet each day and check your account!

It works!

Thats the size of it - 100% agree with this - I do the same. If my main account is running low, I simply transfer from my savings then when I get paid again, I move it back over to my savings account plus some extra.

I never go overdrawn, ever! It's there for what the bank give me it for, an emergency cash reserve that could be repayable by demand within 30 days.

Out of interest, I use HSBC and think (personal opinion) that they are very good and their charges are brilliant too. Not that i've had any, but apparently they stipulate they won't charge you more than the debit (i.e. £1 o/d will not result in a £10 charge!)

HSBC Plus is £12.95 per month and good for me, but thats because I wouldn't get 1st Direct, if I could that's who i'd like to use. They are the dogs bollox after all.

Have a look for the thread entitled top ten best and worse banks - this is informative.....

getmore4less

Use a Credit card(paid off in full) and cash

That way it is easy to keep track of an account since it reduces the number of transactions.


what are you using to track you are on budget
I have this built into my budgeting tool MSmoney.

Enter all the transactions and it tells me the ballance is
Planned spends in advance can be entered so you know when to top up.

milfordmadness

Further to my previous post, #5, this is the link, top ten banks: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1450731

RankBank/Building Society
Worst
1 Abbey
2 Barclays
3 Halifax
4 Cheltenham & Gloucester
5 Northern Rock
6 Alliance & Leicester
7 Bank of Scotland
8 Lloyds
9 HSBC
10 NatWest

Best
1 Smile
2 First Direct
3 Co-operative Bank
4 Nationwide Building Society
5 Yorkshire Building Society
6 Intelligent Finance
7 Sainsbury's Bank
8 Britannia Building Society
9 Coventry Building Society
10 Royal Bank of Scotland

The_Architrave

getmore4less wrote: »

Use a Credit card(paid off in full) and cash

That way it is easy to keep track of an account since it reduces the number of transactions.


what are you using to track you are on budget
I have this built into my budgeting tool MSmoney.

Enter all the transactions and it tells me the ballance is
Planned spends in advance can be entered so you know when to top up.

Thanks, I do use credit cards for most things, but there are still direct debits coming out of the current account for the credit cards themselves, plus regular payments for gas, water, council tax, etc and variable things like phone bills.

It sounds like MS Money may be what I need, unless there's some freeware or shareware that does the same job...

The_Architrave

opinions4u wrote: »

Stuff the complex forumlas.

Log on to your account using the internet each day and check your account!

It works!

That's exactly what I do at the moment, but what about when I go on holiday for a fortnight, or my mother is taken ill and I don't get a chance?

opinions4u

The_Architrave wrote: »

That's exactly what I do at the moment, but what about when I go on holiday for a fortnight, or my mother is taken ill and I don't get a chance?

Top the account up with a safety cushion for any periods where you feel you don't have the control you want.

You'd still need to manage your spreadsheet wouldn't you?

The Microsoft Money suggestion above is also a good one. Many banks do link to this (Halifax certainly do). I've need felt the need to use it though.

dzug1

opinions4u wrote: »

Stuff the complex forumlas.

Log on to your account using the internet each day and check your account!

It works!

But of itself that doesn't work. You can't take it at face value as it doesn't know what is GOING to happen and what SHOULD have happened but hasn't.

It only works if you take it in conjuction with YOUR knowledge (from your Excel spreadsheet for example) of what SHOULD be happening to your account and if necessary work out why it is different.

I seriously doubt if an online tool (if one such exists) will do any better.