Online banking gives too much priority to "Available" instead of "Actual" balance IMO

gt94sss2

Framps wrote: »

I'm with HSBC and they only show you one balance online... I ended up transferring 10k out of my current a/c and into savings, only to get an overdraft fee later on as the credit was an uncleared cheque.

HSBC actually show the following on Internet Banking for each account (at least for me - so I suspect for everyone else!)

Balance
Available Balance
As At date/time
Overdraft Limit

Regards
Sunil

rb10

oxenryd wrote: »

The next thing will be that banks should show your balance in red if it's overdrawn or black if in credit.

This is what Halifax online banking shows already.

vet8

oliviasmummy wrote: »

thats what the available balance is for

I must say that Lloyds, who we use for our business account have recently introduced a second figure of "available balance", but this has only happened in the past few months, previously you had to guess how much of your balance was actually available to you and how much had not cleared yet.

oxenryd

djm1972 wrote: »

Not everyone has time/can be bothered to read the whole screen - they just home in on where they are guided to; but actually, that's a really good idea - only i've not been overdrawn since using online banking so I don't know if they (NatWest or Cahoot) don't do that already...!

Glad you like my idea, but I was being sarcastic ...............

gordikin

vet8 wrote: »

I must say that Lloyds, who we use for our business account have recently introduced a second figure of "available balance", but this has only happened in the past few months, previously you had to guess how much of your balance was actually available to you and how much had not cleared yet.

Why did you have to guess? You must have known the amount paid in and the amount going out so why did you not know!

vet8

It's obvious I would have thought!!

I had paid in several cheques on different days and some money arrived by BACs. It said I had £1,000 odd in the account.

Right. I'll move £600 - insufficient funds, £500 - insufficient funds, £400 etc etc. The online statement showed all the money as being there and the balance said I had £1000, but most of it had not cleared so I had to guess which ones had and how much I could actually transfer.

Showing how much money you really have available now is a massive improvement.

amyjayne27

gt94sss2 wrote: »

HSBC actually show the following on Internet Banking for each account (at least for me - so I suspect for everyone else!)

Balance
Available Balance
As At date/time
Overdraft Limit

Regards
Sunil

My HSBC account doesnt show my available balance, it shows what I have exluding anything I have put on my card on the past couple of days so if I have say £1000 then I spend £35 here and £40 there, it will still say I have £1000 for about 3 days.

Biggles

I had no real problem with LTSB showing the 'Available balance' as inclusive of my overdraft when that was £5,000.

Since harder times have arrived (for LTSB, not me!), my overdraft is a fiddly £1,450, which means I have to do a quick bit of mental arithmetic each time I log in before I know exactly how much is really 'available'. Not hard, but annoying.

frugallass

A & L online banking took me some time to get used to it - I now keep all my transactions on a spreadsheet and have a formula that calculates the difference between my current and my available balance, and I know to take the overdraft into account too.

gt94sss2

amyjayne27 wrote: »

My HSBC account doesnt show my available balance, it shows what I have exluding anything I have put on my card on the past couple of days so if I have say £1000 then I spend £35 here and £40 there, it will still say I have £1000 for about 3 days.

Do you have a ' Show/Hide account information' option on your 'recent transactions' page? (near the top - under the account number/sort code)

Regards
Sunil