Switch from A&L to where?

berneslai

Hi,

I'm currently with the A&L (12 months interest free overdraft has just run out) and due to an excessive amount of paid item charges after going just over my overdraft limit is the final straw. I'll be the first to admit that I could manage my finances better, but charges of >£100 for direct debits of less than £30 has really hacked me off (due to one unforseen transaction)

I'm looking to switch accounts but I need an overdraft of around £2,500 as I work in sales and therefore have an unknown amount of expenses every month (I rarely know in advance the entire travel for the month - and it's often international). With A&L, I'm probably paying £50 a month in excessive charges (which I plan to reclaim, but only after moving account).

Can anyone suggest an account that will combine a fairly generous overdraft with slightly fairer charges? I'm looking at the Coventry BS offer, but I doubt I'll get an overdraft of that size, despite being able to fund it with over 3 times the requested amount.

Thanks.

Bernard_Coleslaw

I have the Coventry account, and it's a good one.

However the OD is fixed at £250 when you open the account. They wrote to me a few weeks ago saying I could apply to increase it to a maximum of £1000, but I don't think they'd be able to accomodate your £2500, unfortunately.

Rafter

Is your credit history OK? Wouldn't you be far better off putting your expenses on a credit card (earning cash back or rewards) rather than paying interest on an overdraft to cover your work related expenses?

R.

Sillychuckie

Precisely what I was going to say. Overdrafts simply aren't designed to be used in the way you have been using them and you are far more likely to get a credit card with a limit of 2.5k than an overdraft.
If you are confident that your salary can pay off the expenses when your employer refunds them, you will incur no charges on the card (provided you pay it off completely).
What is more, use a high cashback card (see MSE articles) and you can get 2-3% back each year which would probably be a pretty large sum.

If your credit history is bad, look into the possibilities of getting a company credit card.

---lee---

I know Barclays do big overdrafts as I had one for 4.5k before I closed my a/c - not that I ever used more than about £50 of it.

berneslai

Credit history is very good as I have used credit cards before for this purpose - I was just hoping there may have been a bank with some sort of tiered overdraft structure (say 0% up to 1000, 9.9%, 1000-3000) that would allow me some 'headroom'.

Credit cards it is then.