Im worried about unauthorised overdraft

Liquid

Ok my problem is I have just had one of those bad months, I had to goto the dentist which cost over £100, my cat was hit by a car and needed out of hours emergency vet treatment which totaled to a little over £400 and after my rent was taken out by direct debit im left with -5.80 on unorthorised overdraft.

I have a Santander/Abbey debit card and iv had this account for about 8 years and I have never had an overdraft before, the account has had a balance of around £1000 to £3000 for the past 3 years

I know I will have a charge of about £30 but I want to know could I still buy the familys shopping this week I get it by debit online at Tesco for about £70 while im still minus £5.80 because I don't get paid untill next week.

preable

If there is no money in the account then you cant buy shopping unless they have given you a overdraft just ring and ask them.

opinions4u

Probably not. And if they did honour the transactions there would probably be additional charges.

Suggestions:

1) Ask for an increase in overdraft limit.
2) Use a credit card to defer the bill.
3) Ask a friend / relative to pay on their credit card and pay them back asap.

After you get through this period, I'd suggest that you open a savings account and start building it up with a view to holding at least 3 months net pay in reserve. Then if a crisis hits you can dip in to your savings instead of paying bank charges and doing without food.

Good luck!

zppp

Liquid wrote: »

I know I will have a charge of about £30 but I want to know could I still buy the familys shopping this week I get it by debit online at Tesco for about £70 while im still minus £5.80 because I don't get paid untill next week.

No, Tesco will authorise that amount of payment, so the transaction is likely to decline. If the transaction does go through by chance, you will trigger a large amount in charges.

trixietoes

Sorry to hear you're having a bad month... we've all had those months where the bank account seems to have a hole in it.

I would give the bank a call they will probably give you a temp overdraft for a week, just explain the situation to them. Once you speak to an actual person you get a lot more help otherwise it is just a computer working within set perameters.. and computer may say no.

I worked for a bank and the most important thing is if there are any problems we wanted customers to speak to us and we would try to help.

Good luck xx

Liquid

So I went to my bank and the lady in there was nice and very helpful she gave me a temporary overdraft limit of £100 so I can get the shopping because I dont get paid untill next tuesday, I have learnt my lesson from this, I am going to save my money so I will have a buffer of 2 months wages in my account that I wont touch and save £10 a week in a tin at home

fozmcfc

Glad it worked out for you in the end.

I've been bad with money for years, but finally have woken up. Now I make sure I have enough to cover me should the worse happen or some unexpected bills etc turn up.

Even though I'm extra careful about my finances nowadays, sometimes, something unexpected turns up. I forget for instance my BT bill was due this month and so when I worked out my spending for the month, found I had a little bit less than I thought, left over.