Current cleared balance is "-£997.39" What does this mean??

kirstycakes2

I'm a young banker, so I don't know all the ins and outs of banking (yet) so I apologise for my lack of knowledge on the subject.

Well anyway, last nights balance was £1,003.84.

My mum cashed a £1000 cheque in to my account and I checked my account today, and it says -£997.39.

It may be possible that non-existent money was taken out when I purchased a product a while back, but has only just been taken out of my account on dispatch.

I monitor my account regularly, and nothing dodgy is going on, I can assure you.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

50quidonRED

interest or overdraft payment?

clairbear1000

Do you mean she deposited a cheque for £1K or you wrote a cheque to her for £1K which she cashed. If its the latter then you are minus almost a £1K which is fine if you have the OD to cover it.

My agreed overdraft shows in minus amounts.

lisyloo

If its the latter then you are minus almost a £1K

Can you explain the maths on that please, if original balance was about £1k.

onlypaddy

-£997.39 sounds like an overdrawn balance. So....you've had £2001.23 taken out overnight? Do transactions on your statement reflect this?

When did your mum deposit the cheque and was it money in or out of your account?

How much was the purchase you mentioned for?

clairbear1000

lisyloo wrote: »

Can you explain the maths on that please, if original balance was about £1k.

I wasn't sure whether there was £1K in there before as it wasn't clear whether it was a deposit or a withdrawal by cheque.

My vague maths was a bit of a second guess on the answers to those questions.

KiKi

It depends on how your account is set up and some clarification is needed. I'm assuming you meant that your mum put a cheque INTO your account (deposited it), rather than took it OUT of your account (cashed it).

The current CLEARED balance is -£997.39 (ie, you are in your overdraft), so this sounds like the cheque hasn't yet cleared (usually takes a few working days), and when it does, will put your account back into a positive balance of £2.61.

The difference between last night and this morning's balance may be due to either:
a) £2001.23 being taken out overnight - but you would see this as a transaction(s) on your account
b) The £1003.84 wasn't a CLEARED balance that you were looking at, but a balance of -£997.39 PLUS a £2000 overdraft that you might have (and a transaction of £1.23 has also left the account overnight). So what you were looking at last night might have been the total money available to you to take out (which includes overdraft money) rather than the actual cleared balance of the account.

My bank shows that I always have £100 more to spend than I actually have cash because it takes the £100 overdraft into account.

The only way to categorically tell is to call the bank up, or look at the transactions. You may well have been looking at a different type of balance last night, though.

HTH
KiKi

kirstycakes2

Thank you for all of your replies, it's greatly appreciated (:!

I have just checked my account, and my current cleared balance is £2.61 (as you pointed out).

In reply to a comment which suggests £2k might have been taken out overnight: My statement shows the last transaction was from the 13th Sept, so I'll check my statements in the morning, where hopefully I'll find out what's been cracking off. If there is a problem, I'll be sure to ring the bank.

Thank you again (:

kirstycakes2

Just checked my balance, and it's all fine. The money has gone in.

Thank you for all your help - HUGELY appreciated that you took the time (:

Lokolo

You should wait until the cheque clears before spending the moeny as you may end up with charges.