Sick of bank account charges - overdraft - paid items fees

want2bmortgage3

I have just logged on and found Ive been charged £65 in one day by my bank (santander).

This has once again put me over the overdraft (which means they'll charge me again next month).

I'm getting thoroughly p***ed off with them doing this. First I get £10 charge for Arranged overdraft then £15 unarranged overdraft. Plus 2 x £25 for paid item fees.

Also why do they allow these transactions to go through if you dont have the money, why cant they be declined and no fee incurred?

This leads me to ask, where can I get a bank account which doesnt have an overdraft and doesn't allow anything to go through if you dont have the money there??

daveyjp

Easily stopped - control your spending.

When we had to rely on monthly bank statements, track every amount of spend manually and call into branches for balances going overdrawn was excusable, now you can check your account every second of every day there is no reason it should happen.

want2bmortgage3

I understand that, but a lot of the time I will go online and see an 'available' figure, which I will then use some of, only to find the next day something else has come out from 2 days ago and wasnt showing up before.

CLAPTON

want2bmortgage3 wrote: »

I understand that, but a lot of the time I will go online and see an 'available' figure, which I will then use some of, only to find the next day something else has come out from 2 days ago and wasnt showing up before.

maybe rethink how you manage the a/c

-try also leaving at least £100 in the a/c so if you accidentally spend then there is a buffer there

-maybe use the a/c less; let the DDs come out and then draw out cash and only use cash so there are far fewer transactions

but madness to be paying fees and probably having your credit record trashed too.

pinkdalek

You would still get charged if the funds were not there when the direct debit was called for anyway. Often a bank will pay the direct debit to prevent you incurring charges from the direct debit originator who has called for it. An example would be some car insurance companies charge for failed payments and can cancel your car insurance, credit card/loan companies would charge you for failed payment.

If you don't want bank charges for failed/paid items, don't pay by direct debit, pay your bills as and when you can eg faster payments, bank giros, telephone banking.

Other option have two accounts, one for your bills which you put a set amount in each month and the rest for you to use on everyday items eg fuel, food, clothing etc.

tagq2

I'd argue that modern banking facilities contribute to the problem rather than alleviate it: (i) direct debits take exact payment dates and amounts out of the control of the payer; (ii) people rely on a deceptively simple (and often misleading - on what date is it cleared? can it be reversed?) list of transaction amounts rather than doing their own budgeting; (iii) banks deliberately create debt spirals for the least well off, coldly arguing via letter that it's your own fault rather than warmly inviting you for a chat to improve your budgeting skills with a well-known manager at a local branch. Retail banking can't be sustainably profitable or beneficial if it tries to make money in this way rather than by getting people to save or borrow responsibly or pay a reasonable account operation fee, and I'd be happy to see an end to "informal" overdrafts - the irresponsible account holder is not going to change his behaviour through a combination of exploitation and sense of hopelessness.

want2bmortgage3, use a spreadsheet/notepaper to write down your income and outgoings, giving yourself a 4 working day window against your favour for transactions: so if you know you will be paid on day 1, assume you can't actually use the money until day 5; if you have a regular outgoing on day 10, assume the money will be out of your account on day 6. Use this spreadsheet/notepaper only to actually manage your accounts, and use online banking transaction info only to confirm that things are working as expected.

want2bmortgage3

thanks people, i have managed to have one paid item fee refunded as a 'good will gesture'. but i am still £40 down in fees this month.

i asked the santander rep the question, why do you let transactions go through when the money isnt there?

she explained to me that they have an obligation to visa or something like that, so that they have to honour the request of the retailer.

so i think the problem is partially down to the visa scheme. i wonder if there are any other types of card you could use apart from visa in a shop?
i remember i used to have a solo/maestro card but they seem to have been phased out?

Lokolo

want2bmortgage3 wrote: »

thanks people, i have managed to have one paid item fee refunded as a 'good will gesture'. but i am still £40 down in fees this month.

i asked the santander rep the question, why do you let transactions go through when the money isnt there?

she explained to me that they have an obligation to visa or something like that, so that they have to honour the request of the retailer.

so i think the problem is partially down to the visa scheme. i wonder if there are any other types of card you could use apart from visa in a shop?
i remember i used to have a solo/maestro card but they seem to have been phased out?

Yes solo is bye bye because VISA made it cheaper for the banks to go to them.

As for the obligation stuff, just do what CLAPTON says, give yourself a buffer of £100, either leave yourself in £100 credit all the time, or get a £100 authorised overdraft.

jonesMUFCforever

Do you know what I think - OP should get rid of his visa debit card and ask for a cashpoint only card. Then he could only withdraw available funds from the ATM.

opinions4u

Some great advice above.

You can moan about "why do they ..." as much as you like, but that doesn't solve the problem.

Spend a bit less, leave a buffer in your account that you never go below and stop running the risk of getting charges.

Just because it's there doesn't mean you have to spend it.

jjblondie

I went overdrawn a few months ago for the first time as I had forgotten about a prescription payment. I too asked in the bank about stopping items being paid instead of using an overdraft and was told that VISA cards unfortunately do not have this facility installed for some reason and the only way for this sort of account to exist would be with a cash card (which I already have as another account). I now just keep £100 extra in there in case I forget a spend again.