Unauthorised overdraft - so annoyed

Basically, I have 2 bank accounts and switch my wages to the bills account at the end of the month. I have a Barclaycard DD that has come out of my account on the 8th of the month every month since I had it. This month it decides to come out today, before I transfer the money across (which I was going to / have done tonight). Result was I've been £33 overdrawn for most of the day.

Do you think I'll be charged for this, considering I have put money in today?

and what effect will this have on my credit record, it's been almost perfect before this. If they have charged me can I challenge it with them and would that clear any bad mark against me?

Very annoyed - and I realise now I should have kept a buffer in the account in case something like this happened.

Comments

  • agrinnall
    agrinnall Posts: 23,344
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    You don't need to keep a buffer in your account, you need to look at your Barclaycard statement which will tell you when the DD is going to be taken. Mine states "We'll collect your Direct Debit payment on 30 July or immediately after". If they've taken it early then use the DD guarantee to have it returned.
  • pinkdalek
    pinkdalek Posts: 1,355
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    I would first query as to why the sudden difference in due date as you stated it always goes on the 8th however this time it has gone on the 31st, a whole week earlier. One could accept if it was the 6th today or 7th, but you need to find out why the date has been changed. Did they notify your in their statement? Have they made an error?

    As for if you will be charged by your bank - only your bank can tell you that as each bank has different conditions around monies being in your account to pay bills.

    As for your credit rating. If the bank/credit company has made an error then yes they will rectify your credit file, however if not it would show but I would not get too strung up on it. If you credit rating is excellent then 1 missed payment is not going to have a massive dint in your score.

    If the unauthorised overdraft is the first instance and the bank can see you conduct your account well then talk to them about it, most would waive the fee as it would quite obviously be either a mistake made by you or the company and it is not a regular occurrence.
  • BoroPhil
    BoroPhil Posts: 119
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    yeah, that's my fault, it does say 31 July but I simply hadn't checked it. looking back at previous statements the dates were 6 July, 6 June, 8 May, 2 April, 5 March, so no idea why it's suddenly come forward. but I obviously should have checked.
  • BoroPhil
    BoroPhil Posts: 119
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    bank is Halifax btw
  • pinkdalek
    pinkdalek Posts: 1,355
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    edited 31 July 2012 at 7:30PM
    BoroPhil wrote: »
    yeah, that's my fault, it does say 31 July but I simply hadn't checked it. looking back at previous statements the dates were 6 July, 6 June, 8 May, 2 April, 5 March, so no idea why it's suddenly come forward. but I obviously should have checked.

    Even so if this is the first time it has happened to you then talk to them and see if they can waive any fees due to your excellent history. What is the worst that can happen?

    Oh if it's Halifax and it's a current account (not easycash/cardcash) then you should have avoided fees from the bank as the direct will be paid if you got enough funds in on the day. So if the direct debit is paid then you won't get a late fee from Barclays either. Only way you will know for sure is to check your account tomorrow to see if the direct debit has gone out successfully.
  • BoroPhil
    BoroPhil Posts: 119
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    Yep, I will do. thanks.
  • zenmaster
    zenmaster Posts: 3,151 Forumite
    I got caught like this.

    They seem to be playing silly buggas at the moment. For years I have always paid on the 15th but last month I got a default notice.

    Looking back at the statements I have pay by -
    14th May
    11th June
    July missing
    7th August

    They seem to be slipping it forward by a few days each month.
  • cottager
    cottager Posts: 934 Forumite
    edited 1 August 2012 at 5:19AM
    Our Barclaycard payment dates frequently vary, but we don't pay by DD so it doesn't affect us in the same way -- instead I go by the payment date given on statements and set up a Faster Payment for that day.

    The dates have varied for years: they'll be brought forward, then there's an adjustment and they go back again. It balances out overall, otherwise they'd keep coming further forward and you'd end up with more than 12 statements/payments in a year. I think how they're varied and by how many days probably depends on the differing number of days in a month.

    OH's Barclaycard is used for his business, to keep that stuff separate from personal spending, and a number of months ago (mainly for projecting figures and seeing if I could predict (a) the cut-off date for transactions, and (b) when the next payment would be due) I began keeping notes of the dates to see if there was any pattern. If there is I can't work out what it is! -- but they do seem to keep within certain parameters or a range of dates beyond which they haven't strayed so far.

    In case it helps to show this, the table below is a copy of my list for nearly 2 years of our statements. Numbers in brackets are days: in green are days since the previous statement, and in red the number between statement date and payment due date.
    STATEMENT DATE          PAYMENT DUE DATE
    Wed 6 Oct 10 (--) .. .. Mon  1 Nov ([COLOR=Red]26[/COLOR])
    Thu 4 Nov 10 ([COLOR=SeaGreen]29[/COLOR]) .. .. Mon 29 Nov ([COLOR=Red]25[/COLOR])
    Mon 6 Dec 10 ([COLOR=SeaGreen]32[/COLOR]) .. .. Fri 31 Dec ([COLOR=Red]25[/COLOR])
    Fri 7 Jan 11 ([COLOR=SeaGreen]32[/COLOR]) .. .. Tue  1 Feb ([COLOR=Red]25[/COLOR])
    Fri 4 Feb 11 ([COLOR=SeaGreen]28[/COLOR]) .. .. Tue  1 Mar ([COLOR=Red]28[/COLOR])
    Fri 4 Mar 11 ([COLOR=SeaGreen]28[/COLOR]) .. .. Tue 29 Mar ([COLOR=Red]25[/COLOR])
    Wed 6 Apr 11 ([COLOR=SeaGreen]33[/COLOR]) .. .. Tue  3 May ([COLOR=Red]27[/COLOR])
    Fri 6 May 11 ([COLOR=SeaGreen]30[/COLOR]) .. .. Tue 31 May ([COLOR=Red]25[/COLOR])
    Mon 6 Jun 11 ([COLOR=SeaGreen]31[/COLOR]) .. .. Fri  1 Jul ([COLOR=Red]25[/COLOR])
    Wed 6 Jul 11 ([COLOR=SeaGreen]30[/COLOR]) .. .. Mon  1 Aug ([COLOR=Red]26[/COLOR]) 
    Thu 4 Aug 11 ([COLOR=SeaGreen]29[/COLOR]) .. .. Tue 30 Aug ([COLOR=Red]26[/COLOR])
    Tue 6 Sep 11 ([COLOR=SeaGreen]33[/COLOR]) .. .. Mon  3 Oct ([COLOR=Red]27[/COLOR])
    Thu 6 Oct 11 ([COLOR=SeaGreen]30[/COLOR]) .. .. Mon 31 Oct ([COLOR=Red]25[/COLOR])
    Fri 4 Nov 11 ([COLOR=SeaGreen]29[/COLOR]) .. .. Tue 29 Nov ([COLOR=Red]25[/COLOR])
    Tue 6 Dec 11 ([COLOR=SeaGreen]32[/COLOR]) .. .. Tue  3 Jan ([COLOR=Red]28[/COLOR])
    Fri 6 Jan 12 ([COLOR=SeaGreen]31[/COLOR]) .. .. Tue 31 Jan ([COLOR=Red]28[/COLOR])
    Mon 6 Feb 12 ([COLOR=SeaGreen]31[/COLOR]) .. .. Fri  2 Mar ([COLOR=Red]25[/COLOR])
    Tue 6 Mar 12 ([COLOR=SeaGreen]29[/COLOR]) .. .. Mon  2 Apr ([COLOR=Red]27[/COLOR])
    Thu 5 Apr 12 ([COLOR=SeaGreen]30[/COLOR]) .. .. Mon 30 Apr ([COLOR=Red]25[/COLOR])
    Fri 4 May 12 ([COLOR=SeaGreen]29[/COLOR]) .. .. Tue 29 May ([COLOR=Red]25[/COLOR])
    Fri 8 Jun 12 ([COLOR=SeaGreen]35[/COLOR]) .. .. Tue  3 Jul ([COLOR=Red]25[/COLOR])
    Thu 5 Jul 12 ([COLOR=SeaGreen]27[/COLOR]) .. .. Mon 30 Jul ([COLOR=Red]25[/COLOR])
    
    As you can see...
    Statement dates: earliest is the 4th of a month, and the latest is 8th; but 6th is most common.
    Payment due: earliest 29th (of the same month a statement was issued), and the latest is 3rd of the following month. Sometimes this means two payments being due in the same month, but adjustments balance it out to 12 within a year.
    Period between statements: shortest 27 days and the longest 35, but these are rarer than the majority of months where it's 29/30 days, followed by 31/32.
    Period between statement and payment dates: shortest 25 days (the majority) and no less so far, and the longest 28.

    I'm sure our cycle of statement/payment dates will differ from other people's. If you're using a DD to settle, I think probably the only way not to fall foul is to do a similar sort of exercise over several months to find the date range which applies to you (then set up your TF to cover the earliest date), but meanwhile check the payment due date for every statement when it arrives so you don't get caught out. Good habit to try and have anyway, in case they ever vary by more than you expect.
    BoroPhil wrote: »
    yeah, that's my fault, it does say 31 July but I simply hadn't checked it. looking back at previous statements the dates were 6 July, 6 June, 8 May, 2 April, 5 March, so no idea why it's suddenly come forward. but I obviously should have checked.

    Have the corresponding DDs going out varied in those months as well, or always gone out on 8th as you mentioned originally? I was only thinking if they varied (gone earlier, as in July, June, April and March in line with those payment dates), but you only TF money to cover them on 8th, you must already have had enough funds in your bills a/c to pay them or you'd have had late payment charges before now?

    This has apparently cropped up at MSE before - as one example see this 2008 thread:
    http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=1329291
    Earlier the same year people at CAG were also complaining:
    http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?138428-New-payment-due-date-at-barclaycard
    http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?132700-Barclay-Card-amp-Payment-Dates

    Maybe there's been another T&Cs change? Did a quick scan of about the first 3 pages of the Credit Cards board topics, but didn't spot any likely-looking thread titles.
    On the other hand, if there has been another change which is only just coming into effect, I imagine Barclaycard would have sent out new T&Cs or witten a letter about it some little while ago.
    ~cottager
  • BoroPhil
    BoroPhil Posts: 119
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    in case anyone was desperate to hear what happened, it was never an issue; as long as the money is in the account at the end of the day, Halifax don't charge. :T
  • MABLE
    MABLE Posts: 4,078
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    BoroPhil wrote: »
    in case anyone was desperate to hear what happened, it was never an issue; as long as the money is in the account at the end of the day, Halifax don't charge. :T

    I always thought they went by the cut off time of 3.30pm to count for that day.
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