Unauthorised / Informal Overdrafts?

z292001

Do banks have a maximum unauthorised overdraft limit?

Asking just out of curiosity as HSBC authorised my debit card transactioons for a few items today when I hadn't realised a direct debit had come out.

Would they have just allowed me to keep going or is their an unseen limit? I hate to think of the charges I would have faced if I had kept spending.

MoneySaverLog

There probably is a limit at which point the DD's will be returned unpaid and you'd get letters telling you this with charges added for the privilege of them telling you.

Hooloovoo

z292001 wrote: »

Asking just out of curiosity as HSBC authorised my debit card transactioons for a few items today when I hadn't realised a direct debit had come out.

I would recommend simply considering all direct debits to have gone out on the 1st of the month, regardless of the date they actually go out.

That way you wont end up with a surprise. Just work out how much money will be left after all monthly DD have gone out, and pretend that is your balance today.

Lokolo

There is an unseen limit I believe. Basically how they say in there terms and conditions is, everytime you use your card in that situation, it makes an overdraft request, and if thats accepted, your transaction then goes through.

So if say you request £50, it might get accepted, but if you tried to spend £200 it might get rejected as they will only allow up to, for example, £100. But obviously you don't see this £100 "limit".

They charge you £25 for every formal or informal request you make, up to something like 5 times a month (and I think max of one per day). Any request under £10 doesn't count.