Any such thing as a free overdraft?

laura-lovecat

I'd just like to know which banks people consider to have the best overdraft facility? I know you won't get one for free but who has the cheapest interest rates/ monthly fee? I'm with the Bank of Scotland at the moment and they charge £1 a day for an agreed overdraft and £5 a day for an unagreed one.

I've never really had to use this before but recently my partner lost his job and I have had to support both of us which makes me frequently end up going overdrawn just days after getting paid. I would just like to know if I'm better off switching banks or if this is the norm?

Thanks for any replies.

kaych

First Direct gives you £250 fee free overdraft

Sharon87

I'm with Natwest got an overdraft that charges interest, as oppose to daily charges. Also 6 months after being with them they offered me £100 at interest free.

My sister has a £500 interest free overdraft at HSBC. Not sure how she got it, maybe she managed the account well. HSBC normally also charge interest as oppose to daily rates

InsideInsurance

Barclays Premier do a £1,000 interest free overdraft but the account is £10 or free depending on your earnings/ savings

System

Cahoot give you a £100 interest free overdraft, but they're not accepting applications any more.

Handelsbanken overdraft fees are at the discretion of the branch, but I have been quoted 8.75% which is pretty good.

System

Just make sure you understand the difference between fee free and interest free - most banks don't charge a fee for an overdraft, but almost all charge interest, The fee is when you have to pay, say, £20 a year for the facility, plus interest.

quintwins

i have a completely free £200 overdraft with northernbank we've had it for round 5 years and it just never changed, we never use it tho which prob helps if we started using it they might recall it. We don't get charged a fee to have it nor do we get charged interest to use it.

Voyager2002

Several bank accounts come with free overdrafts of as much as five hundred pounds, but if you need the money you won't qualify for one of these accounts!

tosyn

kaych wrote: »

First Direct gives you £250 fee free overdraft

Only applicable if you have a stand alone FD account.
If you have offset mortgage linked - you would still pay the interest linked to your offest mortgage account for any amount below zero.

Savvy_Money

InsideInsurance wrote: »

Barclays Premier do a £1,000 interest free overdraft but the account is £10 or free depending on your earnings/ savings

I would very much doubt that the poster qualifies for the premier account - Barclays have retightened the criteria so you will have to have either £50,000 in savings or earn £75k +

Premier Life has been discontinued for new customers

pmduk

Voyager2002 wrote: »

Several bank accounts come with free overdrafts of as much as five hundred pounds, but if you need the money you won't qualify for one of these accounts!

The above point is worth remembering. The more you need money the more difficult it'll be to get it at an affordable price.