Another £35 charge

Lyndsay_21

I've just spoken to natwest as i've just checked my balance and i'm £36.23 overdrawn it turns out when i checked my balance on tuesday the 12th at around 5:4pm it said i had £174.90 so i paid 2 bills one for £47 and another for £110 but it turns out oh no i didn't actually have that much in there as tescos took out £48.88 sometime that day/night. So now i'm overdrawn and going to get charged £35 for the priviledge.
This is really annoying as this is the second charge i've had this month. I'm just sooo upset cos i checked my balance yesterday and it never said i was overdrawn. If when if i'd checked telephone banking i'd known it doesn't always show the true balance i wouldn't bloody use it.
Why has this happened in the same month when its never happened before especially when i really can't afford it, and there was me posting about starting to have a bit of extra cash then the bank swallow it up!

**Edited by Board Guide**

frepol

Especially when you're using debit cards, you've got to keep a running track of your own balance and forget what the machines tell you. Card purchases appear on your statement on say a Tuesday, but you will not actually notice until the Wednesday. If the Natwest phone banking is the same as the Ulster Bank one (same company) then the phone banking is more or less a day behind. Same with the CPs as explained above.

Complain of course that it's unfair using the letters but I think that you have a wider issue of financial management coming into play here as well. I used to bad at it - use the space at the front of your cheque book to record every thing you do with cards, cheques etc and that way you know your balance without reference to the machine. It's also a good thing to show in the bank if you do make a mistake as you can plead that it is a genuine error the odd time that it does go wrong.

Lyndsay_21

Its just sooo annoying when they tell you one thing and then you find out its wrong. Plus i didnt realise COB finished at midnight i assumed it was 5/5.30 ish therefore me the checking my balance at 5.45 and thinking all banking was over didn't help!!

grumbler

Lyndsay_21 wrote:

Its just sooo annoying when they tell you one thing and then you find out its wrong...

What is wrong? Let's look at this in other way:
You spent your availabe funds to pay bills and then Tesco transaction made you overdrawn. It could take days and weeks for some transactions to appear on your statement and you must remember about all your 'pending' transactions. Read this THREAD.

dougk_2

Two things you can do.

1) Arrange a free overdraft so it doesn't happen again
2) Use internet banking and check every couple of days your statement online so you know what has and has not gone through.

grumbler

dougk wrote:

... Arrange a free overdraft so it doesn't happen again...

Very rare accounts offer free overdraft. However if you could arrange 'agreed' overdraft it would be enough to avoid charges (not interest).

Lyndsay_21

I know its my fault as i hadn't realised the tescos stuff hadn't come out but i went to the bank today and paid some money into the account and then found out on top of the £35 rejected DD fee (again) there then going to charge me £28.50 for going overdrawn so this month i've paid out 2x£35 Returned DD fees and £28.50 for going overdrawn so thats nearky £100 this month to natwest

Lyndsay_21

Well i've just spoken to the most helpful person from natwest and he told me i wont get charged £28.50 for going overdrawn (phew) as i only have a basic account still £70 down the drain though

frepol

i only have a basic account still £70 down the drain though

So you have a Solo card which should be debiting your account immediately. This lack of instant debiting appears to be a bit of a problem with the Natwest Solo as you would not be the first person that I have heard of to have the problem. Try complaining using that tack - that you thought that solo transactions came off your account immediately so you thought you could spend the money.

Magentasue

I use Microsoft Money and download bank statements. Standing Orders etc get entered automatically and when I come home I go through my receipts and enter those in too. I always know exactly how much is in my account.

Maybe something like this would help you? A simple spreadsheet will do but MS Money and Quicken are much more sophisticated if you like that sort of thing (I do!).

Walletwatch

It is rather harsh when that happens twice in a month, and my sympathies on this one. Having said that, as an earlier poster has stated, you cannot go by what the bank statement tells you, as most of the transactions only update your available balance, and not your ledger balance or book balance as different banks choose to call it. Plus, if you have direct debits hitting your account, you should always ensure that your Available balance is enough to cover any such amounts expected.

I know this is not necessary what you want to hear. Do tell us how you get on, in your efforts to get some of these refunded.