Halifax banking available balance discrepancies

Archi_Bald

A current account isn't a budgeting tool, and I suspect the OP knows this.

It is, of course, quite difficult to clear the decks once you are in a "charges on charges" spiral - - but clearing the decks is the only way out of the predicament.

OP, have you spoken to Halifax, and tried to arrange a payment plan, or to get a loan, to get the account into the black?

scooby359

EdibleCakes - go into a branch and explain that you're in financial difficulty and would like to arrange a payment plan. They may do a brief account review themselves, but they should put you on the phone to the head office team who will freeze the account as it is and arrange some sort of repayment plan.

dalesrider

Edible-cakes wrote: »

So what your saying is it's acceptable for a bank to tell you you have xxx available when realistically there is nothing there?

Well the bank can only tell you what they know. Some retailer DO NOT authorise for the amount they are going to charge you. They will authorise for say £1 and then debit you for the full amount.
pay @ Pump is a prime example of this.

Edible-cakes wrote: »

Say you have a joint account and party one spends 100 on their card on an available balance of 150, then party 2 also after seeing an available balance of 150 online !puts 100 on their card therefore leaving a negative balance of 50.!
Are they being reckless for assuming AVAILABLE balance is what's in their account?!

Well you need to ensure that you both know how close to the limit you are and not going spending without the other party knowing.
You can't blame the bank in this situation. They told you the fact and you assumed (see sig) that other party would not spend anything...

Edible-cakes wrote: »

Available = present or ready for immediate use!
Is the banking dictionary different?!

Not always the case as I explained in the 1st part. Add in retailer have floor limits below which they do not have to request authorisation for the payment. So until the retailer requests the funds (can be days) then the bank has no idea of the spending you have made.

Only YOU know exactly how much you have spent.


As to charges. Halifax ALWAYS send you a letter stating how much and when they will apply the payment, for being over limit.
It is then up to YOU to ensure that you have enough funds to cover the charge.


If you are using PDL co's that will be part of the reason that they are looking to get the account back in line before you get in to much more debt.

I would call their credit team and talk to them. They WILL work with you to find a solution to your problem. The last thing they want is to write off a debt.

jonesMUFCforever

Very well put dalesrider - I hope OP comes back here and acknowledges your reply and tries to learn from it.