Re: Bank Account Which When Overdrawn Isn't Showing as a Negative Balance

HelenMiddlemas

Hi All, I am currently in the middle of an argument with my bank after months of trying to sort this problem out and I want some help please.

It took months to actually get the bank to work out what was happening, even the complaints department member of staff had to take 'Print Screens' as she was totally confused. It had been blamed on various things at first when they were unable to fathom out the complaint, even blaming it on my Android App, then it happened on my laptop, so they realised it wasn't the app!

I do not have an overdraft. And I know you shouldn't go overdrawn etc without one, but my bank allows you until 14.30 each day to get the necessary funds into the account for the transactions to go through. Now baring in mind I have accounts which are tied, I did have the money in my savings, just a matter of getting it transferred over.

But here is where the problem is. You were looking at the account and it would say I had a balance of 00.00 and an available balance of 00.00. If you were overdrawn it would give you no indication of being overdrawn at all. but if you transferred say £50 into that account, and in reality you were £35 overdrawn, it would eat the £35 up, leaving you with a balance of £15. So only then did you know you were overdrawn.

Now my argument months down the line (this started in April) is that my bank should be giving me an accurate balance on my account. Ie if as in the above scenario, my balance would have been -£35, and not 00.00

I ma now in discussions with the Group executive office, as members even of the complaints team, have just dumped it and never even replied. I have had the complaint totally 'Misconstrued' by every department even the 'GEO', and now I am in a situation where they want to know what I want to solve it. Surely they should be able to see this. I was even told last week to go into my branch, close this account down (which I have had since 2004), as it had a glitch. The nearest branch is 40 miles away, and my branch is actually 300 miles away.

But the GEO are saying that it my responsibility to make sure I have enough funds in the bank to cover direct debits, standing orders, cheques etc. I totally understand, but surely they have a responsibility to show you your correct balance. They have said 'With this in mind, if there are are not available funds in your account for a payment debited, it will not reflect on your statement, although, it will impact on your available balance.'

But my argument still is the same. I have two sections when I log on my internet banking. Firstly is the account summary.

This is where it will show as £00.00 Balance and £00.00 Available Balance. Then you can click on to a statement, Now they are talking about the balance on the statement. Does in theory this differ from the Account Summary as this is probably what most people work on. Because it shows you what I would have thought has to be the exact state of play of your account. But they say not due to 'the bank runs a final check at 14.30 each day to confirm whether there are enough funds available in an account to pay transactions due to debit. providing funds are available, the payments will be made. If there are insufficient funds to honour the payments, they will be returned.

My account did not used to be like this. I told the GEO on Monday that, and eventually did get it out of them that it probably changed around February. No one for months has been able to tell me this. Even when he said he thought he knew why it was happening it was because he had to deal with something similar a few weeks ago.

I am so annoyed with my bank. How can people not know why things happen. And even when it gets through to the complaints, the close the complaint as they have picked up on it incorrectly, then when you prove what is happening she stops any communication, then when you chase it up, you get told it's closed. Even the GEO sent me a letter with the complaint totally wrong. At was at this point on Monday that I rang them up and said what is going on with your bank. How come nobody knew what was happening to my account. Yet you ignore all of this in your letter. You miss out the fact that the complaints team did nothing with the complaint and stopped communication. even the guy who told me to open a new account can't be found on the recorded calls, I have his name etc).

Up until this point I have always loved my bank. And this has really annoyed me. if I had dropped a case at work I would have been sacked. or if I incorrectly did my job at my previous place of work I could have killed a train full of passengers.

Any help please

thanks

typistretired

I have a first direct account which shows current balance but if you go into make a payment it shows how much balance is available ie if a payment has been made by debit card and is due to go out or if a cheque has not yet cleared the balance is reduced. You don't say which bank you are with?

Hominu

Whilst I agree that a negative balance should not be shown as a nil balance, surely it is upto you to ensure you bank balance is correct. You know what payments are made to your account and you know whats coming out, so you'll know if your account is overdrawn and by how much, there's no guesswork involved.

Savings accounts/etc are irrelevant. Unless you have a specific kind of account (which you normally have to pay for) you can easily go overdrawn even if you don't have an overdraft.

HelenMiddlemas

My account normally is up to date, but lets face it, we all have times where life takes over and we forget about something. And that is the the banks stance, and I have taken accepted that. I have two current accounts both linked, and my it was a payment for my son I had totally forgotten about. I have hands up to that with the bank that I had forgotten about it. And they know we have a disabled child who to say is challenging is the biggest under statement ever So that isn't the issue here. What I want to know is, due NatWest, which is the bank it is, not have a responsibility to me to tell me my account has gone overdrawn. they are quick enough to let me know of my responsibilities.
My account prior to around March did all of this. Including ghost transactions etc. It would have at one time showed up as a negative balance prior to March.

I want to know do I have a right to know if my account goes overdrawn from looking at my account summary.

ap1986

I'm with Lloyds and the exact same thing happens..

I'm not sure why and I can't really offer advice on what to say to the bank but telephone banking and atm balances are always accurate - I'm not sure if it's the same with NW but it's the case with Lloyds.

katielouisej

My 'H' bank online does this, where it says 0, and i know that it's near impossible to manage to get to exactly 0 not a few pence, and when i transfer money it goes up, minus what is not in there, so i understand completely, unauthorized overdrafts shouldn't let you put a card transaction through if theres not the funds... (hard to monitor when it's a joint account, grrr)

pqrdef

Well it's clearly designed behaviour - it's in the program. So it must be designed for the sort of customers who shouldn't be told what their overdraft is.

If your overdraft limit is set at say £25,000, and your balance calculation is fixed so it doesn't go negative, the effect is that the limit applies to each transaction separately, not to the total.

So you can't just go and buy a yacht, but you can settle your hotel bill at Claridges and pay your wine merchant and hairdresser and not have to think about what it's all adding up to. Because obviously you've got more important stuff to think about, and it would be unthinkable for a routine payment to be declined.

If you really want to know the state of your affairs, phone your private banker.

Which does sort of suggest that if you open another account, it may be just the same, because the specialness would go with the customer, not the account.

HelenMiddlemas

pqrdef, totally confused by what you mean. An overdraft at £25,000. Mine is £00.00, on both. I don't have an overdraft. Claridges, I would never step foot in such a bourgeois place!

Do I gather you are trying to say because we are just a normal working class family, longing for pay day each month, we get a bank account to match?

mgdavid

I would strongly consider opening another current account with someone like Barclays who I am almost certain just show you a list of transactions ('statement') with a balance positive or negative, all on the same screen. Having said that, even then they only calculate against cleared funds. The only other option is to try really hard to save an extra buffer of, say, £50 which you just ignore, so you have far less chance of going o/d.

ColdIron

HelenMiddlemas wrote: »

Claridges, I would never step foot in such a bourgeois place!

You're missing out, they do a cracking afternoon tea

HelenMiddlemas

Really don't want to change banks. Can't stand Barclays. They go totally against my ethics and all of my beliefs! Sorry. And they are 40 miles away from where I live, so even if I did agree with them they are to far away.
Really all I wanted to know is should my bank be showing a 'true' balance whether in debit or credit. There has got to be something in 'Banking Standards' but I can't find anything. It did used to until February! Really frustrating.
Thanks to everyone for their input