Bank A/C overdrawn

TokenDuck

Hi

As a newbie I am not sure where to post this question. Feel free to move the post or even delete it.

I have an issue with online gambling and following a winning patch my current account was in credit with a large balance...However as is typical I drained the account in a matter of seconds and pushed the balance down to zero with multiple transactions. (i seek help and address the problem, simply fell off the wagon)

With a regular income and few overheads I felt stupid for letting this slip but I could live till the next pay cheque. (until):-

>co-op rang me to confirm my account was £1000 overdrawn
>they stated because card payments can take 2 days to process

Lucky my wages went in after 5 working days and this covered the overdrawn amount however I needed a payday loan to cover my living costs. I have slipped overdrawn again only slightly as a result of their charges going through.

My question is how can the bank justify letting my account fall so far in the red? Is there anything that can be done as this has perpetuated my debt, affected my well being and increased my urge to gamble my way out.

(sorry a long read but any help/advice would be greatly appreciated)

sistafromanothermista

TokenDuck wrote: »

Hi

As a newbie I am not sure where to post this question. Feel free to move the post or even delete it.

I have an issue with online gambling and following a winning patch my current account was in credit with a large balance...However as is typical I drained the account in a matter of seconds and pushed the balance down to zero with multiple transactions. (i seek help and address the problem, simply fell off the wagon)

With a regular income and few overheads I felt stupid for letting this slip but I could live till the next pay cheque. (until):-

>co-op rang me to confirm my account was £1000 overdrawn
>they stated because card payments can take 2 days to process

Lucky my wages went in after 5 working days and this covered the overdrawn amount however I needed a payday loan to cover my living costs. I have slipped overdrawn again only slightly as a result of their charges going through.

My question is how can the bank justify letting my account fall so far in the red? Is there anything that can be done as this has perpetuated my debt, affected my well being and increased my urge to gamble my way out.

(sorry a long read but any help/advice would be greatly appreciated)

If you have an overdraft facility then yes.

TokenDuck

sistafromanothermista wrote: »

If you have an overdraft facility then yes.

sorry for not making this very clear but it was unauthorised, no overdraft on the account.

sistafromanothermista

How could you not realise you were spending more than you had available? Expensive lesson learned. So in answer to;
'Is there anything that can be done as this has perpetuated my debt, affected my well being and increased my urge to gamble my way out.'



It is upto you to keep track of your spending really.

macarsy

Hi Tokenduck,

can you speak to the bank , if you don't normal go overdrawn and this is a one off they may let you off the bank charges .
Also I wouldn't advise getting a payday loan but speak to the bank regarding an authorised overdraft .( something you can afford ).

I fairly new to the forum , but they are lots of folk on here that will come along and offer some more advice .

good luck

bargainbetty

You over spent. You made payments that take a while to process, and the cumulative effect was to push you into an overdraft. You cannot hold the bank responsible for your overdraft.

Seek help for your gambling, and ask to be blocked from accessing all the sites you know and use (and their affiliates.)

TokenDuck

bargainbetty wrote: »

You over spent. You made payments that take a while to process, and the cumulative effect was to push you into an overdraft. You cannot hold the bank responsible for your overdraft.

Seek help for your gambling, and ask to be blocked from accessing all the sites you know and use (and their affiliates.)

Sorry as stated no overdraft it was unauthorised. The credit is instantaneous. imagine sending money to a friend and pressing the send button twice would the money go through (i very much doubt it) could in theory you go 10k overdrawn on a current account (again highly doubt it)

If this is the case couldn't you transfer money online run to the cash point and withdraw the same amount.

Its easy to say you did this and now this happen. I kinda know that myself. Legally you could say that the bank facilitated the transaction using there funds which moved me out of the equation but that's silly isn't it.

tasha999

I see what you are saying. You withdraw money from your bank account into the gambling account, the money instantly comes out. Surely if the money is not in the bank account then the transfer should have failed, especially if you have no overdraft facilities in the account. Is this Natwest by any chance? They are swines for not instantly deducting card and online transactions from my balance, making it appear that my account has more money in :S


Edit: sorry just re-read that it is the coop bank. Apologies to Natwest

CAN1976

most of the gambling sites have a self banning option.

YorkshireBoy

TokenDuck wrote: »

Legally you could say that the bank facilitated the transaction using there funds which moved me out of the equation but that's silly isn't it.

Your T&Cs cover such an eventuality.

If you make an informal request of an overdraft facility (which you did by committing funds you didn't have!), they reserve the right, in the said T&Cs, to either allow or refuse it. And they chose to allow it...which you agreed they could when you signed on the dotted line.

macarsy wrote:

can you speak to the bank , if you don't normal go overdrawn and this is a one off they may let you off the bank charges .

Since the transactions are easily identifiable as being made to a gambling establishment I can't see that happening.

ReadingTim

TokenDuck wrote: »

My question is how can the bank justify letting my account fall so far in the red?

The bank 'justifies' this because it makes money out of you, and its primary duty is to make money for its shareholders, rather than any duty of care to its customers.

The T&Cs of your account will permit an unauthorised o/d at the bank's discretion, and seeing how you have a regular income and few overheads, saw that it could make money out of you - their fees etc far outweigh the cost to the bank of lending you this £1,000, and they judged they would have a good chance of getting their money back, which they did.

Ways to prevent this happening again might be to request an account with absolutely no overdraft facility (such as a basic bank account), or more careful account management (ie keeping a better track of your balance)