Is there a better alternative to Danske Bank

Ringo981

Hi All

I currently have all my bank accounts with the danske bank which includes 2 personal accounts which includes my home mortgage and also my business account.

I have a £200.00 overdraft on my personal account which sometimes gets overdrawn by pennies and I'm constantly getting hit with £45 charges up to £70.00

I know I should always have enough in the account to cover these things but sometimes it just gets overlooked and is always rectified that day but its too late to stop charges being processed.

Even though I have money in my other accounts the bank will not transfer to my other account to stop the charges which they have done in the past before the bank moved to a different branch.

Is there any other banks out there that are not so severe on the customer.

I was also constantly getting phone calls from them about taking out life insurance which in the end I had to tell them to stop as it was getting beyond a joke and if I wanted it I would call them.

Many thanks

Ringo

colsten

Most banks wouldn't charge between £45 and £70 if you use a £200 overdraft. Some even give you that amount for free. First Direct and Tesco spring to mind, but there are many others.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/?tab=sect8

Biggles

colsten wrote: »

Most banks wouldn't charge between £45 and £70 if you use a £200 overdraft. Some even give you that amount for free. First Direct and Tesco spring to mind, but there are many others.

I think the problem is he's overspending his £200 overdraft. I imagine most banks would charge for that?

colsten

Ah I see, you might be right. Going into unauthorised overdraft will be expensive whichever bank you look at. In which case, getting a higher O/D limit might be one short term measure, though constantly living in an overdraft seems......."overdaft". Especially if there is money in other accounts.

Still worth looking at what other banks offer. Also worth looking into getting text messages when certain thresholds have been reached. Not sure Handelsbanken offer this but many if not all the others do offer such services.

agrinnall

I'm not sure how you can be "constantly getting hit with £45 charges up to £70.00", that would be 1.5555555... sets of charges.

grumbler

Ringo981 wrote: »

I have a £200.00 overdraft on my personal account which sometimes gets overdrawn by pennies ...
...I have money in my other accounts

The easiest solution is to stay with the existing bank and just change the attitude. Transfer £250 from 'other account' to the current account and set the new conventional limit for yourself that you aim not to breach - +£50. Thus you will never use even the agreed overdraft, let alone unarranged, and will never pay any charges.
As simple as that.

bigsy

colsten wrote: »

Also worth looking into getting text messages when certain thresholds have been reached. Not sure Handelsbanken offer this but many if not all the others do offer such services.

It's Danske Bank, not Handelsbanken (they are the parent company of Northern Bank in Northern Ireland who rebranded a few years ago).

They do offer text/email alerts and, according to p6 of http://www.danskebank.co.uk/SiteCollectionDocuments/feesAndCharges.pdf, overdraft charges can be reduced if you add cleared funds to your account by 15:30 on the day, so maybe this facility might help?

cifpower

I always found Danske Bank to be the best of all the other Northern Ireland banks. Their charges seem on a par with GB banks too and not overly excessive:

We will charge an unpaid transaction fee (£28) for each item that is not paid. We will not charge this fee if the amount you would have been overdrawn by is £5 or less.

Each day that we pay an item or group of items and you have an unarranged overdraft, we may charge you a paid transaction fee. The most we will charge you each day is £25 and the maximum amount we will charge you for paid transaction fees in any calendar month is £125. We will not charge this fee if the amount you would have been overdrawn by is £5 or less.

Arranged overdraft usage fee​ (£12) ​Charged to accounts which go overdrawn but stay within an arranged overdraft limit

Unarranged overdraft usage fee​ (£25) ​Charged to accounts which go overdrawn when there is no arranged overdraft in place, or which go over an arranged overdraft limit without getting our agreement beforehand. We will not charge this fee if the amount you would have been overdrawn by is £5 or less.


So the whole "overdrawn by pennies" argument I just don't buy. The OP needs to either reduce his spending, increase is income or both.

System

First Direct and M&S offer smallish interest free overdrafts.

RBS Group on the mainland offer overdraft control free of charge in GB but can't see it in the Ulster Bank website.

The NI (and ROI) banks come across as expensive for most things.

saverbuyer

Danske as good for business accounts (I have one) and awful for personal accounts. Interest is awful and charges are high. Get to one of the UK banks. The big 4 N.I. ones are dire.