Hummingbird's Progress....Well it's time she made some!

Westie983

yay for finding lost items - could you please find the following that I have lost in the last few weeks

1. Iphone Headphones (the ones where you can change the music volume)
2. Bag of £2/£1 coins were in my handbag but no longer
3. The keys to my weekend bag, (lock is open but need to find the keys)
4. My marbles
5. My pain tolerance
6. My mind....

:-)

Gretchen2012

Hey HB. Just read through all your diary and have subscribed.

Thanks for the post on mine. Hope you are ok xx

hummingbird

Hi Gretchen thanks so much for subscribing - lovely to see you!!:j

And Westie that post really made me laugh.....but what's this about losing a bag of £1 and £2 coins????? That's not very Westie-like is it???

I've had a couple of money situations that could have been avoided. One being going into unauthorized overdraft when something debited late in the day - and I will be charged £5 for that misdemeanor. Actually, it is £5 well spent if it gets me so cross with myself that I never do it again. I have a basic bank account with Natwest which I'm not using properly - just haphazardly, and I'm still using my HSBC a/c for just about everything where I still have a £500 overdraft and I always seem to be somewhere near the limit of that.

As I mentioned before I've changed to making manual payments for bills which is helping, but now the next target is avoiding using my debit card where possible, so I don't forget something like I did the other day. I don't know why it should be difficult, but it is. Even if you log all your transactions it's still easy to forget a debit card transaction. I mean, I was never brilliant at maths, but the maths is hardly rocket science to operate a bank a/c is it?????? It's kinda on the level of 10-11 = -1 LOL!!!!!:rotfl:

Plan of action: Use HSBC to make payments to bills, and avoid using a debit card on this account except to pay a bill. Then put the rest in basic a/c and take a fixed amount of cash out weekly from that. Let's see how that goes.

I'm very good at solving other people's problems but not good with my own LOL!

Levi-

hi birdski,

sorry to hear about that overdraft situation but you're dead right, it it £5 well spent if you can learn a strong lesson from it do you have that 'available' balance thing showing on your account which updates instantly when you make a debit card purchase? i rely on that but sometimes get caught out as some retailers don't process immediately (tesco fuel is a major culrpit) so it has sometimes been a nasty shock a few days later when not factoring it in.

funnily enough i have just switched from manual payments to direct debits on all of my credit cards - a set amount - but can over pay as well throughout the month - i think i will find it easier than manual payments as i don't have to think about it and can just leave it to do its thing and know when the amounts will be out and which days, which will always have enough in the account to cover for.

finally sorted out my car insurance today, churchill came up cheaper than my cheapest quote, in my renewal quote -- so got that all sorted out on a monthly plan, which i'd not done ever before, but is a very good way to manage it while i am in these dire straights so thanks for the tip again. x

xxxxxxx speak later love ya loaaaaaaaads xxxxxxxxx keep flappin! (not not in the bad way hehe)

hummingbird

Thanks Levi :heart2: I actually get very confused on my HSBC a/c regarding the "available balance". I think perhaps different banks do things a bit differently from each other.

I always thought that if you used a debit card and then got a mini- statement or went onto internet banking you would see the available balance change immediately. However HSBC (actually it's First Direct that I have) seem to often show me the same balance for ages and then it suddenly changes when the item actually debits, which is often a couple of days after the purchase has been made and at any time of day. I spoke to them in Customer Services and they told me that an item can debit at any time, right up until about 9.00pm. The only answer is to write it all down at the point of purchase of course which I do try to do. I was only a couple of pounds over when I got charged the other night (they charge £5 a day for unauthorised o/d:eek:) Also I get daily text alerts in the mornings but of course this can change during the course of the day if something else debits so I can't rely on them.With Natwest I've never seen this happen - it always seems clear to me and the internet banking always shows me the correct available balance. Also I can't go overdrawn as it's a basic a/c.

Anyway why am I still with First Direct - goodness only knows!!!! Guess it's this misplaced loyalty thing again....... and of course I will need to pay off the £500 o/d anyway, which is actually very good value when in authorised and free if I can get it down to £250. Let's just hope I can get to that point soon!!

hummingbird

^^ Oh and I forgot to say, well done on Churchill coming up cheapest after all that!! That doesn't usually happen does it? At least you could renew with the confidence that you're getting a good deal:beer::beer: (Oh YES!!!!:D) xxx

Westie983

if you use contactless facility on your debit card it doesn't show immediately on your available balance and some shops like tescos, don't apply straight away, this is causing a fair few issues with people going overdrawn and failing DD....

#stressforabankcashier

hummingbird

Westie983 wrote: »

if you use contactless facility on your debit card it doesn't show immediately on your available balance and some shops like tescos, don't apply straight away, this is causing a fair few issues with people going overdrawn and failing DD....

#stressforabankcashier

Westie!!:hello: I think that may have solved it as I have recently started using contactless and I didn't realise that!!! Thanks so much, do you think you could walk round with me for a few days??? LOL:rotfl:

Westie983

again AWESOME Westie to the rescue :-)

hummingbird

Westie983 wrote: »

again AWESOME Westie to the rescue :-)

Hehehe yes and hopefully on the tax creds letters as well.......... replied on Levi's thread hun thank you loads xxx

Having quite a chilled out day today - I'm meeting a couple of friends in town this afternoon for a look round the shops (hope they don't intend on trying on lots of clothes and buying stuff - oh well, I'll just say how nice they look LOL!!!:rotfl:)

Hope everyone's having a lovely Saturday!