Overdraft given without my permission/knowledge, I'm now being charged!?!

Ccoussons

I had a debit card with Lloyds for an u19 account, they have given me an overdraft (I'm guessing when I turned 20) without my knowledge, and they are now charging me because I went overdrawn, I had no idea I had an overdraft at all! How is this fair? Can they do this?

[Deleted User]

Given you an overdraft or you've gone overdrawn?

If you spend more than you have in your account, you can expect to be charged, unless you've been given an interest free overdraft.

CLAPTON

if it's the first time you may try phoning them and explaining the situation and asking them to refund.

how much did you go over by?
how much are they charging?


anyway you need to learn to manage your financial affairs so it never happens again
you can easily check your balance before you spend

Ccoussons

But I've never been able to go below my balance before, my account before would not let me go below 0.00, but now I'm able and I'm getting charged, even though I don't want to be able to go overdrawn or ask to be able.

[Deleted User]

Not all transactions are real time, so it's always possible to go below zero, even if there is no overdraft facility.

forgotmyname

If you did not have the overdraft would the charges have been higher?

With my Halifax account I think its £1 a day with an agreed overdraft or £5 a day without. My ex BIL had a basic account with no overdraft facility and supposedly no way to go overdrawn, yet he accidently found a way to go overdrawn and then took a load of money out that he didnt have and stopped using the bank.

Futuristic

Call and explain, they may cancel the fees or you will need to pay. You should be able to tell them you don't want a overdraft on your account either.

It's possible your account was upgraded from student (if you had this) to a normal account with overdraft.

tripled

Going into your overdraft generally means going into an authorised facility with the bank - you usually have to request this. From your description I would guess you have actually gone into an "unauthorised" (also called "informal") overdraft. You might want to check this with your bank.

It does sound like your account has been "upgraded". This means that if you attempt a transaction which could put you overdrawn (or further overdrawn) their computers will make a real-time decision whether to accept it (and you get charged) or decline it (you may also get charged depending on the transaction type). There also also some debit card transactions that aren't realtime (so your balance might not be checked at the point of purchase) - indeed this could be the reason you went overdrawn.

If you are unhappy, you could get a basic bank account which has tighter controls preventing you from going overdrawn (although less likely it might still be possible). However, if you can it would be better to learn to keep track of your fincances so you generally know if you have money or not before trying to spend it. These days there are various apps and online banking, so it's easy to check without having to phone up or go to a hole in the wall

jonesMUFCforever

OP based on what you have written you are going to be very profitable customer to any bank - if you cannot work out how much you have in the bank STOP using the debit card - just use the ATM - IT WON'T LET YOU TAKE OUT MORE THAN available balance.