Do you really need an Overdraft??

GTR_King

Do you really need an Overdraft....

I have enough money in all my accounts (And To pay my Credit Card Each month)....

Is an overdraft a good idea to help you out if you need extra money for a few days or should I Not bother at all... I have never had one in my entire life (I am 25) and not need one so far....

I have
Barclays Current A/C
Barclaycard Initial
TSB Classic Plus
Nationwide Flex Direct...

grumbler

For helping out - not really. Credit cards can do the job fine and at smaller cost.
Yes - for avoiding accidental charges, bounced DDs etc.

Anything wrong with your keyboard? Your usage of upper case is a little odd...

GTR_King

Thanks for the advice....

Nothing wrong with my keyboard

slink85

grumbler wrote: »

For helping out - not really. Credit cards can do the job fine and at smaller cost.
Yes - for avoiding accidental charges, bounced DDs etc.

Anything wrong with your keyboard? Your usage of upper case is a little odd...

grumbler by name, grumbler by nature.....

compbren

grumbler wrote: »

For helping out - not really. Credit cards can do the job fine and at smaller cost.
Yes - for avoiding accidental charges, bounced DDs etc.

Anything wrong with your keyboard? Your usage of upper case is a little odd...

Get a life.

chuckley

no never. CC's are favoured to lenders, whereas overdrafts are seen as more of a negative, since folks live in them.

colsten

A small overdraft, say a few hundred pounds, can be very handy for emergency situations. I have a few of these but the intention is to never use the overdraft, and to settle it immediately if it ever gets used.

I agree, day-to-day purchases are best made on credit cards that get paid off in full every month.

chris_m

grumbler wrote: »

Anything wrong with your keyboard? Your usage of upper case is a little odd...

If you're referring to the capitalisation of every word within the brackets, I suspect the OP inadvertently hit CapsLock instead of Shift when putting the first bracket in and again after the last bracket, then the forum software (or the OPs browser) translated the block of all upper case text into title style text so it doesn't appear as shouting.
I've seen it before on many sites - it's far worse when an entire post is made in upper case and converted to title format, very hard to read.
No real problem in this case, however, as it wasn't much of the post.

As to the original question - all I have is what NatWest originally called CreditZone, and I think I've used it once in about 15 years - when there was a glitch in my employer's salary payment process and my pay came in a day late.
Apart from cash and Direct Debits, etc. all my spending is on a cashback credit card, paid off each month.

Goldiegirl

We do have an overdraft limit on our main bank account, but have never used it. We only set it up as there was a risk that my husband's salary was going to be paid late. This was at least 20 years ago. In the event, the salary was paid before the overdraft was needed. But the overdraft facility is still there, on the very minute possibility that it may be needed in future

Anthorn

GTR_King wrote: »

Do you really need an Overdraft....

I have enough money in all my accounts (And To pay my Credit Card Each month)....

Is an overdraft a good idea to help you out if you need extra money for a few days or should I Not bother at all... I have never had one in my entire life (I am 25) and not need one so far....

I have
Barclays Current A/C
Barclaycard Initial
TSB Classic Plus
Nationwide Flex Direct...

These days I have two bank accounts with an overdraft facility of £300 on each. The overdrafts are there purely as a safety net in case I forget something but never used yet. I'd rather have an arranged/authorised overdraft than an unauthorised one with its associated arm and a leg fees. To me an overdraft is an expensive way of borrowing and also generally regarded by banks as a short-term loan which can be devastating if the bank decides without notice to recall it.

Sharon87

An overdraft is useful for students - as long as they pay it off before they start charging interest - which judging by here doesn't happen often. I say it's useful because I know people who got their student loans paid in late...

Overdrafts used to charge about the same as credit cards so was an alternative to borrowing but since the daily or monthly charges were brought in they're not as cheap. I'm trying to get out of my overdraft, I have managed to get out of one overdraft and reduced it to £100 to stop the temptation of spending it on stuff I don't need when I earn less in a month than usual.

I want to use it as a back up just in case I get paid late, rather than 'I forgot to budget for xxxx'. Luckily my overdraft is interest only rather than £1/day style charge!