Bank Account that will not allow you to go overdrawn

MDMD

Virgin Money allow some limited control (they block Direct Debits) and don't charge fees for bring overdrawn if it strays into the red (see section 5 of https://uk.virginmoney.com/virgin/downloads/eca-tandscs.pdf)

chambta

bubas99 wrote: »

Hi All.

I'm looking for a bank account that will decline any transaction that would make you go overdrawn. My situation is that I have a shared account with my wife that always goes over and I have to top it up - she gets a text message every week to say current the balance but ignores that. Then it costs me money in fee's. I have no DD on this account, so I just want any transaction that goes over to be rejected - but I cant find any account that says it does it (and my current bank does not do it).

Any help would be great ta

RBS Select with overdraft control.

SuperAllyB

Maybe not totally what you're looking for, but couldn't you start by changing the text alerts to your mobile rather than hers?

Dobbibill

Has she got to have a debit card or could she change to a cashpoint card instead? She then has to draw out cash to spend.

Flobberchops

Barlcays offer a "control feature" on their current account that negates the cost of returned transaction fees (usually £8 per day), but this feature itself costs £8 a month. So, it can cap your losses which is useful if you suspect there will be two or more returned transactions per month. Even better would be to not incur these charges in the first place... take away your wife's card and give her cash to spend, maybe?

john1002

Nationwide flex basic is another new account that won't place any charges even if overdrawn and can be opened online.

John

TheBanker

Is it Direct Debits or card payments that are causing your problem?

The issue is that some debit card transactions are authorised offline (i.e. without checking with the bank) if they are small amounts. Thus, no bank will guarantee that debit card payments won't make the account go overdrawn.

Anthorn

bubas99 wrote: »

Hi All.

I'm looking for a bank account that will decline any transaction that would make you go overdrawn. My situation is that I have a shared account with my wife that always goes over and I have to top it up - she gets a text message every week to say current the balance but ignores that. Then it costs me money in fee's. I have no DD on this account, so I just want any transaction that goes over to be rejected - but I cant find any account that says it does it (and my current bank does not do it).

Any help would be great ta

My second response to this:

Kinda reminds me of that old tale about someone who is sitting right next to the fire and complaining about their legs burning. The solution is to move away from the fire.

Let's face it, you can't remove your (ex-)wife from the account. Only she can do it. So remove yourself from the account and open a new account.

Even here a bank may refuse to convert the account to a single user account and then probably the only way to do it is a court order.

You were inviting this trouble when you opened a joint account in the first place.

anoncol

SuperAllyB wrote: »

Maybe not totally what you're looking for, but couldn't you start by changing the text alerts to your mobile rather than hers?

I assume he gets the alerts as well.

grumbler

Anthorn wrote: »

...
Let's face it, you can't remove your (ex-)wife from the account. Only she can do it. So remove yourself from the account and open a new account.

Even here a bank may refuse to convert the account to a single user account and then probably the only way to do it is a court order.

She isn't "ex" yet, so everything can be easily done without any court orders.