Interest charge on pending balance

AdzCuz

Hi MSE, I’m with Nationwide and have noticed that despite always keeping my account balance in the green, occasionally my pending balance means my available balance slips into negative. I always take money from savings to bring the available balance back to the green as soon as I notice (I check daily first thing in the morning). Despite this diligence,  Nationwide still charge me interest for using my overdraft. How can they charge me when the money actually hasn’t left my account and the balance is still showing a positive amount? Seems a bit underhand!
Kind Regards
Adam

daveyjp

What do their T&Cs say?

To avoid the issue instead of seeing £0 as having no money put £500 from savings into the account and keep the balance above that level.

If you know you are going to be spending more than £500 move the money before spending it.

jackieblack

I’ve noticed that what shows on Nationwide’s online banking seems to be a day or two behind, rather than an accurate ‘live’ balance, so by the time the transaction shows on your account you may well have been overdrawn for a day (possibly two). 

blue.peter

Is looking at Nationwide's Internet Bank the only checking you do? If so, it might be worth using a money management program to keep track of what's happening *before* it shows up on your account.

If you set it up with scheduled payments for your DDs, and online payments as you set them up (rather than as they're actually made), salary, etc., you'll be able to look ahead and see any potential problems before they arise. You'll also need to record ad hoc payments as they're made, of course.

My approach is to look at the next month's known payments and estimate the unknown payments. I can then plan, and set up, any needed withdrawals from savings, or deposits to savings if I'm going to run a surplus. I've just received my last credit card statement for this month, so I'll be able to do my planning for July in the next day or so. Of course, this modus operandi might or might not work for you. But it might give you helpful ideas.

I've been using AceMoney for this purpose for many years, and can recommend it. However, It costs £37.50. In another thread on this forum, somebody recommended Money Manager Ex a day or two ago. I took a quick look at it yesterday, and thought that it looked good. And it's free.

eskbanker

AdzCuz said:

How can they charge me when the money actually hasn’t left my account and the balance is still showing a positive amount? Seems a bit underhand!

What do your actual formal statements say, as opposed to the snapshots seen via online banking or the app?  You shouldn't be charged unless your statemented balance is below zero at the end of a day, and your published statements will paint a more accurate picture of the account conduct each day, so that may give the answer....

born_again

Interest is not charged on pending payments.
They must have debited before you paid the money in.
But given you know you are spending the money & do not have enough in the current account to cover it without using O/D. Why not transfer from saving as soon as purchase made. 
Interest lost will be next to nothing.