Not enough money in account to pay DD - what to do?

Yorkie006

Hi,
I'm in a bit of a pickle.
I have a DD coming out early next week but I will not have enough money to pay it.
The DD is to pay my credit card. I normally pay in full every month but had some unexpected expense so the credit card balance is higher then normally. I will not have enough money in my current account to cover the full amount. 
What is the best course of action? It's too late to change the DD date. Do I cancel the DD, make a payment manually (to cover the min payment plus some extra) and then manually make another payment on Friday (payday)?
My current account has overdraft but it's not enough to cover the whole DD amount so letting the DD go out as planned in full is not an option.
I have some spare money in easy access saving account but withdrawals can take up to 3 working days so it may not come through in time for the DD payment and it's not enough to cover the whole amount anyway so I won't be able to pay it off in full until payday regardless.
Thanks for advice.

General_Grant

Yorkie006 said:

Hi,
I'm in a bit of a pickle.
I have a DD coming out early next week(1) but I will not have enough money to pay it.
The DD is to pay my credit card. I normally pay in full every month but had some unexpected expense so the credit card balance is higher then normally. I will not have enough money in my current account to cover the full amount. 
What is the best course of action? It's too late to change the DD date. Do I cancel the DD, make a payment manually (to cover the min payment plus some extra) and then manually make another payment on Friday (payday)?
My current account has overdraft (2) but it's not enough to cover the whole DD amount so letting the DD go out as planned in full is not an option.
I have some spare money in easy access saving account but withdrawals can take up to 3 working days(3) so it may not come through in time for the DD payment and it's not enough to cover the whole amount anyway so I won't be able to pay it off in full until payday regardless.
Thanks for advice.

(1)  Do you mean Monday or Tuesday, or even Wednesday?

(2)  How much is the overdraft?  And how much more than your current overdraft would the amount due require?  Could you contact them to ask for an increase in the overdraft, even if only temporarily?

(3)  Is the savings account with the same institution?  What actual experience have you had with transferring funds from that to your current account?  That is, has it actually taken 3 days?  Was there a reason for not seeking a transfer earlier?

fatbelly

Change the d/d to a minimum payment d/d and pay the full balance when you can.

Not ideal but no damage done

Emily_Joy

1. Make manual payment for the amount over the minimal payment but something you are comfortable with ASAP.

2. Apply for a balance transfer card and transfer balance. The transfer should complete by Wednesday.

3. Apply for a money transfer credit card and transfer money into your account. Then repay it as soon as you can.

4. Go to debt-free wannabe board and post the statement of affairs to get help so that this doesn't happen again

Emily_Joy

fatbelly said:

Change the d/d to a minimum payment d/d and pay the full balance when you can. Not ideal but no damage done.

I would have thought it is too late to amend the DD. But if the bank can still do it, by all means!

Yorkie006

fatbelly said:

Change the d/d to a minimum payment d/d and pay the full balance when you can.

Not ideal but no damage done

Can't change the DD amount as it's too close to the payment day.
Only option is to let them try take the full amount (which may or may not get paid as the amount is more than the overdraft) or cancel the DD from the current account's bank side of things (but they would still try to take the payment as it's too close to payment day to cancel from the credit card's end).

Yorkie006

General_Grant said:

Yorkie006 said:

Hi,
I'm in a bit of a pickle.
I have a DD coming out early next week(1) but I will not have enough money to pay it.
The DD is to pay my credit card. I normally pay in full every month but had some unexpected expense so the credit card balance is higher then normally. I will not have enough money in my current account to cover the full amount. 
What is the best course of action? It's too late to change the DD date. Do I cancel the DD, make a payment manually (to cover the min payment plus some extra) and then manually make another payment on Friday (payday)?
My current account has overdraft (2) but it's not enough to cover the whole DD amount so letting the DD go out as planned in full is not an option.
I have some spare money in easy access saving account but withdrawals can take up to 3 working days(3) so it may not come through in time for the DD payment and it's not enough to cover the whole amount anyway so I won't be able to pay it off in full until payday regardless.
Thanks for advice.

(1)  Do you mean Monday or Tuesday, or even Wednesday?

(2)  How much is the overdraft?  And how much more than your current overdraft would the amount due require?  Could you contact them to ask for an increase in the overdraft, even if only temporarily?

(3)  Is the savings account with the same institution?  What actual experience have you had with transferring funds from that to your current account?  That is, has it actually taken 3 days?  Was there a reason for not seeking a transfer earlier?

1 - Tuesday - payment is normally taken early morning.
2 - overdraft is £50. Would need about £400 extra. I applied to higher overdraft limit about 6 months ago and got refused so unlikely to get approved now.
3 - different bank. Last time the transfer took 2 days but it was requested during the week (not on a weekend) and it did not arrive until late afternoon. I didn't request the transfer earlier because I forgot the balance was a lot higher than normally (I don't need to use my savings for this normally, this is just a one-off situation).

Yorkie006

Emily_Joy said:

1. Make manual payment for the amount over the minimal payment but something you are comfortable with ASAP.

2. Apply for a balance transfer card and transfer balance. The transfer should complete by Wednesday.

3. Apply for a money transfer credit card and transfer money into your account. Then repay it as soon as you can.

4. Go to debt-free wannabe board and post the statement of affairs to get help so that this doesn't happen again

Thanks but, you make is sound like I'm always in debt. I'm not and I don't need another credit card either.
This is just a one-off situation because I had some unexpected expense. I can pay it off in full on Friday when I get paid. The issue is with the DD that is due to be taken on Tuesday morning and I forgot about it. If I remembered sooner, I could have changed the DD amount, transferred money out of my saving account and paid the rest on payday and everything would be ok.

SkylineExplorer

That’s a tough spot to be in, It might be best to cancel the DD temporarily and make a manual payment to cover at least the minimum amount to avoid late fees.

Then, once payday hits, you can pay the rest. Maybe also contact your credit card provider
they might offer a short-term solution. Hope it works out for you

GrumpyDil

As above, as the DD will likely bounce make a manual payment tomorrow and cancel the DD. That will make sure you meet the minimum payment and don't incur bank charges for exceeding your OD, although not sure whether CC would charge for failed DD even if minimum payment met. 

Possibly also worthwhile speaking to CC company tomorrow aa well. 

lr1277

Try cancelling the direct debit with your bank. Also might be helpful to let your credit card company know you are doing this. If the cancellation works, send what you can afford (at or above the minimum payment) on Monday. For my credit card company if I send money to them on Monday, it may not show as cleared till Tuesday or Wednesday! The earlier in the day you send the more likely it is to clear the same day. No promises though.

I wonder if another option is to send the minimum payment tomorrow (Sunday) and hope that it clears by Tuesday? So even if the direct debit fails because of insufficient funds, you will have made the minimum payment. Again let the credit card company and your bank know you are taking this approach.

I went through a period where I made minimum payments. In my experience with that particular card, whilst I was making minimum payment, the balance owed was always greater than the sum of the transactions. The card company were adding interest to the balance owed, but not specifically showing it as a transaction against the account.

Edited to add: The card on which I made minimum payments allowed you to pay the bill by debit card over the internet. I liked this because I could make a payment on or before the due date and the card company would know I had made the payment by the required time. To me this was cleaner. Does your card company offer this facility?

If none of the above work, you could ask your bank to increase your overdraft. If you tell them how you are going to pay off the extra overdraft, they maybe amenable. Also the new overdraft limit could be applied immediately to hopefully before Tuesday.