Advice wanted please!!

Pet48

I am trying to help my son find a bank/building society that will be in his best interest. He and his wife are unemployed and have 3 little girls (6,4 and 2). The youngest child was born with many problems and has had numerous operations in her little life, with more to come.
They are renting a house privately - as the council would not consider them a priority even though they had a letter from the little girls consultant - and the only money they receive is in benefits and Tax credits.
They are with Abbey at the moment, and have some DD's. The thing that annoys me is that they are chrged £30 each time a payment is made with not enough funds in the account - and this month th;is amount totaled £90.
I think that they need to budget more caefully, but is there anywhere where they could bank without being charged so much?

grumbler

AFAIK all banks charge for this. I think this is right and fair.
They can try Cahoot that gives automaitic £250 overdraft to everybody accepted. However, this will not save your sun unless he starts to deal with his money more carefully. Otherwise he will just slip into overdraft and will be charged the same for going over limit.

Tony_H_3

I'm afraid I can't help with the "Best Bank", but im sure we have members here whom will be able to provide some positive solutions.

You will find that the essence of most replies will stress how it's not the fault of the bank and your son should budget better, but on this occassion I would just like to say that your son has the system working against him and it's gonna be tough but achievable.

From a personal point of view I think it's high time "The Goverment" looked very closely at "How" & "When" it pays out benefit. The banks have always dealt in "Months", Direct Debits, Standing Orders & other bills are all payed "Monthly" yet "The Govement" pay in "Daily, Weekly & Fortnightly" increments. It goes without saying that those whom have no money are treading a very thin line in an attempt to keep to budget with their payment randomly appearing in their "New" bank account. Is it right or fair that the banks are exploiting these people in order to make a fast buck? or Is it right for the banks to be toelerant & compasionate towards these people, because "The Goverment" have forced them into banking arrangements which simply don't fit with the outdated methods of payment?

I would love to see Martin start a petition to encourage the goverment to pay it's benefits on a monthly basis.

Pet48

Thanks Tony for you reply. My son has always been brough t up to be careful with money, but since getting married and his bank making 'using a credit card so easy and encouraging' he started to get into money problems. He doesn't now have any crdit cards. I've tried to encourage him to try to work to a budget, but it's easier said than done!! I've even told him to call in with Abbey to try to sort out that the payments dates be changed so that they don't go out when there isn't enough money in the account, but so far he hasn't had the time. My husband and I help as much as we can, but I try to get him to sort out his problems himself. Being on benefits doesn't help him much in this matter though.

mountainofdebt

Can I ask what the DD's are for ?

Are they necessary ie will he be charged more for paying by other methods?

If possible it might be better for him and OH to deal on a cash only basis.

DaisyNelson

A visit to the bank to speak to someone face to face might result in this months charges being reduced. No guarantees, but worth a try. Other than that, as suggested previously work with cash and cancel DD's. If he can't make the money stretch at least he could then priortise what to pay first. This has to be better than the bank taking their cut before he's even bought food.

Pet48

I suppose that because I pay most of my bills by Direct Debit and find that I don't have to worry about having unpaid bills I suggested that it would be best for him. I'll have to have a sit down with him to see if you suggestions can be put to good use.

Thank you all for you kind advice.

Kindest regards
Petula