Available balance is minus!

[MadamMooMoo]

My account balance is £2 and available is -20. Have transferred from savings to solve this so now available balance is in plus again.

Will I get charged for the fact it was temporary in a minus? Will this affect my credit score? Majorly worried.

[WildBelle]

My bank doesn't charge as long as I add funds the same day (co-op bank).

[IHopeYouStepOnALegoPiece]

A one off is not going to affect your credit score! I wouldn't worry about it

NatWest doesn't charge if you take it out of the negative the same day otherwise it's £6

[middleline]

I can resolve the issue without penalties if I transfer the money the same working day.

[MadamMooMoo]

The minus is due to money we spent today going out. I check account twice a week and have spent more than I realised but have now taken from savings to get back in the plus. I've downloaded my statement now and it does not show a minus at all as internal transfer is instant whereas purchases on my card show up after 24 hours.

More worried about impact on credit rating than anything as am usually so careful.

[FoundNeverland]

I've got a buffer of £100 with my bank (Barclays). May be you do too?

It definitely won't affect your credit rating. So don't worry 😉.

[imkindofalwaysright]

No it won't affect your credit score

[MadamMooMoo]

Thank you all so much. I'm with Nationwide. Again have cleared it and then some and because internal transfer processed faster the minus isn't on statement as money I put in has gone in before today's purchases have come off.

[murasaki]

Mine texts me to say if ok within 24 hours then fine. Otherwise 5 pounds charge per day. This is hsbc

[Duckiesprettycrazy]

I am also with Nationwide and am fairly certain if you transfer same day it's fine. It happens to me every month!

[MadamMooMoo]

Thanks again everyone. Nothing appeared on statement so ill see how it looks tomorrow. Just panicked about it.

[SaintsFever]

I work in banking so yanbu to ask is better to know. You adjusted same day so will no be an issue these charges are based on the balance at the end of the day.

[Olympiathequeen]

Have a look online at your banks terms and conditions about unauthorised overdrafts although if the balance was still in credit it's not going to be overdrawn so probably won't apply.

[dingdongthewitchisdead1]

Don't panic in the slightest. I work for a bank. They will only report to the credit reference agencies once a month.. and -£20 will have no baring on your rating. Honestly it's fine

[NerrSnerr]

Is it worth arranging a small overdraft with the bank to avoid any worry or charges? I have a £200 overdraft limit now (after many years paying off my big student overdraft) and rarely dip into it but it's useful to have just in case a big expense goes out.

[AlmostAJillSandwich]

It's worth getting an approved overdraft just incase of this where you don't catch it before your available balance becomes actual balance. I'm with nationwide and 3 times before i got an overdraft i went into minus actual balance and transferred from savings to cover it within 24 hours i think (i'm almost fully housebound disabled my dad often goes shopping for me and hadn't checked my balance before buying stuff) I ended up with massive charges for each, a total of £200.Now i have an arranged overdraft, i can go minus £10 with no charges, then its a £1 charge a day for any amount over £10. For the first 12 months its 50p a day over £10 overdrawn.
Since it was only your available balance that was minus you weren't actually overdrawn though, it only counts once everything has cleared and the actual balance is minus. I go negative available a few times a year right before i get paid, never shows on my statement though because i gt paid before it clears out of my account to be actually overdrawn.

[Floralnomad]

I get a text alert if my balance falls below a certain point , perhaps Nationwide offer the same service .

[greathat]

I have an arranged overdraft for this. Have only ever needed it once

[RedAndYellowStripe]

If the minus hasn't transferred to the next day, it won't have any effect.
Plus it's the available money that was in negative, not the amount on your account (which is the one that starts paying for overdraft etc...)

What that available money means is that the bank knows you have done more payments that haven't been taken from your account yet. The amount shown is the one that will be once all these payments have been made.
As you have transferred money before the payments came through, there is. Issue at all.

[GabsAlot]

dont panic it wont affect yor credit ratings and like u say statments arent up to date so stop panicking

[BestZebbie]

....please ignore the cashpoints 2nd paragraph in my post above and listen to what everyone else said, I have just posted you the wrong thing! (post reported)

[cuphat]

You can be charged for minus available balance even if there's no chance that your actual balance will ever go to minus.

My account balance has never gone into minus (I always know exactly how much money is in my account and I'm very careful with what I spend) however I've been caught out by online websites and 'double authorisations'. For example I've placed an order for £50, they've authorised the transaction which comes straight off my available balance but then because an item hasn't been in stock or they've sent items out separately a couple of days apart the amount/s they've charged don't tally up/ don't tally up to the authorised amount of £50 in the set timeframe on the bank's system. So another £40/£50 has come off my available balance as they've charged the different amounts (so £90/£100 has come off my available balance for a £50 transaction)!

If it hasn't happened to you that probably doesn't make sense (I apologise for not being able to put it clearer!), but there are a number of companies that do this regularly to me, and it takes a week for the original authorised amount to go back onto your available balance.

My bank were going to charge me for a minus available balance (of less than £10!) even though my actual balance would never have gone into minus and I had transferred money in to increase the available balance quickly (I think it was the next day as I don't check my account daily and it was the first time this had happened to me). It didn't show online but I called as I was in a panic when I saw the minus available balance and they said a charge was pending on their system. They did cancel it for me though.

I now don't order anything online unless I have at least double the amount of the transaction in my account as it happens fairly regularly with certain companies that I shop with.

[MadamMooMoo]

Hi everyone all was ok and no minus on statement. Thank you everyone :)