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Original poster

We keep going over our overdraft and getting stung with bank charges and I can't understand why!

22 replies

SammyK · 29/01/2009 10:02

Our CTC goes in, and our CB, and DP and I pay 450 a month in each also.

I know I am going to have t do a budget and make sure we have enough going in but just needed a rant as I'm sure if we weren't getting so many charges we would be ok!

Can you still claim them back? One week in febuary we are going to have almost £150 in bank charges!!

OP posts:

catweazle · 29/01/2009 18:10

Have you got a DD that goes out before your money goes in every month?

You can't claim back charges that are due to you being overdrawn if you are actually overdrawn.

Desiderata · 29/01/2009 18:15

Surely you check your bank statements? It should be fairly easy to see where the imbalance lies?

Unless someone has an online gambling habit ..

HecateQueenOfGhosts · 29/01/2009 18:17

Well, why are you getting charges? What is going out before the money goes in? Change the dates.

pushchair · 29/01/2009 18:35

You can claim back overdraft charges on the grounds that they are OTT. Charges are supposed to cover bank's cost and most overdraft charges are way over that. I merely wrote to my bank querying the amount I was being charged and they immediatly refunded the amount I mentioned. not sure they still do though. Check money saving expert site.
Then make a budget

Northernlurker · 29/01/2009 19:29

Do you mean that you aren't accounting for the charges and so when they go out that puts you over your limit? Paying bank charges is - as you know- a huge drain and waste of money. You both need to do a budget and then stick to it. If it's too difficult to keep track of with you both having money out of one account then split it into two and each pay some of the bills out of your own accounts. You might be better able to see what's going in and out if it's only one of you using each account.

Twims · 29/01/2009 19:46

Is the £450 that you're each putting in your whole monthly salary - seems quite low - or could you put more salary in ?

Desiderata · 29/01/2009 20:40

Come on Sammy! You started a thread. It would be good to respond to the replies!

expatinscotland · 29/01/2009 20:52

You can't claim them back just now. They'll just send you a letter saying the matter is pending in court, which it is.

Original poster

SammyK · 29/01/2009 21:33

okay I started this thread at 10am, I can't be expected to hang around and reply immediately can I?! I am not being ignorant in not responding immediately I know it's shocking but sometimes life gets in the way of MN . I didn't expect immediate replies and I am impatience personified. I posted at 10am as I work 2-6 at the moment and then have dinner, pots, DS bath and bed, and so on.

Ok, I am pretty sure we have enough going in but I am going to go over our account statements with a fine tooth comb, all that goes out are our household bills and grocery shopping. We don't have any non essentials/luxuries like sky, and only spend approx 50 a week on grocery shop, our mortgage is under 500 a month.

I pay £100 in weekly (I get paid weekly), and DP puts £450 pcm in (gets paid each calendar month), we also have CB goes in (20 pw), and CTC (I think also 20pw). I am going to look at the timings of things going in and out too, and see if I can change some dates too as suggested.

Thanks for your helpful comments and advice I appreciate it.

OP posts:

Original poster

SammyK · 29/01/2009 21:34

No gambling here - we don't even buy lottery tickets.

OP posts:

duckyfuzz · 29/01/2009 21:35

'Ok, I am pretty sure we have enough going in' - if you do then you won't incr charges, so you can't be

Twims · 29/01/2009 21:38

Can you and Dp do extra hours £450 pcm is quite a low wage ? What does Dp do?

duckyfuzz · 29/01/2009 21:40

that's only about £1000 a month, can DP pay more in?

Original poster

SammyK · 29/01/2009 21:42

I have just cut my hours, and will be earning £111 per week before expenses (am self employed) I have had to cut my hours as DS needs more of me than he was getting, so I cannot up mine.

DP works full time (Quality technician in a lab, low pay, temp contract) and is currently paying off high CSA arrears (their mix up not his)which has really messed up his finances, and he also has a loan too from previous relationship with his older children's mum.

Is it not possible that we do have enough going in, just not timed well with things going out??

OP posts:

Lilyloo · 29/01/2009 21:48

How do you know what your bank charges will be next month ?

Have you already been informed of them ?
If so they will show what transactions caused you to go over. Hopefully you can look at these and see if you can alter the date of these.

Charges are a real pain and can cause a vicous circle of debt so do all you can to stop them.

Hopefully the banks will have to look at the obscene charges they are using at the moment.

Original poster

SammyK · 29/01/2009 21:52

yes I get two seperate letters in the post this morning, each detailing charges going out on the 8th and 10th of february, from DDs going out and pushing us over our overdraft.

"Charges are a real pain and can cause a vicous circle of debt so do all you can to stop them."

Quite right - that is what I was thinking! Sigh. I will get it sorted, just wanted a little understanding/solidarity or something

OP posts:

duckyfuzz · 29/01/2009 21:54

its worth contacting the bank about the charges - charging you twice within a couple of days is a bit OTT

Try to change dates of DDs or pay money in differently - e.g. CB monthly not weekly

Northernlurker · 29/01/2009 21:57

I think you may have an income/expenditure problem actually - £1000 per month is not much to pay your bills and mortgage and food out of. Your dh's loan and arrears don't come out of that too do they? Council tax alone is in the region of £100. If you add this all up and it looks rather scary - which it may well do - do go to the Citizens Advice Bureau - they would be very helpful to you I think.

MARGOsBeenPlayingWithMyNooNoo · 29/01/2009 22:04

Have you had charges before?

If you're not a serial spender with constant charges then I would try to claim them back.

Firstly I'd send them a letter, fully explaining why you went overdrawn and you won't do it again etc etc. If they don't refund the charge, then I would write again and cite the OFT case (don't do this first as they will only put their decision on hold pending a ruling)

Have you used the budget planner on money saivng expert?

Original poster

SammyK · 30/01/2009 11:03

I was looking at that budget planner the other day actually, I will dig out all my bills and statements this evening and go over everything, we are very frugal, so all these charges are really annoying! All I can think is something has come out say the week before DP's wages have gone in, and we have been charged, and it's thrown us out. Just speculating though, as not had chance to look into it yet.

CB goes in every 4 weeks I believe.

Northernlurker - no we have seperate current accounts for personal bills.

Will report back tomorrow.

OP posts:

Simplysally · 30/01/2009 11:10

Try to work out your expenditure/income and then go to the bank to ask for an authorised overdraft extension in the short-term to allow you to break the circle of charges... but they may not agree if they think you are relying on your overdraft to just live. It might even be worth opening a different bank account to put everything through there whilst you pay off the first overdraft back to more reasonable levels.

Make sure that you are claiming everything you're entitled to re housing benefit, working tax credit, etc to maximise your income as well.

Original poster

SammyK · 30/01/2009 19:48

I have gone through my bank statements, and have £1123 pcm going in, and £981.29 going out in direct debits and groceries.

So should be ok if it weren't for debit card transactions and bank charges. The debit card thing is just small amounts that add up, say if we pop to the shops with ds and my two dss so we are not going to take the joint account card out of the house!

I am going into the bank on Monday to see what we can do about getting my balance back on track.

Thanks everyone for your advice.

OP posts:

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