On Banks and Over-Drafts

I just discovered, by unfortunate circumstance, that if I want to stop my bank [Lloyds TSB] from freely entering me into debt whenever it wants, I need to pay them £10 per month.

Until I pay them the charge of £10 per month, it is their discretion as to whether payments should leave my account when it is empty.

How ridiculous.

Anyone know of a mainstream banking entity that will allow me to stop all payments when my account is empty, for free?

Not that I want to be part of this insideous banking system, alas, wages and bills leave me little room for choice.

ETA: UK btw.

reply to post by ObservingYou


I have no idea. But I do know that with my bank, Banner Bank, I have ordered something off Paypal before. It will try to withdraw money from the account, charging me $30, but somehow won't get the money. That has happened up to 3 times in a row with the same $2.00 charge before, running me $90 in fees.

This is a big issue, with the bad economy, I'm not able to afford that. So... I have two solutions that I am implementing. The first one is to save $50.00 and use that as a buffer, so basically treat $50.00 as a $00.00 balance. The second solution involves any overdraft being taken from my parents' bank accounts (with their permission).

That's the best I can do. Overdrafts suck because, for example, with Paypal - purchases from E-bay won't come in for a week or more, so using the electronic balance doesn't work. Also, services like Netflix, that are going to charge you randomly in the middle of the month -

Without keeping a paper copy of all of your balances in addition to the electronic bank balance, working on a small budget, overdrafting is an issue. I wish you luck.

-----

We aren't the only ones who have trouble with this. At a recent board game night, all four of us happened to have had overdraft fees - a school teacher, a bouncer, a scientist and myself.

darkbake
reply to post by ObservingYou

 

I have no idea. But I do know that with my bank, Banner Bank, I have ordered something off Paypal before. It will try to withdraw money from the account, charging me $30, but somehow won't get the money. That has happened up to 3 times in a row with the same $2.00 charge before, running me $90 in fees.

This is a big issue, with the bad economy, I'm not able to afford that. So... I have two solutions that I am implementing. The first one is to save $50.00 and use that as a buffer, so basically treat $50.00 as a $00.00 balance. The second solution involves any overdraft being taken from my parents' bank accounts (with their permission).

That's the best I can do. Overdrafts suck because, for example, with Paypal - purchases from E-bay won't come in for a week or more, so using the electronic balance doesn't work. Also, services like Netflix, that are going to charge you randomly in the middle of the month -

Without keeping a paper copy of all of your balances in addition to the electronic bank balance, working on a small budget, overdrafting is an issue. I wish you luck.

-----

We aren't the only ones who have trouble with this. At a recent board game night, all four of us happened to have had overdraft fees - a school teacher, a bouncer, a scientist and myself.

edit on 27amWed, 27 Nov 2013 05:55:14 -0600kbamkAmerica/Chicago by darkbake because: (no reason given)

Thanks for the reply DarkBake, not spoken to you for a while - I'll inbox you.

with Paypal - purchases from E-bay won't come in for a week or more


that money is out of my account before i get a confirmation page on my order

reply to post by ObservingYou

Anyone know of a mainstream banking entity that will allow me to stop all payments when my account is empty, for free?

I've never heard of a bank or credit union that puts stop payments on cheques for free. Ever.
Also if a payment is coming out automatically, it usually takes up to 2 weeks to stop it.

Have a list with dates and amounts of automatic payments and cheques that come out.
Always have at least $20 extra in your bank account.

You can't afford not to.

Here, if a cheque bounces (I have no overdraft), it's a $25 charge on the bank account, and businesses or loan companies charge anywhere between $25 - $75 on top of that.

Pay cash, bypass banks. If you need to send in hard bills, get a money order from a store. You will still save money on paying for the occassional MO than fees...

pityocamptes
Pay cash, bypass banks. If you need to send in hard bills, get a money order from a store. You will still save money on paying for the occassional MO than fees...

That's not always possible, unless you have no loans of any kind, no mortgage.

Even some employers only do bank deposit paycheques.

reply to post by snowspirit


For bills, you simply get a money order at most stores. For direct deposit ONLY, keep your account open and cash out, leaving the absolute bare minimum, or ask your company for a hard check...

reply to post by pityocamptes


Still can't get a mortgage, loan, or especially a student loan without an account.
At least not in Canada.

That said, I have no savings account - money just doesn't last long enough (no will power to save)

At least in these economic times, it's better to have debt than extra money. The worse the economy gets, the more they lower the interest rates. Money in banks earns no interest. At least the loans aren't costing much extra in interest (compared to a few years ago), so as long as your job is secure ...