(Read time <5 mins)
Hope that title didn’t freak you out, but if you did feel a little spooked then you know how I felt when I woke up one morning to that message from my bank.
Bearing in mind, this was 4 days after pay day and my normal bills were meant to be coming out. I jumped out of bed, and logged on to my app to see it right there in bold red numbers: - £XXX
What went through my mind:
OMG I have been robbed!
Did all my original bills make it out before I was robbed?
This messes up my credit score, and my house buying prospects and my future credit card applications, and I will be financially ruined!
So, I was obviously panicked, but being panicked never allows you the space to think rationally and respond appropriately. So, how do you respond when you have mysteriously gone over your agreed overdraft:
Breathe in and out. Take a moment to gather yourself (trust me at this point the damage is done, you might as well be ready to run if need be, before you start damage control)
Log on to the banking app, and see exactly what amount has left, and by what method (it could be a bank transfer, a random huge purchase, several little transactions) and see if you recognise them.
If you don’t recognise them, find the fraud call line for your bank, and have the details of the transaction at hand (it can be stressful to be on the phone and trying to look at your bank app at the same time - so write everything down so you can give your attention to the phone at your ear). And follow their instructions.
If you do recognise it, locate the account it went to* (whether it’s your own or someone else’s) and retrieve that money back (hopefully if its someone else they are very understandable to give the cash back).
*It might appear that the money hasn’t arrived yet to the account it transferred to. I don’t know why, but I think the bank freaks out as to why you are exceeding your overdraft, so it holds on to the cash for that little bit longer.
In this case, transfer enough money to 0 out your bank balance. It normally takes to the end of the day for the money to fully transfer to the mistake account. From there you can reorganise the monies, and check your automated payments again.
As long as the amount is 0 by the end of the day, you will not get charged fees for exceeding your overdraft.
How do I know about this?
I thought I would be uber organised and send my automated payments to my savings accounts on payday. Completely forgetting I already had automatic payments to those accounts scheduled for 4 days after payday. So, yeah I put myself in overdraft because I doubled how much I put in my savings 🤣🤣 Since that insane experience, I have never forgotten that I have the scheduled payments.
Thanks for reading and I hope you have a great week.
Speak soon,
Rue
Adulting For Life
