Bank Accounts Archives
Almost in the black
I'm almost there!
After the last pay cheque I got I got all the way to £7 in the black! Then my credit card came out. But my student loan is coming in. So it all balances out.
Bye bye bank balance
So, the credit card companies collected the money and now my overdraft is once again maxed out :p.
Actually, I still have quite a bit of money in it but I need that to pay off the money I've since spent again on my credit card. Role on pay day!
My bank balance is in credit
Yes you read that right - my bank balance is in credit! How cool is that? It's because money has been paid in but payments haven't been taken out yet, but still! It's celebrating time :).
Still haven't got my tax back.
Direct Debits get removed
Here's a trivia fact you may or may not know - if a direct debit is not used for an entire year then the bank will usually cancel it.
This is to prevent companies from suddenly taking money from people who set up a direct debit years ago and have forgotten about it.
I got an email from eBay yesterday informing me that the direct debit I setup to allow them to take sellers fees (for the one item I listed). Ironically I have an item I need to list in a few weeks. Oh well.
Credit scoring is silly
Credit scoring is what banks use to estimate whether you are going to pay them back or just bum around with their money.
But it's a weird system. I went down to move my student account to Halifax from HSBC the other way. Not open a NEW account but simply MOVE an existing account.
They turned me down because my credit score wasn't good enough.
Meanwhile, at the same time, Lloyds TSB were approving me for a credit card with a £1,000 limit! Twice what they will normally give you.
Could somebody please explain this to me? The banks can't - Halifax said at the branch they didn't get any information on why I had been turned down as there was nothing negative on my credit report.
They told me to phone the main call centre up who informed me if I had failed the credit check then that was that nor did they seem to like the suggestion that there was nothing negative on my credit report (there isn't, I've checked, it's perfect).
For one fleeting moment
It's not fair. I had just got my bank balance up to $0 even once my credit card has been paid off and now I have to spend a few £100's!
I was so close to having a positive bank balance and everything.
Credit cards and extra interest
One thing I think is often overlooked about credit cards even though it's usually considered with any other kind of money lending is that your money stays in your account for longer so you earn extra interest.
While this isn't a massive benefit because it's a current account, it's not without it's advantages. I'm spending about £200 a month on my credit card. So on average I have a balance of about £150 on it. And that is just me, someone who has no money.
Think about how much you spend on your card. I know my parents spend way more than that, it's certainly in the thousands, maybe even tens of thousands per year. That is going to give them a high average balance.
Now given most credit cards give you a nice interest free credit period that's plenty of time to earn interest on that money. Especially if you have a savings account and electronic fund transfer it into your current account once a month to pay the credit card bill.
Overdrafts are silly
I have a £1,000 interest free overdraft on my student back account. They will increase it if I ask them. Halifax will give me a £2,750 overdraft. They are just throwing money at me.
Yet when I apply for a comparatively small overdraft of only £100 on my non-student current account, the application gets declined even after I tell them I have a job!
Lloyds TSB informed me that based on the information I had provided them I had been declined. Even though they hadn't asked my any questions about my income. How does that work?
- Greetings! I'm Chris and this is my blog about debt, finance and generally having no money. Luckily as a student, it's just expected of me to have no money so it's all good.