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Bank account question
Liamforking
Posts: 1,641 Forum Member
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I'm hoping someone who knows more about banking can help me with this one.
I went inside Barclays to withdraw some money yesterday from the ATM and when I checked my balance it said
Amount £80
Funds Available £29
Why the disparity?
Thanks.
I went inside Barclays to withdraw some money yesterday from the ATM and when I checked my balance it said
Amount £80
Funds Available £29
Why the disparity?
Thanks.
0
Comments
Pending transaction/Direct Debit.
There is a bill/payment going out of £51 - so they won't allow you to withdraw the full £80 because otherwise there won't be enough funds left to clear the payment due.
Lots of less financially aware people must get suckered into going overdrawn as a result. I assume banks do not do it for that reason.
I get it all the time with my Eve subscription. Just give it a day or two.
Well, no, if the bank is saying only x amount is available, surely the account holder won't go overdrawn? Any transaction attempted over the available amount would just bounce wouldn't it?
Please don't say you missed all the Bank charges shananigans over the last few years?
No, didn't miss it - got all mine back actually. Not sure what that has to do with available balances though?
My bank is currently saying my balance is £564. It also says Available balance = £192. Now I know a cheque made out to me and presented has not been cleared.
If I drew on it I would either go overdrawn or have a payment refused. Neither is good but fortunately I understand that. Some may not and think the current balance is what matters.
So the financially astute do not need this false current balance figure and the less astute may be mislead by it. Better to get rid altogether.
You know this, I know this and I reckon a vast percentage of members here know this. However, if someone isn't intelligent enough to realise that 'Available Balance' is the balance that's available to to them, then quite frankly they shouldn't be dressing themselves let alone doing their own banking.
A bit of me has some sympathy with that view. I still do not understand though why banks give a current balance figure that they know does not reflect the known debits/credits on the account.
Well some banks and for some amounts allow people to withdraw immediately against uncleared credits, without any penalty. And a statement of account is a record of all transactions on the account. If uncleared credits were not shown until they cleared (which can be over a week later) they would not be an up to date record of transactions and that would cause even more confusion and queries.
The pending transactions issue (e.g. direct debits) is an attempt to prevent people from inadvertently going overdrawn, or having a debit bounced (both at considerable cost to the customer), because of a transaction the bank knows is due to occur later that day which the customer may have forgotten about. It seems to me to be plain commonsense to try and prevent that.
I was referring to the second part of your post:
If that were the case, a lot of the overcharging (which you too suffered) would not have happened. Banks 'made' loads from 'allowing' you to go overdrawn.
Thanks d@ve I don't pretend to understand that completely after a few glasses but I must admit I still do not understand why banks cannot just give a single figure beyond which people cannot draw without penalty according to whatever rules they are operating.
It's always people who use their debit card like it's free money, with no understanding that it's up to them to know how much is in there. It's usually people who can't understand why a direct debit bounced unpaid. "I had enough in my account to cover it!" yeah. And you'd also spent a hundred on your card. What do they want the bank to do? Pay their dues for them? Turn round to the shops they'd spent at and say, actually you can't have the money for those goods you handed over?
If I have five hundred pounds and I pay a bill, I know I've spent that money. I know my available balance is reduced, regardless of when it actually debits. It's not rocket science and I, like the vast majority of other people, have grasped that it's up to me to know my balance, know what direct debits are due and manage my spending.
Ow I agree but surely banks would waste less time fielding these problems if they just gave a balance that included all known liabilities for the day and excluded all credits until they where completed. i.e. just reported a safe to draw on figure.
Perhaps the systems cannot cope with this?