rather unsavoury day today

[Xena]

I went to ASDA to buy some food and went to pay for it by debit card and they told me my card was declined. There was this great big queue of people behind me staring at me. The woman was like "I'll have to get the manager"....so the manager came over and at first she said "maybe the card is dirty. Sometimes the chips don't work if they get dirty". So I tried another card from another bank and that was declined too!

In the end I had to put loads of shopping back and pay by cash.

Everybody was staring at me, I was spretty mortified. It took ages to sort out.

I went to the cash machine afterwards to check my balance and I'm £500 overdrawn

Had a bit of a panic attack then thinking how am I going to cope for the next 2 weeks until Phil gets paid, so we had to drive over to MIL's house for her to lend us £100.

Our financial situation is seriously up the creek at the moment

 

[arcanegirl]

Eek that must have been horrible to happen!
I always worry itl happen to me, thankfully when i use my card though its only for a fiver or under.

 

[HayleyB]

ahhh man!!
ours is up s**t creek at the moment too, luckily my dad owed us some money so thats lasting us till we get paid next thursday!!

Hate when the card being declined thing happens!!!
And the people behind you always look as if it would never happen to them!! As if!!!

xox

 

[Minxy]

Ah Xena

I hate it when that happens! Take a deep breath, face your fear and sit down and try and sort something out. I spent years crossing my fingers when I paid for anything because I never knew what I (didn't) have.

I'm not MUCH better know, but you really have to be like bulldog about your finances to keep track. I hope you can improve the situation, it really is horrible.

 

[Amanda]

I've had that happen to me too, many years ago. It's awful isn't it hun.

I was like you and always had no idea how much was in the bank and always started sweating when I went to pay for anything. But I did exactly what LittleMinx is saying to do.

I'm no better with money now, but I do know exactly how much money I have (or don't have!). I have a spreadsheet which I update daily, and do all my banking on-line. It makes one hell of a difference when you have taken control of your finances, believe me. On pay day, the exact amount needed to cover all the months bills goes into a seperate account, and then I know exactly how much we have to live the rest of the month on.

Good luck hun, it's not easy, but it's worth it.

 

I knwo how you feel hun, I've got into the habit of paying by cheques now just to make sure I have enough time to work out if I have money in my account or not, so stupid.
I hate money, I wish it was all paid in cash and not through a bank account, that way no-one would be in such a mess.

 

[arcanegirl]

We still pay our bills by paypoint, this way i can work out each time we get paid how much is to be paid to bills and food and what we have left over.
The only bill id consider doing by direct debit is our ntl bill as we get charged £4 for not using DD (which i dont agree with)

 

[Xena]

I know our finances aren't even going to be sorted when Phil gets paid....because immediately the bank will take the money that I'm overdrawn by...

plus then there's the first installment on our new car to come out...normally it will be £181 a month, but coz this is the first payment its going to be just over £340! so thats £840 gone already out of a £942 wage! never mind the rest of the bills which total up to a little over £250!

so I guess it's a case of being overdrawn next month too. Geez this sucks.

 

[skatty]

Oh its horrid isn't it. Chat to your bank advisor, they are so much more understanding if they know what's going on.

 

[hearts81]

Aww Xena its crap having money probs isn't it.

At the moment after we've paid bills, mortgage, food (giving ourselves £40 for food/toiletries) we lose £1.50 a month. We have a £1500 overdraft limit and at the moment we have £37 left. We're running out of time have about 20 weeks to sell up or we'll end up bankrupt

 

[Xena]

Aww Xena its crap having money probs isn't it.

At the moment after we've paid bills, mortgage, food (giving ourselves £40 for food/toiletries) we lose £1.50 a month. We have a £1500 overdraft limit and at the moment we have £37 left. We're running out of time have about 20 weeks to sell up or we'll end up bankrupt

awww hun that's not good I'm sorry you've got money probs too

I don't actually have an overdraft...I've applied for one before and been turned down....when I go overdrawn they charge me £30 3 times a month (so £90 a month on charges).

 

[hels]

Ahhhh Xena, I really feel for you. Its the worst worry i the world isnt it when you have finance isues. ((((HUGS)))) xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

[Charm]

Has anyone heard of the moneysavingexpert.com website by Martin Lewis.

It's about ways to help you save on bills etc and there is a bit on there about Bank charges being unlawful and you can try and claim them back from your bank. Worth a try

Cx

Quote:

What's the law?

Penalty charges are illegal. Banks can only impose charges which are in proportion to their costs. Many (me included) believe there's no way a £30ish charge, when someone exceeds their overdraft limit or bounces a cheque, is proportionate.

Remember it could simply be 1p over the limit and you're charged, and even if it's more you pay interest anyway. It's their costs we're looking at. Does it really cost £30 for a computer to write and send an automated letter?

If it isn't proportionate then it's illegal, and thus you've a right to your money back. Yet this hasn't yet been tested in Court

 

[Lauz_1601]

aww hun I can sympathise! Its OH's bday tommorow just spent the last of my wages (get paid cash weekly) on a £100 watch for him. so I had no wages left over to out in the bamk for bills this week, and Im over drawn. I dont kow how much Im oversrawn to scared to look
In fact Iv come online to look for jobs and ended up on here doh!

 

[Lauz_1601]

quite surprised just checked balance online and Im not overdrawn! yay only £16 in there tho lol and all my bills due to go out next week i think. oh well!

Hope things get sorted for you Xena xxx

 

[Tam]

Awwwww it has happened to most people at some point babe......I hope it improves for you very soon xx

 

[x-kirsty-x]

Im having a few money problems at the minute too, just reading this and realising that other people have worries about their finances too has made me feel loads better. i dont feel like such a failure!

 

[Lauz_1601]

me too Kirsty doesnt it make you feel loads better when you know theres other people in the same boat as you. I feel really bad when I go into my overdraft, I feel as though everyone else in the world doesnt have an overdraft lol and that their bank accounts are plus not minus! reassuring to know Im wrong

 

[x-kirsty-x]

I havent been out of my overdraft for months lol! Starting a new job in a few weeks so things should improve!

 

[Xena]

lol well I'm glad I'm making other people feel better anyway lol.
You lot make me feel better too, just by being reassuring so thanks