Two Million Permanently In The Red
Price comparison site moneysupermarket.com has released results of a survey showing the huge number of people going overdrawn on their current accounts. Over half of the UK workforce have gone into the red on at least one occasion over the last year, while over two million workers never manage to get into the black - they’re overdrawn even at the start of the month.
The average current account holder slipped into the red 27 days after their pay day, and in the 18-24 age group only 40% of respondents said they never made use of an overdraft.
A spokesperson for Money Supermarket warned that overdrafts could be a very expensive form of debt, especially if you’re close to the authorised limit, as charges for unauthorised borrowing are generally fairly heavy.
Customers may be better served by moving their overdraft to a 0% credit card deal, according to the site’s head of current accounts, although this would appear to be little more than a short term solution to not having sufficient income to live on.
July 28th, 2007 at 10:04 am
The more I relied on my uverdraft, the more I spent and the more overdraft I needed. At one point it was almost £3000. This meant that after my wayes went in I was still in debt which in turn meant higher interest payments, more charges for slipping past my overdraft limit and eventually when my job changed the bank cancelled the overdraft and gave me 30 days to pay back the overdraft in full. They then charged me for every day I coulnt pay it back which in turn meant more charges.
The banks are out to get you. Use them with care. Dont get lazy and borrow too much because that is what they want and then when you can least afford it they will make your life hell.
It took me three years to get back on top of my finances.
I recently claimed back over £1000 from my bank in bank charges over the last six years including interest.
I found this website Bank Charges Reclaim Today very very useful.
Tony