What is the difference between an arranged over draft and an unarranged one? My bank sent me a schedule of fees and it said about the two...but I must admit to being confused...

Cheers

An arranged overdraft is one that youve already agreed with them, so say you have an overdraft of £500 you could go that amount overdrawn without penalties.  An unarranged one is when you either go over that agreed overdraft, so say £510 overdrawn, or if you dont actually have an overdraft set up at all and go into the red when you normally have a credit balance.

Hope that helps.

I have an arranged one for £1.5k and pay 50p charge per day when I go into it but if I go over it I pay something like £25 per day.  Arranged overdraft is good, unarranged is taking the **** and the banks charge royally for it.

Ahh ok...thanks...my bank upped mine with out me asking so I was surprised and kind of wished they had not. I don't plan to touch it but now there is the temptation..my bank charges £1 a day on an arranged overdraft..

the difference between an arranged over draft and an unarranged one

I once heard the latter described on R4 as being akin to taking a swing at the biggest bouncer in the club...with predictable results :)

Still, I suppose their profits have to come from somewhere--we can console ourselves with the thought that we are paying for their children's private education, gas guzzling status symbols, exotic holidays and second/third/fourth homes. Smiling already :)!

Its ok as Barclays give you a 'reserve amount' At a cost of £22 per week!!!!!!!!
So bank charges can be £88/ month!!!!!!! PLUS 50p odd per day!!!!!!!
Lea :) :)

I am with the Bank Of Scotland. They have a fee of £1 per day for an arranged overdraft, £5 per day for an unarranged overdraft. However, they also have a different way of doing it (can't remember what they call it ;-) ) that you only pay £12.50 per month until you get back into the black, at which time you go back in and rearrange the account. Same account, same bank card, just a different name ;-)

>> we can console ourselves with the thought that we are paying for their children's private education, gas guzzling status symbols, exotic holidays and second/third/fourth homes

I'm a banker, don't have kids, have a vectra diesel estate with 130k miles on the clock, holiday consists of a week staying with friends, and am in negative equity on the only home I own. I'm lucky that I don't work in a Branch, so am on a reasonable wage (can't remember the last time I got a bonus), I've seen branch manager posts advertised with salaries of c£12k. Not everyone that works for a bank is a fat cat banker on £1m pound bonuses, the media obviously doesn't cover that area because it doesn't make a sensational story.

Flipping heck you guys that is crazy money for an authorised over draft fee. I pay pittance, but get charged a flat fee of £25 for an unauthorised one..

I've had an overdraft for years and if I had to pay some of these fees for an authorised one i'd be a very poor person :-(

My current account has an arranged o/d of £500 but the facility cots me nothing if it is just the occasional cash flow blip at the end of the month for 24 hrs or so. Only if I go over 24 hrs do I get charged and it is a pittance. However if I go over the O/D limit (without consent from the bank) then the charges are greater. Lets face it even banks have some rights and it is a bit rude to borrow money of someone without permission...would you like it if someone spent some of your money without asking?
If they have raised your O/D limit without consulting you and you feel it is too high then contact the bank and ask for it to be reduced. It is like my credit card they keep raising it and I do not like it, after all if someone stole it they could clean me out and I would rather it was for £5000.00 than £10,000.00....so I tell them to reduce it ASAP !!!!

Mine was Alliance and Leicester (formerly girobank) and nwio Santander.

The fees for arranged overdraft are 50p per day of overdrawing per  month up to a maximum of £5.  So quite cheap if you overdraw the full £500 (1% a month) but dear if you just dip into the red for 10 days.

Tadsy, my apologies if you feel tarred by the same brush--I should remind myself from time to time that flippant stereotypes hurt people too. However, I work in and volunteer for organisations in the voluntary sector where these salaries or anything remotely like them are undreamed of. My income has been cut by 60% in the past 3 years, I see my clients going into liquidation and I'm about to be made redundant for the second time. I've brought up my family as a lone parent without relying on benefits, I don't have holidays because I am now part of the "portfolio career" economy (!!!!) and my clients are under the impression that while I have a max. of 30 days to pay my bills, its ok for them to take 180. I will probably earn hisses when I say that I have been part of the unauthorised overdraft problem, and if I could claim back excess bank charges I could buy a (very modest) new car. So yes, I am a little jaundiced--blame the Big Society. And I'm truly sorry if I hurt your feelings, being jaundiced is no excuse for my bad manners.

Jay15 - no problem. It just grates after a while, when as you say I'm tarred with the same brush, and everyone assumes that working for a bank (any bank) means a 6 figure salary, and 7 figure bonus! My OH's business was forced into liquidation and times have been tight for us in the last 2 years, so I do appreciate how tough it is for people out there.

Banks are businesses like anything else. Basically if you spend money you haven't got you can't expect it for free. The charges can be high but as long as you have a pre-arranged overdraft the fees will be less. An unauthorized overdraft is simply taking money without asking !.