I've been juggling my bank account like this for years now... And I hate it. But it does allow me to get by. Do you do this too?
Oh my God, yes, totally. I wasn't doing this 6 months ago but for the past couple of months, I've been juggling a negative bank balance because a company called Kabbage that makes loans to eBay sellers have been automatically repaying themselves at the end of every month out of my bank account. If anyone is considering any kind of advance, or payday loan, don't do it. Do not give a lender control of your bank account to where they can repay themselves whether you are ready or not. If you do, you will be scrambling to keep your account from being overdrawn and closed. These Kabbage advances are supposed to help ebay sellers buy inventory and supplies but if you have a couple of months of bad sales, you're screwed.
I have never heard of this service but it sounds way too risky for me. Hope you get that sorted out. @Colebra I hate to be boring but I never go negative in my bank account, I just can't allow that to happen.
ASCAPA, that sounds horrifying. PhilA, I also never have a negative bank account. I do occasionally have to move money from savings to checking if I schedule too many bill payments before my next paycheck, but that's a pretty rare occurrence. I can't imagine the stress of being negative on a regular basis. For people who do run negative balances often, I recommend reading the blog posts on the front page of this site. There is some really good advice about building up your savings and setting budgets.
Luckily for me, I have yet to hit a negative bank balance yet, and hopefully, I never will. I get really nervous when I start to see a less than 3 digits in my bank account, and I become really frugal. I just finished college, so that can explain the frugality and why I don't have a savings account to be able to take money from. I have started a decent job and am almost done paying off my student loans. I should hopefully never have to start to see less than 3 digits in my back account ever again! I don't want to advertise credit cards and realize that they may not be the best option for everyone, but they are a really nice way to earn some money back on everyday purchases.
It happened to me once, and it was terrifying! I quickly fixed it by going to the ATM and depositing, though. It also happened to a close friend one time, and he was so surprised and thought something was very very wrong. I was surprised to hear that the negative was indeed caused by himself from spending more than he had, but the bank ended up giving him money anyway!
The only way you could have heard of this service is if you are an ebay or Amazon Marketplace seller. They give small business advances to eBay and Amazon sellers that you're supposed to use for inventory or postal supplies, but if you have a couple of weeks of slow sales you can easily end up owing money that you'll have a hard time paying back. Yes, it is risky and horrifying but I've almost paid the loan back so I'm looking forward to closing my account with them and disconnecting them from my bank account.
I haven't been in the red with my bank since I was about 16 (20 years ago) and back then I didn't care if I owed people money. Now I'd panic! Next weekend I'm taking my girlfriend, her daughter and her grandson to Blackpool for the weekend and I'm paying for it all as it is a birthday treat from me to the grandson and I had to pay for it at a time when I was going through a slow work period, plenty of nights where I thought I might not be able to afford to pay for everything I promised him!
It is very rare that this happens to me, because I am one of those people who is always very careful with my money. However it has happened once and yes, I went crazy. I had money, but I used the cash card for an account that was empty, and had to pay an £8 fine for going overdrawn on the account. It was horrible, and I was annoyed at myself. I will never do it again - I don't carry the cards for the accounts that don't have money in them, so that means that it is a mistake that is absolutely impossible for me to make.
I feel for everyone who has to juggle any accounts to stay above water. I've been there myself and with a full family and house you know it happens. You just gotta keep moving on and getting smarter each time something negative happens. Learn to budget better, find ways to increase income, find ways to lower debt. Its not a sprint, its definitely a marathon. Takes awhile but you're better off from learning those lessons.
It sounds like your spending is more than your intake. See if you can either increase the amount of money you bring home or cut the spending. You can get rid of cable, coffee shop stops, eating fast food, gym membership, etc. What are the things that you can live without? Make a budget and stick to it.
Yeah, this isn't a good place for me to be either. I'm fortunately not in the negative in my bank account itself, so I'm not incurring fees. I do have credit card debt now, though, unfortunately, which means I'm still in the negative overall. And my bank account is close after several personal emergencies recently, so I don't know how much longer I can hold on like this.
Yes, this is a horrible place to be. My part time job changed with time frame that they are making deposits into the accounts and it has really missed me up. Before I was paid with 8 days of them receiving my invoice now it is more than 3 weeks to get paid. All of the bills I had coming out based on the previous accounting cycle has cost me a small fortune. I don't know when to expect my pay, I just know I will eventually get paid, I can't plan on paying bills out of money I don't know when I will get it.
I haven't had a negative bank account in many years, but I remember how it used to be when I did. It was nerve racking. I struggled a lot, and it had a big impact on my health as well. I am glad that those days are over now. I have worked hard to keep everything in the balance, and I hope that it will stay that way.
Unfortunately, my account has been into the negative several times. Once was from my account being hacked into and the person spending all my money, this, leading to all my bills bouncing. The second time was when a bill collector decided to charge my account not once, not twice but THREE times after I ok'd a one time payment online. No matter how safe you try to be there are possibilities of security breaches, etc.
It's really hard not to in my opinion, but I just remember that I had better days, and that other ones would come again eventually. Fortunately, lately I haven't had a negative balance, but I know it felt really bad back in the days.
Yes, it drives me insane. Even if it's only a few cents I go absolutely crazy. I guess it makes me mad because I am OCD and try to keep a to the penny eye on my balance and how much things cost.
I hate it when people make these kinds of assumptions. I haven't had fast food in 6 months. I haven't been to a movie in years. I have never had a gym membership in my life. I never go out for coffee, I make it at home with the cheapest generic coffee I can find. I hand wash my clothes. I take the bus everywhere or walk. I only own three pairs of shoes. Why does everyone assume that if someone is having financial difficulties, that they must be spending like crazy? I belong to this forum because I am a thrifty person. I am also a single mother supporting a family by myself with no help from my ex. When I read financial tips like "Cut down on the daily Starbucks visit.", I laugh because I haven't been to Starbucks since 2008, and back then someone else invited me and paid for my coffee.
I've been doing better with this because I've made more of a point to pay bills myself instead of by automatic bill pay where you have less control of things coming out of your account. Having a negative balance though to tell you the truth can sometimes have to deal with the bank reworking bills coming in to their benefit where they MAKE it over draw. THAT can drive me crazy.
It's only happened a few times...once when we were double charged for something and once when I had miscalculated...and it was seriously awful. I couldn't imagine being in that situation regularly, it was literally nerve wracking for me. We've been down to a dollar or so in our account more than a few times, and while it's not a great feeling, it doesn't induce the same kind of panic that actually being negative does for me.
