Overdrafts

When you need a financial cushion, an arranged overdraft could be an ideal way to handle those short-term changes in your cash flow.

Having an overdraft limit and staying within it will help you avoid paying unnecessary unarranged overdraft charges.

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An overdraft allows you to borrow using your current account. An overdraft can be useful as a back-up to help you deal with short term, unexpected costs; it is not suitable for longer term borrowing.

An arranged overdraft is an agreement allowing you to borrow money when you have no money left in your account. The agreement specifies the maximum amount you can borrow, and whether fees and interest will be charged.

An arranged overdraft can work as a financial cushion, protect your credit standing and also improve cash flow. Plus:

  • You only pay interest when you use the overdraft – discounted rates are available for Students and Graduates
  • There is no charge for setting up, increasing, decreasing keeping or cancelling an arranged overdraft facility on a current account
  • You can have an arranged overdraft set permanently or temporarily (up to 90 days) on your account
  • If you have to pay interest we will tell you how much you have to pay at least 14 days before we debit it from your account
  • To apply for an arranged overdraft you need to be at least 18 years of age and have an eligible current account.

Before applying for an overdraft you can find out how likely you are to be approved by using our overdraft eligibility tool and you can use our overdraft cost calculator to work out how much overdraft interest you will pay. You can also find an example of how much an overdraft costs, in pounds and pence, in the Rates section.

If you borrow money or try to make a payment when you have no money left in your account (or you have gone past your arranged overdraft limit) and this has not been agreed in advance this will create an unarranged overdraft on your account. This might lead to interest or other charges. Please see our Unarranged Overdraft section for full details. Please note that payments may not be made in all cases. We may refuse to allow payments to be made from your account and this will also incur charges for each item we refuse to pay.

Every time you apply for an overdraft, we will ask your permission to undertake a credit search. A record of the search will be kept by Credit Reference Agency (CRA). We will also share information about the running of the account such as limit and balances as well as payment performance and this could impact your ability to obtain credit elsewhere within a short period of time.

Always discuss your borrowing needs before you go overdrawn or over an arranged overdraft limit. All lending is subject to status, terms and conditions apply. Interest is charged monthly.

For a copy of these, and more, details about our Overdraft facility please download our Overdraft brochure.

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