See how a Royal Bank of Scotland overdraft could help

Sometimes it’s just the general cost of living, sometimes it’s an unexpected bill or expense. Whatever the reason, an Arranged Overdraft is a convenient type of short-term borrowing that can provide a short-term safety net on your current account.

What you should know

An Arranged Overdraft is a form of debt and is repayable on demand. Always make sure you have enough money in your current account, or a suitable Arranged Overdraft limit in place before any payments are due to come out of your account.

If you go into Unarranged Overdraft, we’ll charge you interest on the amount you go overdrawn. This interest charge can vary by type of current account.  You can use our handy Overdraft Cost Calculator which can give you an idea of the cost of using an unarranged overdraft. 

Monthly cap on unarranged overdraft charges

Each current account has a monthly maximum charge for going into Unarranged Overdraft or going over your Arranged Overdraft limit, which is £20.

Unpaid transaction fee is £2.75, with a maximum of 1 per charging period

So, we won’t charge you more than £20 in a monthly charging period for an Unarranged Overdraft or any unpaid transactions. 

If you're successful in getting an arranged overdraft, it's handy to know that you can apply to increase, reduce or remove it via Digital Banking, in the mobile app, over the phone or in branch. 

• If you want to increase your limit, please tell us what you want your new overdraft limit to be. Your application to increase will be subject to a credit assessment
• If you want to reduce your limit, your current overdraft balance must be within your new requested limit. The minimum overdraft limit you can have is £250
• If you want to remove your overdraft completely, your account must be in credit

Overdraft text alert service

If we have your UK mobile number, we'll enroll you in our automated overdraft text alert service. If you have an arranged overdraft, we'll text you if you've started using it (for example, if you have made a cash withdrawal) or if you are about to to start using it (due to a scheduled payment, like a Direct Debit). 

Unarranged overdraft Act Now alerts

We'll also send unarranged overdraft Act Now Alerts which let you know if you're about to go into an unarranged overdraft or have a payment rejected, so you can take action to make sure that payments are made and avoid charges. If we can't text in advance, we'll send one the next day. 

You can opt out or amend these alerts using Digital Banking, the mobile banking app or by talking to us over the phone or directly in branch.