On Wednesday I used my Natwest debit card to make two single bus journeys on London Buses using the contactless payment system. I'm currently in the process of switching bank provider and had forgotten that the bank account my contactless card is linked to had a nil balance of £0.00.

I made both an out and return single journey and the reader on the buses accepted the contactless card despite having a nil balance.

I noticed that my bank account has been charged for the two single bus journeys which has given me a negative bank balance of -£2.90. Natwest will not charge me a daily arranged overdraft fee unless I go below -£6, so I'll just pay the £2.90 over the counter the next time I go to my local branch.

I'm enquiring to whether TfL will attempt to levy their own late charge(s) against me for using contactless despite having a nil bank balance?

Regardless, it's nice to know if you're ever skint and out of pocket you can use contactless to get you home! ;-)