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Does Android/Apple Pay update Available Balance Instantly(unlike contactless)?

CSlate_2
CSlate_2 Posts: 5 Forumite
edited 7 July 2017 at 9:14PM in Budgeting & bank accounts
Hi, I just found out that contactless payments can take up to 4 days to show on you Available Balance!!!

I always check my Available balance, since it tells me how much money I have right now(or so I thought), and for a while have wondered how it seems to just go down without me buying anything on that day.

So I'm never using contactless again, since it messes up my Available Balance, and I have no idea how much money I have.

How about Android Pay? Does it show on my Available balance immediately, or will it also take up to 4 days to show?

How about Apple Pay?
I've got an Android phone, and my girlfriend has an iPhone.

EDIT: Made the title more descriptive to catch your beautiful eyes :).
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Comments

  • Dandytf
    Dandytf Posts: 5,073 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    cannot say for certain though I find Apple pay instant with a receipt

    maybe different banks and retailers can vary timescales to debit as does paying by visa debit
    Replenished CRA Reports.2020 Nissan Leaf 128-149 miles top charge. Savings depleted. VM Stream tv M250 Volted to M350 then M500 since returned to 1gb
  • ThemeOne
    ThemeOne Posts: 1,473 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    I find purchases made with Apple Pay often don't show up on my bank statement for a few days
  • DCFC79
    DCFC79 Posts: 40,644 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    edited 7 July 2017 at 9:22PM
    For me, a payment I made using Android pay for petrol on 5/7 was on my TSB statement on 7/07.
  • CSlate_2
    CSlate_2 Posts: 5 Forumite
    Thanks for the replies. I'm still curious, and will probably ave to test it myself?

    And there may be some confusion by what I mean.

    I don't mean how long it takes to show on my account statement, since that takes forever for everything lol.
    I just mean my available balance.
    Contactless can take 4 days to register on your available balance, so you can think you've got £23, and then magically have £-5!!
  • DCFC79
    DCFC79 Posts: 40,644 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    CSlate wrote: »
    Thanks for the replies. I'm still curious, and will probably ave to test it myself?

    And there may be some confusion by what I mean.

    I don't mean how long it takes to show on my account statement, since that takes forever for everything lol.
    I just mean my available balance.
    Contactless can take 4 days to register on your available balance, so you can think you've got £23, and then magically have £-5!!

    Ah my bad.

    Use a spreadsheet to keep track of what you have spent.
  • colsten
    colsten Posts: 17,596 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Seventh Anniversary Photogenic Name Dropper
    You cannot rely on your bank account to reliably show you how much money you have available. It will only be able to show your card purchases after the retailer has reported your purchases to your bank, and that is not always instant. Your available balance will also never show which DDs and SOs are about to be taken.

    To budget, you need to keep a separate record yourself of all your existing spend as well as all your committed spend. There are various ways to achieve that - a budgeting app like YNAB might help but you can also use pen and paper, or anything in between. People who find it difficult to manage their card spending have also reverted to cash, and have cut up their cards. Bottom line is that you need to manage your budget.
  • System
    System Posts: 178,421 Community Admin
    10,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    Android pay is online, not sure about Apple though.

    If you want online contactless, get a debit MasterCard as both of mine always go online. My Visa debit cards are often offline (in the same locations)
    This is a system account and does not represent a real person. To contact the Forum Team email forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com
  • Anthorn
    Anthorn Posts: 4,362 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Apple Pay provide an instant notification of a transaction which sometimes appear on my Mobile Phone before it shows as accepted on the terminal. Slow terminals sometimes cause confusion and disagreement with checkout operators who say something like, "Something's gone wrong. Oh it's gone through now." Where I live that's Aldi.

    Apple Pay cannot show the balance of your bank / credit card account because it's not in Apple Pay, it's at your card issuer.
  • datlex
    datlex Posts: 2,252 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    CSlate wrote: »
    Hi, I just found out that contactless payments can take up to 4 days to show on you Available Balance!!!
    I always check my Available balance, since it tells me how much money I have right now(or so I thought), and for a while have wondered how it seems to just go down without me buying anything on that day.

    So I'm never using contactless again, since it messes up my Available Balance, and I have no idea how much money I have.

    .
    This is the same reason I stopped using them. I tend to use a rewards card, which show the payments up straight away. I do know that when it comes to Tesco and using their payment app it shows up straight away in my pending payments. Same with Greggs when I top up it shows up straight away.
    Paid off the last of my unsecured debts in 2016. Then saved up and bought a property. Current aim is to pay off my mortgage as early as possible. Currently over paying every month. Mortgage due to be paid off in 2036 hoping to get it paid off much earlier. Set up my own bespoke spreadsheet to manage my money.
  • 20aday
    20aday Posts: 2,610 Forumite
    Ninth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker PPI Party Pooper
    I use Apple Pay with Lloyds Bank and it shows up as 'pending' when using their online banking system (regardless of the amount spent) whereas with contactless most transactions <£15 don't show up.

    The same goes with my Barclaycard Platinum too.
    It's not your credit score that counts, it's your credit history. Any replies are my own personal opinion and not a representation of my employer.
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