Pending transaction query

wayneyb · 12 March 2018 at 10:34PM

Hi all,

I have a query I am hoping someone with far better banking knowledge than me can advise on

I went to my local Morrisons on Thursday last week and at the self-service machine I put through £6.50 worth of shopping and requested £50 cashback

After entering my PIN no cash came out. I checked the receipt and it said £6.50, I immediately checked my bank account balance on my mobile phone and there was a pending transaction for £56.50

I spoke to the store manager who said that something similar had happened to another customer earlier that day. He also said he couldnt do anything until the payment cleared as it would probably rectify itself, but if Morrisons took the full amount they would give me the £50

So tonight the transaction is still pending. Other shopping I got on Thursday and Friday and over the weekend has processed, but not this transaction. I phoned Halifax, my bank and they said they were unable to do anything or dispute the payment until Morrisons took the payment

Whilst Halifax and/or Morrisons say neither of them can do anything I am £50 out of pocket. Does anyone know how long this could pend for and what is likely to happen and if either of them can actually do something if I persist with them?

Cheers

stevenhp1987 · 12 March 2018 at 11:45PM

wayneyb wrote: »

Whilst Halifax and/or Morrisons say neither of them can do anything I am £50 out of pocket. Does anyone know how long this could pend for and what is likely to happen and if either of them can actually do something if I persist with them?

You are not £50 out of pocket as the funds have not left your account!

Pending transactions will usually fall off after 5 working days (so a week).

There is nothing you can do but wait for it to go through at this point. If your receipt says £6.50 then it's highly likely it will go through as £6.50 and when that happens, the hold on the remaining £50 will disappear.

wayneyb · 13 March 2018 at 12:07AM

stevenhp1987 wrote: »

You are not £50 out of pocket as the funds have not left your account!

Pending transactions will usually fall off after 5 working days (so a week).

There is nothing you can do but wait for it to go through at this point. If your receipt says £6.50 then it's highly likely it will go through as £6.50 and when that happens, the hold on the remaining £50 will disappear.

Thanks Steven - temporarily at least I am £50 out of pocket. I never got £50 cash in hand from the machine and as it is pending I am unable to withdraw another £50 as there is insufficient funds in my account now

So this has left me in a bit of a pickle......and now it could be Friday or even next Monday until it sorts itself out. The money was to pay towards my daughters childcare and unless they are sympathetic to this situation I will be charged a late payment fee then I will be genuinely out of pocket

Flobberchops · 13 March 2018 at 12:21AM

I don't know, I would argue OP is out of pocket as he can't access funds and has nothing to show for it.

OP, your bank can (or ought to be able to) view the pending transaction and tell you what the expiry date is. This is the date by which the vendor must either take the authorised payment or return it, and it could be up to a couple of weeks.

Your bank also has the ability to cancel pending authorisations, although banking policy is generally to not allow this as it exposes them to risk of fraud (visit supermarket, buy a trolley of booze, on the way home pop into your bank, claim it's a vendor mistake and get your money back). The exception to this would be in cases where it is clearly an error, for example duplicated payments. If you can convince your bank that Morrisons didn't mean to charge you the £50 then they should be able to return it to you. In my personal opinion that should be as simple as you showing them the receipt showing you received only £6 of goods, and compare that to the time of the authorised £50 (which should be almost simultaneous, confirming there was no second transaction you're trying to hide).

Bank discretion at the end of the day, and if the temporary loss of £50 is causing you genuine financial worry your bank should be able to suggest some alternative.

Westie983 · 13 March 2018 at 12:45AM

pending transactions will drop off your account between 3 - 5 working days.

Its correct the bank will not be able to start a claim till the money is debited from your account.

From what you are saying I think that you asked for £50 but Morrisons self service machine couldnt dispense the money, after it had already asked the bank to check the funds (pending amount) I think that you will only pay for the shopping and not the cash back.

If this happened today it will drop off your account as a pending transaction Friday.

This same issue happens at petrol stations and for me personally when I make online food order, the store holds the money from the shopping total and then only take the correct amount when its due to be delivered, but pending transaction still stays on the day I order, even if I dont get delivery for a week./

I must say I have never seen cashback from a self service machine, and I always use the ATM to withdraw cash, rarely use cashback. If this is something you do regularly maybe use the manned checkouts, so you can get the cash from the Till, rather then the self service machine (**It could be that the self service machine didn't have enough cash in it to dispense it to you)

Im sorry that you are 'out of pocket' till it drops off.

Westie983'

Pending transaction query

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