Debit Cards

S_Joynson

I have a debit card which I use extensively. I use one because I thought the money was deducted instantly from your account allowing you to always know where you stood.

However, it seems that this is not always the case.

I teach, and during the last Easter Holiday, I used my card to put down a deposit on a car with a well known car supermarket. I also used it for other purchases too.

Towards the end of the month (and after the Bank Holidays were out of the way) I checked my balance at an ATM which told me I had a good balance.

The next day, I went to fill up with fuel only to have my card refused.

That was when I discovered that debit cards ain't as instant as one might have thought. I initially thought that my card had been cloned, but on contacting the bank, I discovered that a whole pile of deductions had been made the previous day - including the car deposit that had taken over a week to be taken out of my account, even though I had used their machine with chip and pin and all that.

Talking to the bank, I discover that some stores access the money instantly, others wait a few days - as I say over a week in some cases.

So, does anyone have any reliable table of the lead times between you paying for something and the store finally accessing it from your account?

I would expect this to be no more than 24 hrs what with modern computers systems (being an ICT teacher an all that) and I would certainly not expect in this day and age that 'bank holidays' would have an effect. But, according to my bank, apparently they do!

Now, I don't earn a lot, but I do try and ensure there is enough month left at the end of my money. Last night I checked my account because I have a couple of reasonably heavy expenses prior to payday, but I really cannot say whether I am getting an accurate figure or not. I thought computers were supposed to make our (financial) lives easy.

Any ideas?

ts_aly2000

Always has been the case with outlets taking a few days to send the payments in. I think it's cheaper for them actually, to batch them all up and send them in one go.

Some providers take money instantly though, the post office being an example.

Speaking of supermarkets, and specifically their cash machines. When still under 18 I discovered that you could withdraw your account balance from your branch. Then rush over to the supermarket machines and withdraw that entire balance all over again. Obviously the bank wasn't too happy as under-18's aren't allowed credit since there's no recourse to claim it back from minors.

It all comes down to cost really. One transaction and a 'connection' to the bank costs, and takes time, hence the 50p small outlets charge. 10,000 transactions on the other hand, one connection, all done in one go, takes a few minutes or so you'd imagine today.

I wonder if alot of these systems you know go back to the days of transferring data via modem. Certainly was the case with Sainsbury's in the early 90's as at the end of the day we (I on occasion) would do a shutdown of the computer upstairs which brought down all the checkouts forcibly, and it went through it's thing of transferring all the stock and transaction data back to head office. Would take about an hour or so, and if it wasn't done (it almost always was) it would cause untold problems the following day.

So there's a story

King_Of_Fools

Unfortunately, electronic transfers can take any amount of time to process. (I once had a electronic credit card transaction that did not appear on my statement for 6 months!) So you cannot rely on you balance being an accurate refelction of how much money you have left to spend.

The only accurate way for you to do this is have your own balance sheet at home that you keep up-to-date with all transactions.

GlennTheBaker

Have you thought about using a credit card rather than a debit card? If you pay it off in full each month it won't cost you anything in interest and your money will stay in your bank account for much longer. Also, by using a cashback card, you can make a few quid out of it at the same time. Have a look at Martin's guide for more info.