question about visa electron

mabski

Hi all
Has anyone ever heard of banks paying out funds on a visa electron card when there is no actual money in a persons account?
I pay for my sons xbox live account on my visa electron card which is only £5 a month but last month there wasnt enough left in my account to cover it yet the bank still payed out which has cost me £40 in charges.
I thought the whole point of an electron card was that you could only spend what was in your account but is that true or is it at the banks descretion?
Thanks in advance for any replies

cifpower

DO you actively pay it every month or is it a recurring transaction?

bev309

Did they actually pay it or did they bounce it & charge you an unpaid item fee? Does it come off the card or is it actually paid by direct debit?

mabski

It is a recurring payment definately on my card as x box dont do direct debits but in the past if there hasnt been enough in the account they didnt pay it but this time they have.
I understand about recurring payments with credit cards but i did not think it was the same with an electron card.

bev309

mabski wrote: »

It is a recurring payment definately on my card as x box dont do direct debits but in the past if there hasnt been enough in the account they didnt pay it but this time they have.
I understand about recurring payments with credit cards but i did not think it was the same with an electron card.

Strange - very nice of them to pay the £5 & then earn themselves £40 on top!!!!:eek:

mabski

I know wish i could make that sort of money from borrowing somebody a couple of quid
£15 unauth overdraft request and £25 monthly overdraft fee all for the sake of about £3 coz i had about £2 left in my account.

jambosans

A Continuous Payment Authority can go through on your card, regardless of the card type - authorisation is given when the payment is setup, so it does not seek available funds each time payment is requested.

See below for more details:-
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/recurring-payments#problem

savagej

Continuous Payment Authority cannot be set-up on a Maestro or SOLO card.

jambosans

savagej wrote: »

Continuous Payment Authority cannot be set-up on a Maestro or SOLO card.

Thanks. Should have said, regardless of card type - Visa Debit or Electron. Never knew that about Maestro or Solo.

mabski

jambosans wrote: »

A Continuous Payment Authority can go through on your card, regardless of the card type - authorisation is given when the payment is setup, so it does not seek available funds each time payment is requested.

See below for more details:-
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/recurring-payments#problem

You may well be right but whats the difference between a full visa and an electron then?
I thought electron cards needed authorisation which i thought was the whole idea of them .
If you are right how come they havent done it on previous months where there wasnt enough cash to cover it.

Thanks for your replies

Toe-Jam

mabski wrote: »

You may well be right but whats the difference between a full visa and an electron then?
I thought electron cards needed authorisation which i thought was the whole idea of them .
If you are right how come they havent done it on previous months where there wasnt enough cash to cover it.

Thanks for your replies

This happened to me with santander on an old account i don't use, ended up racking up £170 in bank charges for a £5 transaction cause i didn't see it for 6 months.

They refused to refund it, had to cancel the card so they recurring transaction couldn't happen again.

The bank has the discression to pay transactions, or to earn itself some money:mad: Visa Electron cards can't be zip zapped, i.e on the old machines that take an imprint, thats basically the only difference and they are suppose to get authorised for every transaction to stop it going overdrawn.