How long does it take for a payment to show up on your card?

Philip624

I purchased my travel season ticket on my credit card on 1 December last year for £2500 and it still hasnt shown up on my credit card bill. Is there a time limit by which the train company has to seek payment?

There is an advantage to this as I have an interest free loan from work which I pay back monthly, the money is still sitting in my account and picking up a little interest each month. I paid by credit card rather than cash so as to pick up points, I have a Tesco Card - £2500 = £12.50 in vouchers, a nice little earner plus by leaving the money in my account for a month I am not overdrawn and get a little interest.

But this is annoying as I have to keep an eye on my balance each month and am prevented from making a major purchase as if I do and the season ticket purchase finally turns up I could easily exceed my credit limit.

Has anyone else had experience of credit card transactions not showing up on bills for months on end?

Joe_Bloggs

With an Amex Blue card you could have got 2% back for the first three months on all your purchases and then 1% on future purchases. If you had applied via greasypalm they allegedly would give you £17.50 for opening an account. So thats £67.50 you won't have. As for the money in your possesion that is not yours then invest it wisely in a high interest acoount with internet access so you can give it back when they figure out where it went.

Apply for other cards. As a new customer you will get a better deal than an existing customer.
J_B.

sly_dog_jonah

To answer the orininal question, I've had a comic relief donation take months to come through in the past when done via a credit card. About 6months or so I think it was, although that was 6 years ago so i might be wrong.

Bit surprised though that it hasn't at least reduced your available credit, which usually happens when the receipt is printed with an authorisation code on it.

Philip624

Sly Dog - I have just checked and my credit limit has definately not decreased.

One other point I should mention is that when I purchased my ticket the office had new tills and the person doing the preocessing wasnt entirely sure if they were doing it right, but my receipt suggests the payment has gone through correctly.

If nothing happens in the next month I shall transfer the funds to my isa until it shows up to catch the maximum amount for this tax year

Milarky

From the sound of it, the ticket office simply hasn't processed the 'payment' [because as you point out it would be put on your card in a day a two].

Two points:

1) 'Virgin Trains' - or however - will have 6 up to years to come after you for the money should they come across this mistake - if we assume that is what it is.

2) Where a payment is charged to any card, the 'transaction date' [e.g. 1 December 2004] is the one used normally on your statement for interest charging purposes. But what happens if 'Virgin' now this bill into Tesco Card over a month 'late'? They might then charge interest if the transaction is outside the interest-free period already! [Then again, probably not, or else they would likely refund an interest charge after you got in touch if this did occur]

But if you go back to first point - if you now had a 'shiney' new Amex card you could go back to the season ticket people and assuming they just couldn't be bothered to charge your Tesco card initially you could ask to pay by another means. Let's say they thank you [for having come forward to press them to charge you] and even make you a goodwill gesture of £10 or £20 off the bill. You would then be able get that plus the higher rate of cashback available from a new card. Why not look at the suggestions and pick up a new card anyway? If you still haven't been billed you can do something about it then?

Lopo

Hehe!

Sounds like a great situation to be in...!

If I were you, personally...I'd give them another couple of months to charge the card with the ticket fee, and if it fails to appear, close the card and make them work to get the money!

I know its not the best thing to do, and sometimes outstanding charges can occur even after you have closed cards,....but will be an interesting escapade nonetheless. It is likely to catch up with you at some point. Hope they may well have had a systems error of some kind and it was lost and your laughing!

I once had a drinks bill from a bar appear arlound 3 months later. I simply called up my card provider and contested and it was removed.

The choice is yours , not suggesting you do it but the outcome would be interesting!! The amounts from my bar bill are quite different to what your dealing with!!

Lopo

realaledrinker

I buy my Metrolink tram season ticket from Manchester Victoria. They have to use the old style counterfoil slips for some reason. Takes about 4 weeks to come through.

My best story concerns a Do It All store card many years ago. I bought about £300 of gear and never got charged. I used to work there & knew their credit card processing was an utter shambles (they used to key them into Style's system from DIA head office). After what must have been two years, the charge was finally made & I disputed it as the date and store location were both way out. I thought I had got away with it but incredibly after a few more months they unearthed the credit counterfoil & I was bang to rights!