Debit coming out late

TUS

Just noticed on my Natwest Current Account statement that a debit card transaction for petrol @ Asda has come out of my account about 3 weeks after the transaction!!

Snippet from online banking:

21 Apr 2010 POS 0xx7 31MAR10 , ASDA PETROL UPT , BENTON GB - 20.00

I know that I didn't get any petrol on 21 April, and you can see it notes the actual transaction date as 31st March. Any ideas why it has taken 3 weeks to debit?

Thanks
Scott

Olipro

the transaction wasn't posted by Asda until now, could be due to a book error or late clearing, it can happen, it's perfectly normal.

TUS

Would those funds have been frozen since that time (31st March)? (i.e. not part of my available balance)

Olipro

no, the authorisation falls off after a few days, Asda simply re-present the original authorisation and then submit it for clearing resulting in it getting debited straight away.

TUS

Ah right. Lucky I had available funds then :-/

Think I'm going to double check it to ensure I've not been charged twice ... odd as I've never seen this happen before. I'm pretty tight with finances so not sure how I didn't notice this not being debited.