Overdrawn on Basic Barclays Cash Card Account?

Stuckon100forever

Today I find myself overdrawn (by £3.41) for the 2nd time on my Barclays Cash Card account. I've just paid £20 in so I'm back in credit but I don't understand how this can happen when my card is supposed to be fully authorised? :mad:

On Monday I paid for £24 worth of shopping in Asda using my Barclays Visa Debit Card (after several other transactions over the weekend). Yesterday (Tuesday) I went to a cash point, checked available Balance (£40.59) and Withdrew £20 cash.

Then today (Wednesday) to my horror it tells me I'm £3.41 overdrawn! From what I have read on Money Saving Expert the Barclays Cash Card Visa Debit is supposed to be a full authorisation card, (ie - the store checks my funds and then puts a hold on them while it takes payment).

So therefore why on Monday didn't Asda/Barclays put a hold on the funds for my shopping. When I checked my available balance yesterday it should have displayed £16.59 Available (NOT £40.59) and shouldn't have allowed me to withdraw the cash.

I understand that it is my responsibility to run my accounts, but I'm really not happy how slow their systems are. I spent over £200 over the last 5 days and its impossible for me to keep a 100% track on my spends when transaction don't show for days. Now I worry about using my Barclays debit card because I don't know when Barclays will acknowledge my debit card spend and take payment.

Has anyone else on the basic Barclays account experienced this?

Watalie

Oh no

I know its a pain in the backside but you really just need to write down everything you spend and don't depend on what the bank tell you the balance is... lots of stuff doesn't show immediatly on my Barclays account especially over a weekend.

I keep a memo on my phone and update it with all my spends - it avoids the nasty shocks.

Stuckon100forever

Your right Watalie it is a damn pain. :doh:

Again I understand its up to me to run my finances but you would have thought a Worldwide Billion pound banking organisation would have an up-to-date transactional system. Now I have to walk round with notepads and pens.

If I did the shop on Sunday (non working day) I could understand, but I did it during office hours on Monday, yet its taken 48 hours to come off my balance!

Its also not a responsible facility to have on a basic bank account. The leaflet says its great for people who want tight control on their spends and don't want to go overdrawn. The card is supposed to be a fully authorised one too. Yet by having this 2 day delay on balance updates I can in theory get in to debt. Really disappointed.

book12

When payments are made during the weekend, the date will be on a Monday. Sometimes when paying by debit card, the amount debits immediately, but the description on the statement will appear a few days later.

Stuckon100forever

book12 wrote: »

When payments are made during the weekend, the date will be on a Monday. Sometimes when paying by debit card, the amount debits immediately, but the description on the statement will appear a few days later.

I shopped in Asda on Monday Daytime!!!!!!!!!!!

So surely the debit should have been done there and then, or worst case yesterday (Tuesday). I don't understand why it took 2 working days to come out of my available balance :mad:

When I checked my balance yesterday at a general ATM I has £40.59 available balance, withdrew £20, today I was -£3.41 overdrawn :eek:

Niv

I know this is a luxury not all can do, but I try and keep a minimum balance in my current account to avoid this very situation. I use £100 as this figure so to me if I get to £100 then effectivly I say to myself that I have £0. This way I stop spending and if I miss time and go slightly under £100 then I dont get overdrawn chanrges.

Its an idea, it wont work for all, but I find it works for me.

onlypaddy

Full authorisation cards only contact the bank to check that the account has funds - not to take payment immediately. It sounds as though ASDA's system has done this, but the transaction hasn't been processed immediately and it hasn't shown on the available balance.

Again - the only solution to this is to control your finances better - and never believe what you see on a screen unless you're 100% sure thats right

Stuckon100forever

Thanks guys, I like Niv's idea too and plan to start doing this. :j The Barclays basic account pays no interest on credit balances but that doesn't matter too much I guess.

I am surprised that on such a basic account (I wasn't credit scored for) there is an option to pay for your shopping on one day, then withdraw the cash the next before the payment is taken. I guess there must be some limit to this and its not something I would ever do on purpose but still, not very good for an account aimed at sub-prime customers. Guess Barclays have still not learned much from the credit crunch :rotfl:

On the whole though I can't complain too much because I've been happy with their service so far. :money:

iblametheparents

Hi, don't worry - you have a £15 emergency buffer, which you are not charged for entering. Also, some cash machines will show the statement balance at the close of business on the previous working day. The statement balance is different to the available balance as it doesn't include any pending debit card transactions.

Fiddlestick

Stuckon100forever wrote: »

I am surprised that on such a basic account (I wasn't credit scored for) there is an option to pay for your shopping on one day, then withdraw the cash the next before the payment is taken. I guess there must be some limit to this and its not something I would ever do on purpose but still, not very good for an account aimed at sub-prime customers

As someone else has already explained, an auth is obtained for the amount of the shopping purchase.

You had the funds in the account to authorise this.

ASDA then have a certain amount of time to actually process the transaction and request payment from your bank.

You took the money out inbetween the authorisation being given and ASDA requesting payment.

This is exactly how the system is supposed to work - the authorisation is your bank telling ASDA "yeah no worries, we are good for that. You can take it when you do your payment processing".

iblametheparents

Barclays WOULD have taken the Asda transaction off your available balance straight away. The reason the balance wasn't showing £16.xx and why you were able to withdraw I have already explained above.