Co-op say its Retailers fault if you go overdrawn?!

chuckley

Now im sure im not the only 1 that's worked out Co-op is a rubbish bank with the cashminder.

A few times now i've been overdrawn up to £2 for transactions that went through when i know for a fact funds were available. I asked co-op y they wete sending me 'we've had to pay this' letters when they can see the funds were there. All they could say was 'this is why we dont charge you'. He said its down to when the retailer does the banking.

This is tosh! if i don't have the funds, the trans will be declined (I tested it @ a self serve machine). I asked why the funds arent 'held' and he said 'they should be but its not always, depends on the retailer'.

On Friday I tried to take out £20 only for the machine to decline, even though it said my available balance was £20.18. I log on today and see available balance of £20.18. I head in 2day and ask for available balance and it was sum £2 odd. I asked why my online acc AND cash machine said £20.18 is available and he said 'you have pending items', so again I ask why does it say I have £20 if I don't? All i got was 'it should update overnight'.

Anyone know of an account that works properly and gives up to the second updates?!

Co-op claim they wont shut my account down even though the letters say 'any more abuse of your acc...', but I don't trust them.

They also told me they process debits first, so if you have a D/D due out on your payday, you'll get charged regardless. Thank god I don't have D/D's on this account.

bungle4by4

try leaving a 50 pound float in your account. it will make balancing your account a lot simpler.

tattycath

I've had no problems with the cashminder account-it doesn't show pending items but i know what i've spent and budget accordingly.

ironlady2022

When you shop at the retailer, it can take a couple of days or more to 'leave' the account. This is where the pending transaction is. The atm showed £20.18 as the money had not left your account but was reserved hence you could no draw against it. If they allowed for you to withdraw then the 'pending transaction' would have gone out (as authorised by you in shop via chip and pin) leaving you overdrawn. All banks work like this and I think it's down to you to ensure yo have enough funds in.

chuckley

yea i realise the real funds wont b instant, but the swipe/pin thing SHOULD BE! My card doesnt work when there's no funds.

If the trans is 'pending' the available balance be less than £20.18. Here in lies the problem. In branch they can tell u the REAL available balance but their cash machines and online systems cant/takes up to three days to show.

[Deleted User]

many banks like that like natwest, hsbc and rbs which doesn't show the actual avaliable balance until cleared

izools

chuckley wrote: »

yea i realise the real funds wont b instant, but the swipe/pin thing SHOULD BE! My card doesnt work when there's no funds.

If the trans is 'pending' the available balance be less than £20.18. Here in lies the problem. In branch they can tell u the REAL available balance but their cash machines and online systems cant/takes up to three days to show.

That's not how it works.

Many shops have a floor limit which means they will authorise your card without notifying the bank, so the bank are unaware that you have spent the money until the retailer do their banking.

This is known as an "Offline Authorisation".

The available balance is only updated once the retail inform the bank that you have made the purchase with your card. This may be once a day after the shop closes, or once a week. It varies from chain to chain.

Tupperware_Queen

the other issue with this preauthorising business is that when you don't actually complete a transaction, it still reserves the funds....I was trying to pay for something on the net, it didn't go through properely, so rang up and paid over the phone, the next thing I know, my available balance was £100 down.....the transaction had not gone through, but had reserved the funds...took about 5 days to show in my account again - not good at the end of the month!!

shellsuit

There's nothing wrong with the co-op, it's the way you're dealing with your account which is the problem.

Can you not note down what you spend, so you will know what your balance is at all times?

Tupperware_Queen

shellsuit wrote: »

There's nothing wrong with the co-op, it's the way you're dealing with your account which is the problem.

Can you not note down what you spend, so you will know what your balance is at all times?

you could be a sad git like me and have a notebook where you write every penny you spend....its really scary when you see it in black and white

I have one page for bank account transactions, and one for cash

shellsuit

Tupperware_Queen wrote: »

you could be a sad git like me and have a notebook where you write every penny you spend....its really scary when you see it in black and white

I have one page for bank account transactions, and one for cash

I am a sad git like you


If I pay a bill or buy anything online, it gets written down there and then.

If I go out shopping, I'll check my balance beforehand so I know how much I have in there, do my shopping then come home with the receipts and write the amounts down then deduct them from the balance.

Easy peasy, always in credit and no nasty bank charges!