Q re internet banking Barclays/Lloyds TBS/First Direct

chris11_2

Hi all,

Moving to the UK soon and looking at current and credit card accounts. Narrowed it down to Barclays, Lloyds TSB and First Direct.

Say I make a debit/credit card transaction e.g. purchase, ATM withdrawl etc. do these show up instantly in internet banking for any of the above banks or is there a delay (day or so) for it to show up? I really find it difficult and painful to manage my money if transactions are delayed.

Any other banks out there which have instant transactions in internet banking?

Thanks

anna42hmr

i find with my lloyds account that any cash withdrawals etc are shown instantly, however you will find with all banks that debit card or credit card transactions are delayed, as it depends when the merchant puts the payment request through. (you may pay for something on a monday, but the shop may not actually ask for the money until the wednesday for instance)

if you struggle with delayed transactions, you may be best to start a spreadsheet or a bank book and keep a log of whats in the account at any time and whatn is due to come out (ie debit card payments, cheques, standing orders etc.

I have done this for years and is really easy and quick once you get in the habit. I just use the following columns: Date, transaction, transaction amount in/out, account balence.

Using this book, i know exactly to the penny what is in my account available to spend even if i am waiting for money to come out of the account

Cmdr_Bond

Agree with the above...

One thing I will say in favour of Lloyds and their Money Manager, is the payment calendar that shows upcoming regular payments and DD's (I cannot say if Barclays or FD have anything similar in this respect).

chexum

We had a small thread earlier about this:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2862270

The main issue is even if the bank would show all pending transactions (which they generally don't), not all transactions are online - depending on the merchant, they may be allowed to authorise offline, and send transactions in batches once a day, or even less frequently.

coolesticeking

It all depends if the bank gives you an Offline or Full-Auth Debit card. Offline will mean any Debit Card transactions take a few days to appear and Full-Auth will deduct the avaibale balance immediately.

[Deleted User]

indeed
Lloyds TSB debits avaliable balance and 3 working days later appears on the statement

gt94sss2

chris11 wrote: »

Moving to the UK soon and looking at current and credit card accounts. Narrowed it down to Barclays, Lloyds TSB and First Direct.

Say I make a debit/credit card transaction e.g. purchase, ATM withdrawl etc. do these show up instantly in internet banking for any of the above banks or is there a delay (day or so) for it to show up? I really find it difficult and painful to manage my money if transactions are delayed.

Any other banks out there which have instant transactions in internet banking?

As others have said, in the UK ATM transactions normally appear immediately but debit and credit card payments can take 2/3 days to appear on your account.

If the transaction is done electronically, then its quite possible that your "available balance" will update though full details won't appear on your statement for a few days.

Capital One credit cards alao have a neat 'pending transactions' feature on their website.

Your biggest problem however, is actually opening an account - as you are moving to the UK you may find it hard to actually open a bank account and credit card in the first place.. let alone be 'choosy' about which institution you join..

Regards
Sunil

chris11_2

Thanks all! Different situation here in Oz - most accounts update with a placeholders for 'Pending transactions' until they are settled a couple of days later (then updated with full merchant details).

Have heard as much re the difficulty in opening an account after arriving in the UK. Lived in London a while back and opened one with HSBC (incl credit card) before arriving. Unforunately they closed these due to inactivity so I have to set up a new one. Still have a number of means to set up over here prior to arrival which intend to do (Barclays, HSBC, Citibank) thankfully.

loracan1

I couldn't tell you whether one is faster at clearing a transaction than the other but I use internet banking with both Barclays and TSB. The TSB one is far better - apart from always having to dig out the pin reader to use it, Barclays only show the last month's statement.

ancia

I deal with TSB as my husband won't move his account due to undeserved loyalty to them. They should apply their monthly charges and fees in the first day of the month but it should be "before the end of the business day". It's 20.13 now - still no show, but I am planning on staying till 0000 and then complain to the ombudsman. Same thing with cash withdrawals payments and so on. My bank - NatWest shows everything instantly.
Re the person with the book with balance - the whole point of all these statements and on-line banking is to simplify things and make them easier. I want to see what I actually have when I need to know.

DeeMarie89

I know it's not one of your choices, but I bank with Natwest. They have a fairly good online banking system, and, as far as I know, is the only bank to show pending card payments (it doesn't show go it's to, but it does show "debit card transaction pending" or something like that.
Most other banks will just deduct the funds from your available balance, but show nothing on your statement until the funds have cleared.