Money in Limbo!!!

Yummy-mummy

Hi everyone.

I've not been on here in a while but feel that I need to get something off my chest and where better to do it!!!

I want to know why is it, when you use your debit card to make a payment the money leaves your account, in most instances, immediately yet when a store owes you a refund it can take up to 7 days to go back into your account?????

Yesterday I checked my bank balance online and the available balance stood at £60.82 so off I trotted to my local supermarket to do a bit of lunchtime shopping. At the checkout it totalled £20.90 and I asked for £20 cashback. I went through the usual procedure of entering my pin number etc but then the cashier told me that I'd taken my card out too early and to do it again. I did this but was then told that my card had been declined!!!!! Luckily I had £20 in my purse so was able to pay for my shopping with only having to put back one item! It was definately one of those occasions where you just want the floor to open up!

Once back at the office I logged onto my account and my available balance stood at £19.92 - a discrepancy of £40.90!!

I rang the supermarket and they informed me that although I may have taken my card out of the card machine too early, the transaction would have gone through as a part-authorisation and therefore the money would be returned to my account in the next 7 days!!!

I've spoken to my bank and they have confirmed that the amount of £40.90 is "in limbo" and floating between the supermarket's account and my own account and I'm just to wait for it to be sent back to me. They did give me an authorisation code for the supermarket to enable the process to be speeded up but the person I spoke to at the supermarket didn't seem too convinced about that!

So why does it take so long for refunds to be credited back to our accounts and also, why has the supermarket been able to retain my money when the transaction is incomplete???? :mad:

mellonicoley

It's a massive flaw in our banking system. I had a similar problem with Asda last year.

I ordered through their website and approximately £45 for my order was put on "reserve". Then when my shopping was picked and it came to a slightly different amount, they also "reserved" that too. It took a whole week to get that money back. Was not impressed

Also had the same kind of thing happened when I ordered my travelcard online with TFL. The transaction didn't go through because I'd forgotten to change my address details, but they still "reserved" the £180.50 :eek:. I didn't have any money for a week!

Best way to avoid it is to pay for everything with cash

give_them_FA

Couldn't be simpler, the technology is available for instantaneous real-time transfer, but given the billions that pass through the system, the banks gain substantial sums in interest by delaying giving you the money.

missrlr

It really bugs me too as I constantly have to explain to customers who want a refund that we have done it our end, but the combination of the bank _+ credit card supplier = 7 days wait. I am sure people think we are lying when I say it has been done even when I give the reference and receipts.

Yummy-mummy

It's just so frustrating and it annoys me that these big organisations can get away with it. It's left me in a right mess this week but they don't seem to understand this.

cottonhead

Once my bank took out a payment from my current account to pay off my credit card balance twice over. It left me £400 overdrawn with no money in my pocket either so went into the bank and they said yes it was their error and it would be refunded back to me in 5 working days ! 5 days with no money and £400 over my agreed limit. I kicked up a fuss and had it back in 3 days but still - I dont see why there isnt a way to put it straight back when they can see its their error.
On a day to day basis I have found I have to be careful when checking my bank balance because it can show there is enough so you use the money and then a transaction that you did a few days back gets deducted and you suddenly have no money or are overdrawn. That has caught me several times now. You cant trust you balance - the only way to be sure is to write everything down and keep a running total.