Lloyds TSB & Available Balance issues

Chrisblue1962

My partner has had the same problem with Lloyds TSB online systems being slow to reflect a "true" balance, my Co-op Cashminder account being likewise .

She now only uses her Lloyds TSB account for monthly regular bills.

Her Natwest and RBS accounts always show an up-to-date / real-time balance even if she's made a debit card purchase that day so she uses these accounts for her day-to-day spending for this very reason.

Don't know in this day and age with EPOS / chip & pin terminals being used for payment why banks cannot tell you exactly how much is in your account at any time..after all, it's your money.

Jamie_Carter

Chrisblue1962 wrote: »

My partner has had the same problem with Lloyds TSB online systems being slow to reflect a "true" balance, my Co-op Cashminder account being likewise .

She now only uses her Lloyds TSB account for monthly regular bills.

Her Natwest and RBS accounts always show an up-to-date / real-time balance even if she's made a debit card purchase that day so she uses these accounts for her day-to-day spending for this very reason.

Don't know in this day and age with EPOS / chip & pin terminals being used for payment why banks cannot tell you exactly how much is in your account at any time..after all, it's your money.

As I said earlier, it depends on where you shop, which merchant company they use, and the system they have set up.

Secure gateways don't usually submit to the merchant companies until the early hours of the morning.

fleetwoodguy

Jamie_Carter wrote: »

As I said earlier, it depends on where you shop, which merchant company they use, and the system they have set up.

e.g. pret used to pre-authorise a pound, nowadays the pre-auth the full amount straight away.

just_about

jamierogan26 wrote: »

Good Morning,


Currently i have a Platinum acct with Lloyds and check my online banking every 1-3 days depending on my debit card usage.

"Account Balance" may not be updated for 3-5 working days, however the "Available Funds" is updated straight away.

My question is has anyone noticed when not even the "Available Balance" doesn't update either?

My question is why didn't my "Available balance" not update almost straight away as the funds should really have been "earmarked"

I rang up Lloyds to ask how they calculate both acct balance figures to which they gave me the usual explanation. When i told them the scenario they replied saying that it wasn't their issue but 99% of retailers usually earmark funds the minute you use your debit card but sometimes it doesn't happen.

I would like to know if anyone else has experienced this, whether it is normal? Or is this a Lloyds TSB system issue?

Cheers!

The explanation to all of the above would be the kind of debit card that Lloyds Tsb issues with the platinum a/c(I have a premier a/c with them). The debit card issued by Lloyds with this kind of accounts is the full fat Visa debit card (otherwise known as Offline debit card).

This type of debit card (the best you can get) can be used almost every where (including unattended Point of sale, e.g pay at pump, inside trains etc), and allows the retailer to authenticate the card with £1, and then the actual funds get debited 1-2 working days later (hence leaving a chance to get overdrawn if you do not have enough funds available by the time the transaction comes through to your a/c), as is always the case that I have faced in Boots etc for transactions under £20.

This wouldn't be the case if you have say an online visa debit card (nothing but somewhat a re-badged Visa electron), as this type of card always checks for the available funds in you a/c and declines any transaction for which you do not have enough funds to cover the transaction, or at any unattended point of sale, this type of debit card normally comes with basic current accounts etc.

This would be the case with any offline visa debit card issued by any high street bank, and not only Lloyds. So the best thing for you would be to keep a mental tab of the transactions as this would help you not to go overdrawn. The brighter side though is that you can use this card almost any where int he world.

Plxply

just_about wrote: »

This would be the case with any offline visa debit card issued by any high street bank, and not only Lloyds. So the best thing for you would be to keep a mental tab of the transactions as this would help you not to go overdrawn. The brighter side though is that you can use this card almost any where int he world.

I agree, it sounds like the OP has an offline card which means the merchant doesn't need to contact the bank to authorise the amount as this is done just with the card itself. They will then take the money from the account with the authorisation they received offline. Retailers sometimes do it as it costs to send a transaction online then to communicate with just the chip directly.

pqrdef

jamierogan26 wrote: »

I always thought that the "Available Balance" was updated almost straight away

Your available balance didn't get updated when they used the old manual card-wipers and carbon slips.

The checkout terminal doesn't tell the bank what you've spent just for fun, it only does that if it's requesting an authorisation. With online cards it has to do that. With offline cards it often doesn't.

The trend is towards speeding things up by not requesting authorisations. This is what contactless cards are all about - the aim would be defeated if you had to wait while the machine had a chat with your bank about the state of your finances.

jamierogan26

firstly thank you for everyone who has replied.

The explanation regarding offline visa cards makes perfect sense. I did used to have the Platinum acct and had it for over 2 years but i found experian more useful than callcredit (ID Aware) so i went down to Platinum and pay experian instead.

However again thank you for the explanations i agree it is the type of visa card issued and i now i'm aware of this i will be a little more careful.

Just to clarify this occurance didn't put me over my limit it was just something i had noticed. But i agree it is a very good idea to understand how the cards and accts etc work.

Many Thanks

pqrdef

A lot of people have come to rely on their debit card payments being put on hold. The banks will collect more overdraft charges now.