Missing Pounds

drussii

Is it only me or is it a practise so small that people tend to overlook it. I notice that around 2/3 times a year my account balance is out by one pound. I used to just disregard it as an electonic/human error and it would correct itself within those 2/3 days. When I really think about it, if the bank has a million customer accounts and they " borrow " a pound from each and loan that money to overnight international markets it becomes a nice little earner for them. Has this happened to you?

dr_adidas01

It happens occasionally, do you have anything like iTunes attached to your debit card? as every so often they check to see if your card is still active. I've noticed this happen a few times a year, and usually corrects itself after a few days.

Or you could be right maybe the banks do borrow a pound every now and again...... lol

HTAFC112

Quite the conspiracy theory you have there.

I think if you look more closely your actual account balance will be correct but your available balance will be a pound short. Many companies do this to check your details are valid - iTunes, payday loans, Paypal, ID verification agencies.

If it concerns you, you can always ask your bank what the pending payment is.

drussii

I think I prefer my theory and if it keeps my account free then it's ok by me.:j

opinions4u

drussii wrote: »

I think I prefer my theory and if it keeps my account free then it's ok by me.:j

There are around 40m active current accounts in the UK.

Assuming each one has £1 "frozen" for 5 weeks of the year that's £4m of funds in hoc.

Assuming the banks have use of this money at a net lending margin of 2% they will make around £80,000 a year. Between them.

Or naff all in the great scheme of things.

Gromitt

drussii wrote: »

When I really think about it, if the bank has a million customer accounts and they " borrow " a pound from each and loan that money to overnight international markets it becomes a nice little earner for them.

If the bank was intending to do this, why would they bother notifying you via adjusting your balance? They'll just use the money and if it all goes pear shaped and they lose millions, they'll just ask the government for a handout whilst giving themselves huge bonuses.

dalesrider

drussii wrote: »

When I really think about it, if the bank has a million customer accounts and they " borrow " a pound from each and loan that money to overnight international markets it becomes a nice little earner for them. Has this happened to you?

Why would they need to only take a £1. They could simply have a system error and not let you take any cash overnignt while they risk it on the markets....

On the flip side I have seen retailer do this. A certain defunct card retailer once applied dupicate debts to customers from a certain date. Now this was just after they entered administraton Now it can't have been a tape error as a lot of the payments were never refunded to customers by the co. Banks had to refund customers under PSD and as under c/b limits could not claim the money back :mad:

meer53

dalesrider wrote: »

Why would they need to only take a £1. They could simply have a system error and not let you take any cash overnignt while they risk it on the markets....

On the flip side I have seen retailer do this. A certain defunct card retailer once applied dupicate debts to customers from a certain date. Now this was just after they entered administraton Now it can't have been a tape error as a lot of the payments were never refunded to customers by the co. Banks had to refund customers under PSD and as under c/b limits could not claim the money back :mad:

I've seen the "we're going bust lets just debit everyone twice" trick too before. Ours were all charged back though !