Lloyds Available Balance Not Up to Date, Tranactions Taking Over a Week to Appear

moneysavingkitten

I have been having problems with my Lloyds bank account not updating transactions online and via cash point, for the last couple of weeks.

I was wondering if anyone else was having any trouble? In some cases it is taking well over a week for transactions to appear on my statement and for my available balance to update.

To begin with I thought it was just transactions from one shop, but it actually appears to be everything. It is making it hard for me to keep track of my money. Is there any point in contacting Lloyds about this?

anamenottaken

moneysavingkitten wrote: »

I have been having problems with my Lloyds bank account not updating transactions online and via cash point, for the last couple of weeks.

I was wondering if anyone else was having any trouble? In some cases it is taking well over a week for transactions to appear on my statement and for my available balance to update.

To begin with I thought it was just transactions from one shop, but it actually appears to be everything. It is making it hard for me to keep track of my money. Is there any point in contacting Lloyds about this?

Is it just debits from your account which take a while or is it credits too?
Are they relatively small amounts using your debit card?

moneysavingkitten

anamenottaken wrote: »

Is it just debits from your account which take a while or is it credits too?
Are they relatively small amounts using your debit card?

I am not sure about credits since I haven't had one in this time period. You are right about the other transactions, they are are all relatively small amounts using a debit card.

jonesMUFCforever

You can't blame the bank - it is the retailer that is taking its time in processing their transactions.

pmduk

It's always best to keep your own record of transactions rather than relying on a transaction being shown by the bank. Smaller transactions may not require to be authorised by the bank and will not therefore show up on your account until they are presented by the retailer.

moneysavingkitten

Thank you all for the information. I was unaware there was a difference between the way large and small transactions are processed. I just thought it was strange because I had only previously had this problem on bank holidays, normally it is very quick.

Is there a maximum length of time that retailers can take to process their transactions, or is in indefinite?

I do keep receipts, but I think I will have to be more organised with them and keep an eye on them in future. Thanks again.

jonesMUFCforever

In theory indefinite in practise they can pursue you for 6 years.

moneysavingkitten

That is very good to know, if a little scary, thank you for your help. I would imagine that most companies would want their money within a reasonable time period, if only for their own benefit, but I am definitely going to start keeping better records. Just started organising my receipts!

Edit: I think I may need to look up some ways of organising receipts. I can see this ending up being a fat file quickly. I am wondering if I need to group them into weeks, or months and if I need a book to keep a running total... more reading required I think!

Gromitt

If you search this board, there are loads of people asking about personal finance software, and loads of suggestions - some even run from your phone so you can keep it upto date during the day. You can even take photographs of the receipt and store them digitally instead of little pieces of paper, and it helps for when you don't get receipts.

In practice, a shop has about 6 months to collect payment from your card, but they can pursue other means for 6 years (or try a re-authorisation, which you can contest and pay by other means). They'll usually want to debit you before the monthly financial cycle is complete however, which might not be based on calendar months.

jonesMUFCforever

Keep your receipts until your statement arrives then tick them off.
I keep any for goods that have a warranty etc then throw rest out.