Petrol station bank 'holdng' payment

COIAHLGW

As far as the petrol station was concerned though, the transaction did not go through and you still would have owed the money before leaving the shop. Not an ideal situation I agree.

The refund procedure for the ghost charges does need to be made quicker though.

marleyboy

Go to the ATM and pay by cash, they cant argue then.

System

Can you not get a credit card (for the future) or pay cash.

These things happen unfortunately...

System

To be fair some banks will place an actual debit on the account immediately, most will just reduce the available balance and some will do nothing at all.

It depends on the bank's systems and the customer's standing.

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

To all posters who spouted off that debits are taken from their accounts immediately. - it's tosh! Only cash withdrawals at ATM's are debited straightaway - retail transactions are taken in most cases 2-3 working days later.
(Money is earmarked immediately but not debited.)

Eliza_2

So here we are a week later, and my bank account at last balances. So the 'hold' has meant my available balance was down by a considerable amount for 7 days, it's really thrown my tight budget out of shape for the week though obviously I will be able to catch up a bit now.

Had I known this was even a possibility (and I'm 63 and it's never happened in all my many years of running bank accounts!) I would have paid by cash. So from now on, that's exactly what I'm going to do. Whatever the bank's logic and systems, I still think it's wrong for it to disallow me access to my own money for a week for all the reasons that Lily gives in her really helpful post.

Thanks for the responses all.

reclusive46

Eliza wrote: »

So here we are a week later, and my bank account at last balances. So the 'hold' has meant my available balance was down by a considerable amount for 7 days, it's really thrown my tight budget out of shape for the week though obviously I will be able to catch up a bit now.

Had I known this was even a possibility (and I'm 63 and it's never happened in all my many years of running bank accounts!) I would have paid by cash. So from now on, that's exactly what I'm going to do. Whatever the bank's logic and systems, I still think it's wrong for it to disallow me access to my own money for a week for all the reasons that Lily gives in her really helpful post.

Thanks for the responses all.

You could also pay at the pump if the station supports it. The pumps just do a £1 hold to check that the card is valid.

pinkdalek

Where you given a cancelled receipt for the transaction that did not got through? Strictly speaking you are supposed to be given this. If you had proof from the merchant that the transaction had been cancelled then possibly your bank can remove the "ghost" transaction, otherwise if you leave it 3-5 days it should disappear automatically.

The fault lies with the merchant.

Peter333

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

To all posters who spouted off that debits are taken from their accounts immediately. - it's tosh! Only cash withdrawals at ATM's are debited straightaway - retail transactions are taken in most cases 2-3 working days later.
(Money is earmarked immediately but not debited.)

Er excuse me, they have a RIGHT to 'spout off!' And it's not 'TOSH' that the amount is taken straight away! It IS. Call it being 'earmarked' if you like, but you still CANNOT GET AT THE MONEY. So if you spend £50; you have are blocked from using £100, if there's a 'ghost transaction.' So as you cannot get at it; it's the same as them having taken it.

And it's the first I have heard of it that banks can put the money back in immediately.

Peter333

pinkdalek wrote: »

Were you given a cancelled receipt for the transaction that did not got through? Strictly speaking you are supposed to be given this. If you had proof from the merchant that the transaction had been cancelled then possibly your bank can remove the "ghost" transaction, otherwise if you leave it 3-5 days it should disappear automatically.

The fault lies with the merchant.

That is only usually given if the transaction is cancelled though. In the case of the OP. The transaction wasn't cancelled: the petrol station claim the transaction never happened.

pinkdalek

Peter333 wrote: »

That is only usually given if the transaction is cancelled though. In the case of the OP. The transaction wasn't cancelled: the petrol station claim the transaction never happened.

Still should have been issued with something to say it had not happened or gone through.

Even so if the merchant had not done this they can liase with the bank to remove the earmarked transaction.