Credit card balance query

aaronjlaw

Hello,

I am new to credit cards but is it usual for purchases to not show up on my online banking days after the purchase? I have always used a debit card and even if the payment didnt leave my account for a day or two it would always show as due to come out on my available balance.

Nothing has even come off my "available balance" yet for a purchase I made last Friday, although other purchases after the one mentioned have come off that balance.

I just get a bit nervous that my order isnt secure if payment hasnt been taken.

dj1471

Normally your available balance will reflect the purchase immediately, but it can take several working days for the transaction to actually appear.

Check with the retailer - it sounds like they haven't processed the payment yet, which is unusual because normally they'll pre-authorise the transaction at the time of purchase even if they're not planning to take payment until a later date (e.g. after they've shipped the item).

CLAPTON

if you buy items that need delivering then sometimes retailers don't deduct the cost until they are ready to despatch the item

InsideInsurance

aaronjlaw wrote: »

Hello,

I am new to credit cards but is it usual for purchases to not show up on my online banking days after the purchase? I have always used a debit card and even if the payment didnt leave my account for a day or two it would always show as due to come out on my available balance.

Nothing has even come off my "available balance" yet for a purchase I made last Friday, although other purchases after the one mentioned have come off that balance.

I just get a bit nervous that my order isnt secure if payment hasnt been taken.

Credit and debit cards process works in the same way as each other. Any differences you are seeing are down to different ways companies have set up their sites.

With AmEx most transactions appear almost instantly in the "pending" section and that includes preauthorisations. In a few days they then move down into the transaction list or disappear if the merchant hasnt collected the funds (they have a few months to). Capital One on the other hand doesnt have any way to see "pending"

Outside of the banking side of things it could well be the merchant doesnt actually bill until dispatch as others have suggested, could be their gatway was down at the time so its being done as an offline transaction that can take longer etc