Contactless Payments dont show up in available balance!!!

kpf61

In this day and age of mobile banking you really shouldn't have to keep a mental note of expenditure, am not sure if the banks are playing a game here, I did a test, I knew that I was out of funds when I used my card for contactless payment I trued to use it and it cleared! it wasnt showing up on my list of transactions nor had my balance been adjusted, as a further test I tried it again a few hours latter and the transaction was declined(same retailer), my bank fobs me off with "not all transactions have the balance checked prior to authorisation" so how does it explain my example? Anyone any thoughts on this? Is this yet another way banks are ripping us off by letting some transactions go thru despite your account not having available funds?

eskbanker

kpf61 wrote: »

In this day and age of mobile banking you really shouldn't have to keep a mental note of expenditure, am not sure if the banks are playing a game here, I did a test, I knew that I was out of funds when I used my card for contactless payment I trued to use it and it cleared! it wasnt showing up on my list of transactions nor had my balance been adjusted, as a further test I tried it again a few hours latter and the transaction was declined(same retailer), my bank fobs me off with "not all transactions have the balance checked prior to authorisation" so how does it explain my example? Anyone any thoughts on this? Is this yet another way banks are ripping us off by letting some transactions go thru despite your account not having available funds?

Have you considered reading some or all of the rest of the thread?

Eco_Miser

kpf61 wrote: »

In this day and age of mobile banking you really shouldn't have to keep a mental note of expenditure,

You've never had to keep a mental note of expenditure - paper and pencil were available long before banking. But in this day and age of mobile banking, your phone will happily keep track of your expenditure for you.

I would never rely on the balance given by the bank remaining correct for any account with transactions.

System

You should try an online contacless card from Nationwide or Barclays.
Otherwise, only use contactless on a credit card as then you can tally it up later.

I personally don't have contactless on my debit cards.

Mrs_Ryan wrote: »

I never have a large balance- low income- and I've read with interest what some people on here say 'don't use contactless or a debit card at all if a low balance blah blah' one size doesn't fit all it's perfectly possible to use contactless responsibly with a low balance. I have no choice (I don't have a credit card and I don't use cash as I struggle to count coins. I'm ok with a note but I struggle to work out if I have the correct change or what coins I need to pay with)

Fortescue

I checked my Barclaycard Visa account yesterday and was puzzled to see £60 showing as pending transactions.
The only transactions I had made, but were not showing, were for £20 at M&S and £4 at Wilko, both contactless.
As things stood that left £36 unaccounted for. This morning, the above two transactions were showing and there were no pending transactions.
Would it be safe to assume that contactless transactions are ring fenced to the maximum value of £30 until the details filter through the system?

diamonds

Fortescue wrote: »

I checked my Barclaycard Visa account yesterday and was puzzled to see £60 showing as pending transactions.
The only transactions I had made, but were not showing, were for £20 at M&S and £4 at Wilko, both contactless.
As things stood that left £36 unaccounted for. This morning, the above two transactions were showing and there were no pending transactions.
Would it be safe to assume that contactless transactions are ring fenced to the maximum value of £30 until the details filter through the system?

It may well do that on credit, but that could never be done on a debit card, for instance I bought 2 packets of crisps and a can of juice at £1.65 at Superdrug and if every contactless ringfenced £30 many people would be refused access to their own money, it would not effect me as I have £2000 savings and a regular income payment in my TSB but if I didn't like most people my excess of £28.35 from Superdrug I would not be allowed to spend my own money...and if you only had £30.01 in your account that would be holding your money to ransom.



Call BC and ask, let us know, could be quite handy info for some BC holders.

nwall87

I sympathise with the OP, as a rule of thumb unless I knew otherwise I would take my available balance as a guide to how much money I had. Once you know that contactless payments work differently, then it's not hard to remember. However some people are good at knowing every expenditure, I for one am one of those who can easily make a few small transactions e.g. a chocolate here, a bus ticket there and forget about them. As there's a limit of £20/£30 and the bank will honour the payments there isn't a huge problem. But I do have an issue with getting charged because of it. If a bank does not offer an overdraft facility, but then allows you to go overdrawn because of this technology, then charges you for it I think that is unreasonable. The nature of these payments means they will always be small, its an easy mistake to make and not one that really harms the bank's business. No doubt that the charges are not at all proportionate to the original transaction. It would be a fairly simple gesture of good customer service to allow customers to use their cards in this way for limited small transactions without fear of big charges. Thankfully my bank only seem to charge if it's over by a larger amount or I leave it too long. This avoids the ridiculous situation where a customer with no overdraft ends up in one anyway, charged for it, then charged further because the fee has pushed them further overdrawn, when the original transaction is something minor like a sandwich. Remember - banks are supposed to be providing a service for the benefit of your custom; a little bit of discretion in this kind of situation is just common sense.

cheesetoast

If you're using Android Pay, EVERY transaction comes off your available balance instantly.

Ballard

nwall87 wrote: »

I sympathise with the OP, as a rule of thumb unless I knew otherwise I would take my available balance as a guide to how much money I had. Once you know that contactless payments work differently, then it's not hard to remember. However some people are good at knowing every expenditure, I for one am one of those who can easily make a few small transactions e.g. a chocolate here, a bus ticket there and forget about them. As there's a limit of £20/£30 and the bank will honour the payments there isn't a huge problem. But I do have an issue with getting charged because of it. If a bank does not offer an overdraft facility, but then allows you to go overdrawn because of this technology, then charges you for it I think that is unreasonable. The nature of these payments means they will always be small, its an easy mistake to make and not one that really harms the bank's business. No doubt that the charges are not at all proportionate to the original transaction. It would be a fairly simple gesture of good customer service to allow customers to use their cards in this way for limited small transactions without fear of big charges. Thankfully my bank only seem to charge if it's over by a larger amount or I leave it too long. This avoids the ridiculous situation where a customer with no overdraft ends up in one anyway, charged for it, then charged further because the fee has pushed them further overdrawn, when the original transaction is something minor like a sandwich. Remember - banks are supposed to be providing a service for the benefit of your custom; a little bit of discretion in this kind of situation is just common sense.

It is your sole responsibility to budget and keep your balance in credit. If you are unable to budget then perhaps just withdraw the cash from an atm rather that use contactless. I don't see any excuse not to keep your account in order.

Yasmin89

I have to say the first time I paid contactless I got caught out resulting in £16 charge.. Now I make a mental note when looking at my available balance, does put me off using contactless though.
Agree that they should send out a little note when issuing contactless cards just so everyone is aware but I'm sure they see it as an opportunity to earn a little cash through their customers ignorance..:mad: