Contactless Payments dont show up in available balance!!!

pmduk

Archi_Bald wrote: »

I wonder whether there is a MSE article that addresses this misconception?

I suspect if such an article existed, people wouldn't read it. It's so much easier to pass the blame for one's own mistakes on to others. It's sad that an article might be thought necessary to inform people to keep track of the money that they have spent.

Archi_Bald

pmduk wrote: »

I suspect if such an article existed, people wouldn't read it.

Lots of people take MSE as their bible, so it could help at least some folks. Out of the millions of MSE subscribers, some might actually read it and have a better financial life for it.

We have official MSE articles on "there's no universal credit rating", so why not have an official MSE article on "why only you know how much you have available to spend"?

pmduk wrote: »

It's so much easier to pass the blame for one's own mistakes on to others.

sadly so, but banks (quite rightly) won't take the blame for people spending non-existent money

lee111s

Learn how to manage your finances without online banking or try to stop living close to zero.

thebritishbloke

dr_adidas01 wrote: »

So you mean to tell me you can't work out what you have spent when you have paid by contactless?

Don't you keep the receipts for items you have purchased?

I can keep track of all the items I have purchase even ones I have paid via contactless, then again I remember the days there was no internet banking and you had to keep a note of what your bank balance was and what you had purchased.

Seems these days people don't want to take responsibility for what they spend and expect the banks to all the work for them.

I have to admit that I use contactless a lot in the pub, and literally just take ID and a card with me. Started to use my CC's for all my spending now instead of my debit card just to be safe.

Armorica

Yes - it’s online/offline. But many contactless payments are offline. You simply need to have keep track of your spending.

The bank simply does not know what you have used your card for for these payments until the merchant tells them.

It comes down to a trade off between convenience (not entering pin/quick payment) and immediate comprehensiveness.

PaulW922

If your card is a full debit card then the chances are that most contactless payments will not be pre-authorised. This is probably because contactless is meant to be fast. I have noticed most of my contactless payments are instant, with only the odd one having a short delay whilst authorisation is sought. Having said that, I have Paypal card which is 'always authorise', and the contactless payments on that take a few seconds to go through.

Xxccxxccxx

I've been with hsbc for 15 years and love their systems (unlike the Natwest one which I tried as was opening a joint acc) but this new contact less problem is driving me crazy and I complained to hsbc the other day. If you spend as much as I do on little transactions I need to be able know my EXACT available balance. Not one minus the 10 contactless payments I make a day. Ive been noticing errors for a while but then other days it was fine and now I've realised why its very annoying and you're right, there must be thousands of people going into their over drafts without realising until it's too late

SeduLOUs

Xxccxxccxx wrote: »

I've been with hsbc for 15 years and love their systems (unlike the Natwest one which I tried as was opening a joint acc) but this new contact less problem is driving me crazy and I complained to hsbc the other day. If you spend as much as I do on little transactions I need to be able know my EXACT available balance. Not one minus the 10 contactless payments I make a day. Ive been noticing errors for a while but then other days it was fine and now I've realised why its very annoying and you're right, there must be thousands of people going into their over drafts without realising until it's too late

If it's too complicated for you to be able to remember what you have spent and manage your bank balance, I suggest in future that you always withdraw cash and spend that - you will always know what you have left and will not end up in your overdraft.

Available balance is only an indication of some and not necessarily all pending transactions on the account because of the way they are handled by different retailers.

But I guess it's always easier to blame the bank than to take responsibility for our own spending!

Archi_Bald

Xxccxxccxx wrote: »

I complained to hsbc the other day.

You can complain until you are blue in the face. Banks will only ever be able to reduce your balance after the retailers have told them about it. Many do this at the end of a day or even only every other day.

Use cash or keep notes about your spending.

NoMore

This is why the most used app on my phone is Account Tracker, anytime I have a transaction, I immediately enter into on the app, therefore I am always aware of my actual available balance and not relying on the retailers to inform the banks.

Takes 10s to enter the transaction and phone is always with me.