Contactless Payments dont show up in available balance!!!

Armorica

Or don't use contactless.... put your card in the machine instead. It's entirely within your control.

pmduk

Armorica wrote: »

Or don't use contactless.... put your card in the machine instead. It's entirely within your control.

Even then, there's no guarantee that the transaction will show immediately, if it's below the retailer's floor limit the banks first knowledge will be when the transaction is presented to them.

moneysavingnoob_3

The patronising attitude shown by a lot of people on this thread doesn't acknowledge how contactless is a step backward for people trying to manage their money. The OP has a perfectly reasonable point.

It's being promoted heavily by the banks who want us to use it instead of cash, Natwest are even offering cashback, but if it's basically a £20 overdraft that may not hit your account for up to 3 days, it's just asking for trouble.

Here's a quote from Natwest's website:
"Contactless allows you to pay for everyday essentials like a coffee, lunch, travel or a newspaper - in less than a second."

They want us to use it by default.

You'd think with the speed of today's tech it would be easy to see exactly how much money is in your account, but it doesn't seem to be a priority for the banks. This just makes it even harder. I'm surprised MSE haven't made more of this.

Herbalus

moneysavingnoob wrote: »

The patronising attitude shown by a lot of people on this thread doesn't acknowledge how contactless is a step backward for people trying to manage their money.

Disagree entirely.

It has always been the customer's responsibility to know how much is in their account and how much they have to spend. Think back to when there wasn't this "instant" information at our fingertips and people had to check balances at ATMs - how were people then supposed to know how much money they had?

The problem is not with the banks, but with the retailers. The banks can't know that a contactless transaction has gone through until the retailer tells them! That is not always instant and can take a few days.

Archi_Bald

moneysavingnoob wrote: »

The patronising attitude shown by a lot of people on this thread doesn't acknowledge how contactless is a step backward for people trying to manage their money.

You are missing the fundamental point that it is account holders, not banks or retailers, that are responsible for figuring out how much money they have to spend. Contactless has changed nothing in that regard. Saying this isn't a patronising attitude but a piece of good advice (that you can take or leave).

No amount of technology will ever take this responsibility away from account holders. But you can use additional technology, such as one of the budgeting apps on your mobile, to help you manage your responsibility.

moneysavingnoob_3

The 'fundamental point' about looking after your own money is obvious to everyone. But the banks store our money, they design the payment systems, and I need to use their systems to know my balance.

If their priority was giving us accurate up to date information, which much exist in their systems, it's easier to manage our responsibilities.

"The problem is not with the banks, but with the retailers. The banks can't know that a contactless transaction has gone through until the retailer tells them!"

Why should the retailer accept a payment from someone who has a balance of £0.00? These are debit cards not credit cards!

eskbanker

moneysavingnoob wrote: »

If their priority was giving us accurate up to date information, which much exist in their systems, it's easier to manage our responsibilities.

You're still missing the point, which is that, in the context of offline contactless payments, accurate up to date information doesn't exist in their systems in real time! It's only known to the bank once the retailer submits it, which can be days or even weeks later....

Archi_Bald

moneysavingnoob wrote: »

The 'fundamental point' about looking after your own money is obvious to everyone.

I wish that were true. Then nobody would complain about the "available balance" of their bank account not necessarily being the same as the amount available to spend.

moneysavingnoob wrote: »

But the banks store our money, they design the payment systems, and I need to use their systems to know my balance.

you do not need to use any bank account to know how much money you have available to spend. In fact, the whole point is that the bank does not know how much you have available to spend.

moneysavingnoob wrote: »

If their priority was giving us accurate up to date information, which much exist in their systems, it's easier to manage our responsibilities.

they will accurately display what they have in their system. They cannot display information that they do not have.

moneysavingnoob wrote: »

Why should the retailer accept a payment from someone who has a balance of £0.00? These are debit cards not credit cards!

Because the banks will pay the retailers these small amounts. This sort of principle has been with us for decades, e.g. originally in the form of cheque guarantee cards. Generations of people have managed their available spending money without looking at available balances. It's only a small mis-informed group of people that have in recent years decided that 'available balance' equates to money available to spend.

If you are unable to manage the amounts you have available to spend by debit card (or credit card), may be you should be using cash?

le_loup

Herbalus wrote: »

The problem is not with the banks, but with the retailers. The banks can't know that a contactless transaction has gone through until the retailer tells them!

Not even the retailers fault. What did people do when they used cheques!

[Deleted User]

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?

Many places don't give a receipt for contactless payments by default.