Contactless Payments dont show up in available balance!!!

eskbanker

iainUK wrote: »

My bank actively promote the convenience of mobile and Internet banking. And they promote the fact that they show pending debit card transactions immediately.

Given that they can't show some pending debit card transactions immediately then I'd have to agree that it's pretty irresponsible for them to suggest they can! As above, it would be worth you pursuing this inaccurate claim with the bank who's making it - is this published online somewhere?

iainUK

Hazzanet

I take all your points on board, and clearly your points are objective and reasonable, which I appreciate

Halifax promote the fact that they now show "pending debit card transactions", but they do not use the word immediately, just "before they are debited". Hopefully you can understand how a non-MSE veteran may find this slightly misleading.

There's just two real points that I make, and that is firstly that I believe the banks are not clear enough about available balance, particularly when it comes to contactless payments. And secondly, I disagree that someone who has taken the time to check their balance before making a purchase is stupid/irresponsible/can't cope for assuming that a debit card payment made 7 days ago would be included in their available balance, especially when more recent payments are.

Your average customer is not an MSE user, and the fact that people are wanting to check their balance actually indicates a level of responsibility to me. I think the case for clearer information on contactless payments is very strong, across all banks, and I do think customers should be aware that they don't process the same as normal debit card payments and may even take over a week to be debited. Call me stupid, but to me that is not obvious and I previously had no idea that the authorisation wasn't live.

iainUK

eskbanker wrote: »

Given that they can't show some pending debit card transactions immediately then I'd have to agree that it's pretty irresponsible for them to suggest they can! As above, it would be worth you pursuing this inaccurate claim with the bank who's making it - is this published online somewhere?

No you are right. The word "immediately" was not used, sorry to mislead.

dr_adidas01

What ever did people do before the days of internet banking?

I'm old enough to remember the days when there was no internet banking and you had to either go into a branch or use a cash machine to get a balance of what was in your account.

We also manually kept a record of what was available what was going out and what we had spent by keeping the receipts for everything we spent.

Its time people remembered they are responsible for what they have in their accounts and what they have spent and to keep a record, not the banks.

eskbanker

According to the online guide at http://www.halifax.co.uk/aboutonline/things-you-can-do/managing-your-accounts/balances-and-statements/view-statements/, Halifax use a definition of pending debit card transactions as those "that have been authorised for payment but which haven't yet been taken from your account".

I can certainly accept that the casual reader of this might interpret it as any outstanding card transactions but think they're actually being fairly careful with the wording to include the reference to 'authorised for payment', which they would presumably argue implicitly suggests online authorisation, i.e. the pending page won't show any outstanding transactions where there was no online authorisation (contactless or otherwise).

colsten

ianianUK, although I disagree with your assertions that the banks are at fault for people running out of money when relying on 'available balance', I have some sympathy for why you think banks could try to do more towards offering education to their customers.

No amount of sympathy on the MSE Forum will change anything though. You need to lobby the banks and/or their Regulators if you want them to spell out in a more prominent manner that 'available balance' only includes what has been reported to them as spends. You could also try and lobby Nicky Morgan so schools will educate pupils about the fundamentals of spending and managing current accounts. And to teach pupils that, generally, they will have to be responsible for their lives themselves, and that blaming others for personal failures isn't acceptable.

anoncol

dr_adidas01 wrote: »

What ever did people do before the days of internet banking?

I'm old enough to remember the days when there was no internet banking and you had to either go into a branch or use a cash machine to get a balance of what was in your account.

We also manually kept a record of what was available what was going out and what we had spent by keeping the receipts for everything we spent.

Its time people remembered they are responsible for what they have in their accounts and what they have spent and to keep a record, not the banks.

But that was also before the days of cards in every shop and much more transparent spending. No way did you write cheques for all your purchases. You use cash which you got from and ATM or a branch where you could also check you balance at the same time.

iainUK

Fair point Colsten. But just in regard to your first comment, I have been at pains to try to point out I do not think it is the banks "fault". It's just about offering clearer information. Infact I don't even think there is any deliberate intention to mislead, I just think Contactless is rather new and the banks tend to be reactionary in updating their info.

Halifax, which btw is a great bank, shows pending debit card transactions. But I can assure you that nowhere on any banks website, FAQs etc does it even hint at the fact that it could take up to a week for contactless payments to begin processing. They've been good at updating information on other things, and I suspect that we will see exactly what I am calling for in the near future.

One thing I must say is that I completely reject the premise that available balance should be completely ignored and that anyone who looks at it is a moron or lazy. It is a useful tool when you have the right information to use it.

And I'm afraid I find the constant refences to the past to be actually quite silly. I mean if an email fails to deliver am I stupid for not using the post? If a light bulb blows am I a fool for not having used a candle? I mean where does this sort of nonsense end? Online banking is here, that's a fact, and it is right that people should use it.

I won't be complaining to my bank, I only stumbled here while googling, tbh my main motivation for responding was my shock at the unfair response to the OP.

dr_adidas01

anoncol wrote: »

But that was also before the days of cards in every shop and much more transparent spending. No way did you write cheques for all your purchases. You use cash which you got from and ATM or a branch where you could also check you balance at the same time.

Wrong I maybe old but I'm m not ancient I had a debit card it was a Maestro card with a £100 cheque guarantee on it from good old Midland Bank now HSBC. Back then it wasn't chip and pin you had to sign a slip of paper with your signature on it which the shop assistant checked.

I'm not sure what you mean about transparent spending I knew back then how much I had and how much I had spent, just as I do today.

I don't rely on what the available balance on my account says I make sure I know what's in my account and what I have spent by keeping a record, be it by keeping a receipt or making a note of it in a little file on my smart phone.

iainUK

eskbanker wrote: »

According to the online guide at LINK, Halifax use a definition of pending debit card transactions as those "that have been authorised for payment but which haven't yet been taken from your account".

I can certainly accept that the casual reader of this might interpret it as any outstanding card transactions but think they're actually being fairly careful with the wording to include the reference to 'authorised for payment', which they would presumably argue implicitly suggests online authorisation, i.e. the pending page won't show any outstanding transactions where there was no online authorisation (contactless or otherwise).

Absolutely - I think most people think that when the contactless reader beeps and flashes green then it has just been "authorised for payment" (otherwise I'm not really sure how else to describe that action) - especially since contactless payments are guaranteed even if not enough funds, it is "authorised for payment" in every sense I can imagine. This is a good example of how unclear it is even in the small print.