Debit card payment delays

Legacy_user

It might just be me but I feel like there's a terrible delay between my debit card payments and my available balance. I know it takes a few days to catch up but my partner seems to be able to manage and predict his balance a lot better than I can. Normally after I've made a payment it deducts from my current balance and then my available balance catches up a few days later but recently neither balance seem to be accurate and I find my bank balance is completely out of sync. Are there any banks that are better at updating than others? I've started to pay with cash wherever I can now.

20aday

Who'd you bank with currently?

I'm with Lloyds myself. I find payments tend to be debited the next working day (i.e. transaction takes place Monday and shows on my statement Tuesday).

The only time pending transactions tend not to show are for contactless payments <£15 (unless you use Apple Pay and then it appears).

System

I bank with Santander. I can use my card on the Tuesday and it won't deduct from my balance until the Friday sometimes. I'm sure it never used to be this slow? It's stitched me up a few times now so I'm reluctant to use my card anymore as it's so hard to tell what's pending. I don't have a contactless card but I do use Apple Pay sometimes. The same delay seems to apply to that too for me!

datlex

The issue with payments can be also related to where you shop. For example I find Tesco show next day, Poundland can take a couple of days to show.

Regarding payments why not keep a record on a spreadsheet or app on your phone?

societys_child

As above it's down to when the merchants puts the transaction through. Longest I've had (think it was Aldi) was ~2 months . . .

jonesMUFCforever

OP have you considered using a credit card for your day to day spending (and getting rewarded for it) and then pay it off when you get the statement.
As long as you do not overspend this might be less hassle for you.

louby40

I bank with First Direct and have the exact same problem

Jlawson118

Sometimes I notice it depends on where I have purchased something. Like I visited Halfords last Wednesday and bought a scratch pen, the payment has come out of my account now. But I needed some extras and went on Saturday and bought more things from there, two separate transactions and they aren't showing on my pending or main statement yet. Whereas things from Asda that day are on my pending already. So it just depends on the company you've used and the banks that they use, it's all about how they clear and transfer funds.

It's like airlines, if you buy duty free whilst flying, with your card, then the payment doesn't go through until they have connected their card machine up somewhere. So yeah, it all depends on their systems