Earmarked funds not processed

bubblechickuk

Morning all

I have an amount of £90.67 earmarked on my bank account (debit card). This is my car insurance payment which I paid over the telephone 6 days ago. The payment of £90.67 was debited from my bank account 3 days ago but a duplicate payment is still earmarked on my account, therefore affecting my "available balance".

I am on a tight budget and that £90 was to pay for other bills this week. Because the payments seems to have been duplicated (but the second payment hasn't actually come out), it's resulted in one of my direct debits being returned. I will now get charged £30 by my bank for that even though it's not really my fault.

What can I do about the bank charge? And how can I get the £90.67 released, as the car insurance company have already received it.

I am not the best customer of my bank so I know they won't refund the charge for the returned direct debit, but this time I was not to blame. Is there anything I can do?
The main thing is getting my earmarked funds taken off so it's available funds to me.

I hope this all makes sense! Help!

bubblechickuk

Thought I would add that the returned direct debit is not a related to my car insurance payment, it's just been returned because of the lack of funds (due to car insurance people!!)

grumbler

bubblechickuk wrote: »

What can I do about the bank charge?

Call the bank, explain the situations and ask politely to get it refunded. However, they have no obligations to do this.

And how can I get the £90.67 released, as the car insurance company have already received it.

Nothing - that's the reality.
I believe banks have powers to remove authorised pending transactions, but typically CS deny this.



In the long run, either build some buffer to stop balancing on the edge of the overdraft or stop using DDs wherever possible an make manual payments instead.

Joe_Bloggs

@bubblechickuk
A tight budget with the uncertain costs of driving/running a car are likely to lead to cash flow issues. You must build up cash reserves to pay for the certain and uncertain costs of motoring.

If you have cash reserves you can afford to use credit cards, that are paid off every month, to pay for things.

If you fall into the insidious trap of bank charges then you could be locked into an unenviable cycle of debt and subsequent charges.

Perhaps you are banks most profitable/best customer from their point of view.
J_B.

System

Try to use a credit card or pay using bank transfer, if funds are tight.
Both mean that you don't need to worry about pending transactions.

You can call the insurance company and ask they release the authorisation?