Using a credit or debit card at Tesco

David160

I went shopping at Tesco yesterday, using my credit or debit card. The amount spent has not yet reduced the available balance of my card. When I shop at other places the amount spent reduces the available balance almost immediately.

I think that it is important that the available balance is reduced straight away, as this helps people avoid thinking they have more money to spend than they actually have. It could also make people go over their overdraft or credit limit without realising it.

Does anyone know why this happens? What do you think?

takman

David160 wrote: »

I went shopping at Tesco yesterday, using my credit or debit card. The amount spent has not yet reduced the available balance of my card. When I shop at other places the amount spent reduces the available balance almost immediately.

I think that it is important that the available balance is reduced straight away, as this helps people avoid thinking they have more money to spend than they actually have. It could also make people go over their overdraft or credit limit without realising it.

Does anyone know why this happens? What do you think?

This happens because they send all their payments for processing in a batch and don't immediately take the payment. That's why it's important for people to keep track of what they buy because you can't rely on the available balance.

But if this is important to you then i would recommend a Monzo card. Everywhere i have used it (even abroad) it always immediately reduces the balance and notifies you on your mobile of the payment.

p00hsticks

David160 wrote: »

Does anyone know why this happens? What do you think?

As takman says, if the shop doesn't contact your bank for authorisation at the time of the transaction - and not all do - then your bank won't know about it until the request for money comes in, which tends to happen overnight. And if there are any problems transmitting the batch of data or the transaction is rejected for any reason then it could take more than a day.

It's always a good idea to keep a separate running total of what you are spending so that you can cater for direct debits going out, any cheques you write etc, especially if your balance drops close to zero at times. I'm sure there are phone apps available that would available to do so.

eskbanker

David160 wrote: »

I went shopping at Tesco yesterday, using my credit or debit card.

Further to the above posts, it's also a good idea to know the difference between using your credit card and debit card, where obviously one builds up a balance that needs to be paid off up to 56 days later (in order to avoid interest) and the other involves prompt (-ish!) debiting directly from your current account....

molerat

I have found that in Tesco it depends on the particular card whether it shows as a pending transaction. There seems to be no logic to the amount / debit / credit / chip& pin / contactless combination and the transaction getting an authorisation.

agrinnall

It's not the responsibility of the bank or individual retailers to tell you precisely how much money you have available to spend, as stated there are many factors that are outside their control. The only person with all the knowledge is you.