Maestro card charges

Peaches40

Hi all. Was made BR in April, as a consequence had to change all our banks etc. you know the drill! Set up an account with Yorkshire bank including the maestro debit card, however i've recently noticed that £1 charges have been coming out of my account on a regular basis. I queried this and the response was that some retailers make a charge to check out my details! This is not something i've experienced beforehand when i had visa debit. Which retailers make the charges? I was quite shocked by this as it can add up to quite an amount over a few weeks! And also does anyone know if there is a debit card which doesn't make charges? for someone in my (almost discharged) BR state!
Hope you can help guys!?

wok_boy

Which account do you have with YB?

Peaches40

It's a current, no frills, cheque book account, had it since about March!

wherediditallgo

I've never heard of it with a debit card, but I know it can happen with a prepaid credit card because I've seen it a couple of times on my cashplus card. It tends to happen with retailers I'm using for the first time. Once I see it, it also becomes the last time, as I'm already paying for the goods without giving them a tip on top. You could try opening a Co-op Cashminder account (remember to tell them you're BR at the time of application, & that you just want a basic account) as that comes with a Visa Electron card - I've never seen additional charges on that.

I think it's a real cheek. I can understand where they need to pre-authorise a certain amount (Dell do that), but to charge you for the privilege of shopping with them comes across to me as trying to sneak money by the back door. Part of the reason people use a debit card is to not have to pay the interest charges that would be levied with a credit card. If you use your debit card a lot, it can add up to quite a bit.

It would be very hard for anyone to tell you which retailers make the charge. I think the only way around it is to ask them if they charge before you pay. If that's not possible (eg if you're ordering online) & you find the charge afterwards on your statement, then I suggest you either contact the company involved to complain or make a note of it so that you don't use them again.

Peaches40

I thought the charges were coming from the bank at first, thought they were charging me for using the maestro card! The odd pound here and there goes unnoticed sometimes.. but it all adds up in the end. Is the visa electron card as good as the maestro?? is it accepted everywhere? as i often purchase online for example. Thanks all for your invaluable advice as always!!

wherediditallgo

The only time I've ever had a problem with using my Electron card is when paying my Council Tax online, & that's because the website hasn't been set up properly (it says they take it, but it only goes through for rent, not council tax). All I do in that instance is use the Electron to pay it over the phone.

I've been able to use it in all my usual shops, for online purchases, ATMs, & I can put money in my Co-op account using it at the post office free of charge. I've also got my cashplus card for the rare occasions that Electron isn't specified on a website - if I know there isn't enough credit on the cashplus card, I just transfer some money (free of charge) from the Co-op account using the Electron card to the cashplus one. It's there in about 30 minutes, & my order can go ahead.

wok_boy

Visa Electron doesn't work in Shell pay at pump for some strange reason, yet it works in the shop?

allofadither

This also happened to me Peaches, and the explanation I was given was that it was because it was a new card (to them) and they were just checking it was OK like WDIAG says. They assured me the £1 would be credited back to my account, and it was.

I agree these extra charges are very 'suspicious', and maybe you only get them back if you query it.

gratton20

We, my wife and I, had the same thing with her new Solo / maestro card from Nat West. A charge of £1 appeared on her online statement and turned out it was a test charge from an online grocery store checking the card before it allowed our order through. The charge disappeared all by itself by the next morning and apparently this is quite usual according to the bank.

NekoZombie

Yes, I have a cashplus card (credit card type thingy); I noticed that the £1 transaction was always held in the pending transaction, and was never actually claimed by the retailer. In effect, it was never actually taken from my account even though I could see the transaction online.

It does sound like you've been actually charged in your case, though...

Homework

We had that with Clydesdale Bank in Scotland. It showed as a £1 charge but a few days later it would show the whole amount. EG Bought £10 petrol and online banking showed Maestro £1 on account a couple of days later it would change to £10 when request came through. It also did it when we set up top up for Vodafone, Tesco and a couple of online things. In a couple of them the £1 was returned to the account and the rest it just increased to the real amount.

Tesco petrol it happens every time still and we just make sure there is enough in the account when the real amount comes through.