RBS Debit Card Transactions issue

andyc2768

This is an issue I have been having with RBS for some time and need some advice. I purchased petrol at Tesco using the Pay At Pump facility. I noticed on my account that night, that the transaction amount of £30 had not been debited, but noticed the balance was £1 less. The following day there was still no sign of the money debiting or the transaction showing on my account. The following day 27th October the transaction showed on my account, but it had a date of 26th October, even though the transaction didn’t appear at all during the day of the 26th. I then received a letter from RBS stating I had gone into an unagreed overdraft and was charged £8. I disputed this with RBS but they were adamant that the transaction posted on 26th. I checked my account just before midnight on 26th and there was nothing showing.

Has anyone else had this issue and is there anything I can do about this?

Many thanks.

BoGoF

My advice would be don't use your debit card unless you have sufficient funds to cover the purchase. I see the 26th was a Sunday - there is always an element of 'catch up' with debit card payments at the weekend. Bottom line is you carried out the transaction on the 26th and your statement eventually reflected this.

PeacefulWaters

The trick is to know what you've spent that hasn't come through yet.

RG2015

BoGoF wrote: »

My advice would be don't use your debit card unless you have sufficient funds to cover the purchase. I see the 26th was a Sunday - there is always an element of 'catch up' with debit card payments at the weekend. Bottom line is you carried out the transaction on the 26th and your statement eventually reflected this.

The 26th October was a Thursday not a Sunday so there is no weekend catch up here.

RBS and NatWest update their balances at about 2.00 AM so the transaction dated Thursday 26th October would not be visible until about 2.00 AM on Friday 27th October.

Please note also that they do not do the 2.00 AM update on Sunday or Monday mornings with the weekend catch up being done on Tuesday morning at about 2.00 AM.

If you had less than £30 in your bank account at the moment you put petrol in your car then you would go overdrawn. Unfortunately, I don't think that you can argue with this.

System

Get a credit card or use the cashier - it's easier.

Ben8282

The initial £1 that you have mentioned. Presumably this was the amount of the authorisation taken by the pump. I doubt if it was debited from your balance though. This would have been just an authorisation and taken from the 'available' funds not the actual account balance.
Although the transaction would have been dated the day it was actually made, I am nevertheless surprised that you would have been charged an overdraft fee for the period before it was actually debited to the account. Did you rapidly pay money in the next day or something to cover this purchase before it actually appeared on the account? Did your account statement balance ever actually show an overdrawn balance?

Shakin_Steve

I use the petrol pumps at Asda occasionally. The amount showing as pending is, indeed, £1. When the full amount is debited, it does show the date of the transaction as the day the fuel was bought.

mt99

Join starling bank there debit card transactions turn up absolutely immediately

System

mt99 wrote: »

Join starling bank there debit card transactions turn up absolutely immediately

They'll either auto decline Pay at Pump transactions or use exactly the same setup as other banks - the issue isn't at the bank side of things.

meer53

The minute you fill up your car, the money is spent, whether it's debited your account or not. Remember this and you'll never be overdrawn. Forget about authorisations and updating times, pretend you've paid cash, no problems then.

Ben8282

I still don't believe that he should have been charged an overdraft fee in respect of a pending transaction as the money hadn't actually left the account. Having said that though, it remains unclear as to whether the account was put pack into credit or not before the debit card transaction was actually debited and whether or not the account balance actually went overdrawn.
Another point worth making is that if this transaction put the OP into unauthorised overdraft, he should consider himself lucky that the bank authorised it and did not decline it and leave him with an empty petrol tank miles from home.