Pending Transactions

Matthew33

Hi,

After watching Watchdog last night, I decided to close my Monzo account. However, I am panicking now that I may have some pending transactions remaining. The money was taken from my balance and the last transaction was 24 hrs before I closed my account. Can anyone inform me on how a pending transactions works? Is the money removed from account the moment I make a transaction and held by the bank?

Many thanks

Matthew

System

If Monzo is anything like Starling pending transactions made online or in shops are included in the available balance - so if you closed your account when your remaining balance said £0 you will be fine. In any case, they wouldn't close the account unless pending transactions were covered. The awkward ones are things like pay-at-pump fuel stations where a different amount is earmarked in your account - say £1 when the real purchase was a lot more.

Good move by the way.

Ergates

Matthew33 wrote: »

Can anyone inform me on how a pending transactions works? Is the money removed from account the moment I make a transaction and held by the bank?

No. The money is, basically, ring fenced for the payment, and may be deducted from your available balance. So if you had £100 in your account and a pending transaction of £40, then your available balance would show as £60. But the money doesn't actually leave the account.

That happens later when the transaction is posted (i.e. comes through "officially"). If the posting is delayed (or doesn't come through ever) then the "mark" on the money ring fenced for the transaction will drop off after a few days - how long varies from bank to bank but is usually about a week. The vast majority of pending transactions are posted within 1 or 2 days though.

You probably won't be able to close an account with outstanding pending payments on it - for obvious reasons.

JuicyJesus

Ergates wrote: »

You probably won't be able to close an account with outstanding pending payments on it - for obvious reasons.

If you switch an account out via CASS then the ringfenced money will stay in the account until the transactions clear, the remainder sent over to the new account and the account closed when the transactions have cleared.