Small transactions from my bank account I didn't make

jockess1

Hi

Last week I noticed £1 had gone from my account. It is still missing from my account but is not showing as a transaction. Two days ago another £2.24 has dropped from my account also not showing in my transactions list. I phoned my bank today 3 times before I got anywhere. It seems Tesco took £2 someone called verification took £1 and someone called live nas no4 took 22p. So 2p is also missing as I still 2p down. I did order my shopping with Tesco's two days ago but I am pretty sure it wasn't them who took the £2 as shopping not due till tomorrow and that is when they take the money and it is more than £2. The other two things I don't know who they are does anyone else know them? I phoned visa dispute and they said they will send me a letter to sign and send back to them and give me the money back. I am stuck with what to do. I get paid tomorrow and pay my bills online. I have a couple of transactions to come out. Tesco's will take there payment tomorrow and a hotel room for my husband next week. I have a linked account so when I get paid I could transfer the money at midnight and pay my bills then cancel my card? Has anyone got advise on the best way to deal with this please? I have nothing but trouble with my bank over the last 4 months. Can anyone recommend a good bank account to have NOT the Abbey.

taless

Your reduced available funds (funds which are earmarked and reserved) are either due to

1) some sort of bookings you have made - some hotels/car rental companies say you only have to make the payment when you arrive at the hotel or get the car. But when you leave them your card details to secure the booking, they will often 'authorize' a certain amount, say £1, to confirm if your card is genuine. This £1 will not be taken from your account and will be freed after a few days.

2) Or it could be fraud - someone is testing your card first, before performing a large transaction (there are a few posts down in this forum).

If you feel that it could be 2), due to some transactions that you are never aware of - I suggest you phone Abbey and ask them to monitor your card, for possible misuse.

jockess1

Thank you. Can the Abbey monitor my card without me cancelling it? I am going to move all my money at midnight because if I cancel my card now I won't be able to use my online banking. Moniter the card sounds good but they didn't offer me this when I called them.

taless

I don't bank with Abbey, so I have no personal experience of that. But I think just give them a call, tell them about your requirements (that you can't do without the online banking) - I'm sure they can suggest alternative ways. Afterall it's them who's going to benefit from tackling fraud.

On a side note, this is the first time I've heard a bank that requires a debit card to be able to use their online banking facility though!

jockess1

Thanks for your help. Anytime I have had to cancel my card it closes my online banking until I get my new card. I will phone them first and see what they can offer me. Thank you

Homework

Don't know if this is the same thing but when I get petrol in Tesco each time £1 is showing on my online statement, a few days later it changes to £20 or whatever we actually spent, a further £19 goes and the £1 disappears from the list. We booked a hotel and gave our debit card number to hold it and a small amount showed on our statement and then disappeared and we were told it was just to verify the card and that the hotel hadn't claimed it just checked the card was valid. Same thing has happened the first time we used Vodafone top up and a few other things for the first time a small sum shows up.

However, there are others on here who have small sums go and then bigger ones so please keep your eyes open.

jockess1

What you say makes sense. My husband wanted me to confirm a hotel for him using my card as his switch is not accepted abroad. The hotel did take the money as such for the whole amount but then it went back in my account. When I booked my tesco shopping I had to do the card verify thing so maybe the £2 is really Tesco will see tomorrow. The 22p dosen't make sense though. The £1 one also I was told was verification but it has been over a week and is still missing and not showing as a transaction. To be on the safe side I will move my money at midnight but leave in a small amount to pay tesco's etc. I tried to phone the bank about the monitor thing and the computers are down 4 calls over 6 hours and still down. How am I meant to get help with theft if they can't even get their computers working.

I am not worried about the small amounts but I am worried incase they are waiting for a big one. I hope I am wrong about all these transactions and will keep phoning the bank each day too to annoy them and have them check all transactions also.