Managing a budget- payment methods

datlex

When it comes to managing my personal budget after money has been transferred to cover bills savings etc I find that different payment methods show up more quickly than others.  Obviously with cash it is immediate.  I personally then find the second best method is using my credit card (paid off in full and not used as extra funds) and pin number.  It shows immediately on the balance on the mobile app.  Making these two methods the best for me to track my budget.  I find if I use contactless on my credit card it takes a couple of days to show.  If I use my debit card it also takes a couple of days to show on the balance.  Meaning for me personally cash or credit card is best for keeping on top of my budget.   What are others experience in this regard?  How do find it best to keep a track of your spending so as not to go over your budget unintentionally.

molerat

All of my credit cards show up contactless as pending immediately - Santander, MBNA, Virgin, Halifax & Tesco - even when using GPay.  I manage my budget manually through a spreadsheet - never trust technology to do it for you - so it doesn't really matter which payment method is used to pay - DD, SO, debit card, credit card, cash, BT - as I know where I stand.

colsten

The flaw in your arrangement is that you are trying to use your bank account as a budgeting tool. Not even the more modern apps (Starling etc) should be (ab-)used for that purpose. Reason being that no bank can ever guarantee that they always know immediately what you have spent. Some retailers have shop floor limits, below which they batch up transactions and send them to the banks at a later stage. You can also have technical issues in the reporting of payments from retailers, or in the banks themselves, or you can make purchases in places which aren't connected to any network (train, airplane etc).

The only one who can possibly know what you have spent is yourself - so you should keep a record of what you spent, and reconcile this on a regular basis with what shows in you current account and/or your credit card.

datlex

colsten said:

The flaw in your arrangement is that you are trying to use your bank account as a budgeting tool. Not even the more modern apps (Starling etc) should be (ab-)used for that purpose. Reason being that no bank can ever guarantee that they always know immediately what you have spent. Some retailers have shop floor limits, below which they batch up transactions and send them to the banks at a later stage. You can also have technical issues in the reporting of payments from retailers, or in the banks themselves, or you can make purchases in places which aren't connected to any network (train, airplane etc).

The only one who can possibly know what you have spent is yourself - so you should keep a record of what you spent, and reconcile this on a regular basis with what shows in you current account and/or your credit card.

Sorry to be clear I am not using it as a budgeting tool.  It is simply a case that some methods show up quicker than others.

colsten

datlex said:

colsten said:

The flaw in your arrangement is that you are trying to use your bank account as a budgeting tool. Not even the more modern apps (Starling etc) should be (ab-)used for that purpose. Reason being that no bank can ever guarantee that they always know immediately what you have spent. Some retailers have shop floor limits, below which they batch up transactions and send them to the banks at a later stage. You can also have technical issues in the reporting of payments from retailers, or in the banks themselves, or you can make purchases in places which aren't connected to any network (train, airplane etc).

The only one who can possibly know what you have spent is yourself - so you should keep a record of what you spent, and reconcile this on a regular basis with what shows in you current account and/or your credit card.

Sorry to be clear I am not using it as a budgeting tool.  It is simply a case that some methods show up quicker than others.

Then it shouldn't matter whether your transactions show immediately. I thought when you said "Meaning for me personally cash or credit card is best for keeping on top of my budget" you were talking about budgeting. My bad.

datlex

molerat said:

All of my credit cards show up contactless as pending immediately - Santander, MBNA, Virgin, Halifax & Tesco - even when using GPay.  I manage my budget manually through a spreadsheet - never trust technology to do it for you - so it doesn't really matter which payment method is used to pay - DD, SO, debit card, credit card, cash, BT - as I know where I stand.

Interesting to hear different cards seem to show up differently.  I find Tescopayplus works as well as a pin.  I guess might be the issue of batch reporting that causes delays for me.  Not used GPay.   Good point re technology.  I do use a  spreadsheet for my accounts so that I can see the expected balance following transactions on any given day. on any of them.  If different from expected I can check what has or hasn't come out. This is for me where transactions showing immediately helps as it tends to keep the two reconciling.  i.e. I know nothing else to come out and what I am showing as my balance is what my spreadsheet says it should be for that particular account.

datlex

colsten said:

datlex said:

colsten said:

The flaw in your arrangement is that you are trying to use your bank account as a budgeting tool. Not even the more modern apps (Starling etc) should be (ab-)used for that purpose. Reason being that no bank can ever guarantee that they always know immediately what you have spent. Some retailers have shop floor limits, below which they batch up transactions and send them to the banks at a later stage. You can also have technical issues in the reporting of payments from retailers, or in the banks themselves, or you can make purchases in places which aren't connected to any network (train, airplane etc).

The only one who can possibly know what you have spent is yourself - so you should keep a record of what you spent, and reconcile this on a regular basis with what shows in you current account and/or your credit card.

Sorry to be clear I am not using it as a budgeting tool.  It is simply a case that some methods show up quicker than others.

Then it shouldn't matter whether your transactions show immediately. I thought when you said "Meaning for me personally cash or credit card is best for keeping on top of my budget" you were talking about budgeting. My bad.

To me there are two things budgeting and keeping to it.  

colsten

datlex said:

colsten said:

datlex said:

colsten said:

The flaw in your arrangement is that you are trying to use your bank account as a budgeting tool. Not even the more modern apps (Starling etc) should be (ab-)used for that purpose. Reason being that no bank can ever guarantee that they always know immediately what you have spent. Some retailers have shop floor limits, below which they batch up transactions and send them to the banks at a later stage. You can also have technical issues in the reporting of payments from retailers, or in the banks themselves, or you can make purchases in places which aren't connected to any network (train, airplane etc).

The only one who can possibly know what you have spent is yourself - so you should keep a record of what you spent, and reconcile this on a regular basis with what shows in you current account and/or your credit card.

Sorry to be clear I am not using it as a budgeting tool.  It is simply a case that some methods show up quicker than others.

Then it shouldn't matter whether your transactions show immediately. I thought when you said "Meaning for me personally cash or credit card is best for keeping on top of my budget" you were talking about budgeting. My bad.

To me there are two things budgeting and keeping to it.  

OK, then the flaw in your arrangement is that you are trying to use a bank account for the "keeping to it", for the very reasons I have outlined above.

NikNak90

I second using a spreadsheet to keep track of spending and accounting for payments that don't show up straight away. I create a tab for each month and just put total income at top which I'm due for the month and underneath I put the total of my fixed outgoings for the month. That then leaves me a figure of what is available to spend. I log every bit of expenditure on the spreadsheet and put in a simple formula to deduct it from what I've got available. This then gives me an 'up to date' balance of what I've actually got left to spend. It sounds a chore but I spend 5 mins a night updating my expenditure for the day (if I have any). I've been doing this for a year now and it's definitely enabled me to manage my money better.

born_again

datlex said:

colsten said:

The flaw in your arrangement is that you are trying to use your bank account as a budgeting tool. Not even the more modern apps (Starling etc) should be (ab-)used for that purpose. Reason being that no bank can ever guarantee that they always know immediately what you have spent. Some retailers have shop floor limits, below which they batch up transactions and send them to the banks at a later stage. You can also have technical issues in the reporting of payments from retailers, or in the banks themselves, or you can make purchases in places which aren't connected to any network (train, airplane etc).

The only one who can possibly know what you have spent is yourself - so you should keep a record of what you spent, and reconcile this on a regular basis with what shows in you current account and/or your credit card.

Sorry to be clear I am not using it as a budgeting tool.  It is simply a case that some methods show up quicker than others.

colsten is right.
A credit card will/may require every transaction to be authorised. Thus it shows straight away, This can not be over ridden by retailer floor limits. Which a bank account can.
Contactless transaction now have to go for authorisation no matter what, that was updated due to the amount of fraud. It could just be that you bank account does not update in real time.

datlex

Changing banks forced on me by M&S closing their accounts has resolved the issue.  Account I have now notifies when payments are made. Thus far nothing unexpected, It does show as pending but that is fine.  M&S didn't show at all.