NatWest Online Banking WARNING

Eco_Miser

skev69 said:

They’ve agreed that it can be misleading when the pending amounts disappear so suggested that the complaint procedure may help to look into this issue. And just to add, I’m sure I’m not alone in thinking that my available balance is exactly “that”. I never thought that pending could just disappear then return days later 

Would you be happy if the pending amount from a cancelled transaction never disappeared from your account, and could therefore never be spent?

Because that is what would happen if the banks never dropped them, and the merchant never got round to informing the bank the transaction had been cancelled.

kaMelo

skev69 said:

colsten said:

skev69 said:

An update on my issue with NatWest available funds and pending. 

NatWest have informed me that some of the pending s drop off if not claimed by merchant within a set amount of days but then reappear again when merchant reapplies them. So I’ve raised a complaint as myself and others are getting caught out by this. They informed me that Tesco pay at pump and Aldi are famous for this and any online gaming sites. So reverting back to pen and paper from now on to keep track as online banking not accurate due to this issue 

Not sure why you think a complaint to Natwest will change the way retailers report their pruchases.

The issue you have is that you are using a bank account as a budgeting tool. They have never been designed to be that, so it isn't surprising that they don't work as that. An awful lot of people do think, however, that they could/should use their bank accounts as budgeting tools.

You really do miss the point judging by your patronising response. They’ve agreed that it can be misleading when the pending amounts disappear so suggested that the complaint procedure may help to look into this issue. And just to add, I’m sure I’m not alone in thinking that my available balance is exactly “that”. I never thought that pending could just disappear then return days later 

How long do you think pending transactions should stay pending for?
What if the transaction never went through, it would stay pending forever. You're complaining to the bank about something it has no control over, the retailers.

skev69

kaMelo said:

skev69 said:

colsten said:

skev69 said:

An update on my issue with NatWest available funds and pending. 

NatWest have informed me that some of the pending s drop off if not claimed by merchant within a set amount of days but then reappear again when merchant reapplies them. So I’ve raised a complaint as myself and others are getting caught out by this. They informed me that Tesco pay at pump and Aldi are famous for this and any online gaming sites. So reverting back to pen and paper from now on to keep track as online banking not accurate due to this issue 

Not sure why you think a complaint to Natwest will change the way retailers report their pruchases.

The issue you have is that you are using a bank account as a budgeting tool. They have never been designed to be that, so it isn't surprising that they don't work as that. An awful lot of people do think, however, that they could/should use their bank accounts as budgeting tools.

You really do miss the point judging by your patronising response. They’ve agreed that it can be misleading when the pending amounts disappear so suggested that the complaint procedure may help to look into this issue. And just to add, I’m sure I’m not alone in thinking that my available balance is exactly “that”. I never thought that pending could just disappear then return days later 

How long do you think pending transactions should stay pending for?
What if the transaction never went through, it would stay pending forever. You're complaining to the bank about something it has no control over, the retailers.

If it disappears it should stay disappeared. It shouldn’t be able to just reappear in my opinion. 

The complaint is to just purely to investigate why they can reappear days later. It was what they advised as it’s an issue they are aware of 

skev69

kaMelo said:

skev69 said:

colsten said:

skev69 said:

An update on my issue with NatWest available funds and pending. 

NatWest have informed me that some of the pending s drop off if not claimed by merchant within a set amount of days but then reappear again when merchant reapplies them. So I’ve raised a complaint as myself and others are getting caught out by this. They informed me that Tesco pay at pump and Aldi are famous for this and any online gaming sites. So reverting back to pen and paper from now on to keep track as online banking not accurate due to this issue 

Not sure why you think a complaint to Natwest will change the way retailers report their pruchases.

The issue you have is that you are using a bank account as a budgeting tool. They have never been designed to be that, so it isn't surprising that they don't work as that. An awful lot of people do think, however, that they could/should use their bank accounts as budgeting tools.

You really do miss the point judging by your patronising response. They’ve agreed that it can be misleading when the pending amounts disappear so suggested that the complaint procedure may help to look into this issue. And just to add, I’m sure I’m not alone in thinking that my available balance is exactly “that”. I never thought that pending could just disappear then return days later 

How long do you think pending transactions should stay pending for?
What if the transaction never went through, it would stay pending forever. You're complaining to the bank about something it has no control over, the retailers.

I do understand the point you are making but the bank are finding this a problem too so raising the complaint is to purely to help them investigate the issue. It was something that I and others are not aware of. If you are say £20 up in your account do you really challenge that ? I didn’t as thought I’d just made a mistake. But then the £20 became a pending again. That was the only point I was trying to make. I now in future will use pen and paper so as not to rely on my online account as not as accurate as I thought 

colsten

If this experience made you realise that you shouldn’t use a bank account as a spending tracker / budgeting tool, it was a great life lesson at no cost.

kaMelo

skev69 said:

kaMelo said:

skev69 said:

colsten said:

skev69 said:

An update on my issue with NatWest available funds and pending. 

NatWest have informed me that some of the pending s drop off if not claimed by merchant within a set amount of days but then reappear again when merchant reapplies them. So I’ve raised a complaint as myself and others are getting caught out by this. They informed me that Tesco pay at pump and Aldi are famous for this and any online gaming sites. So reverting back to pen and paper from now on to keep track as online banking not accurate due to this issue 

Not sure why you think a complaint to Natwest will change the way retailers report their pruchases.

The issue you have is that you are using a bank account as a budgeting tool. They have never been designed to be that, so it isn't surprising that they don't work as that. An awful lot of people do think, however, that they could/should use their bank accounts as budgeting tools.

You really do miss the point judging by your patronising response. They’ve agreed that it can be misleading when the pending amounts disappear so suggested that the complaint procedure may help to look into this issue. And just to add, I’m sure I’m not alone in thinking that my available balance is exactly “that”. I never thought that pending could just disappear then return days later 

How long do you think pending transactions should stay pending for?
What if the transaction never went through, it would stay pending forever. You're complaining to the bank about something it has no control over, the retailers.

I do understand the point you are making but the bank are finding this a problem too so raising the complaint is to purely to help them investigate the issue. It was something that I and others are not aware of. If you are say £20 up in your account do you really challenge that ? I didn’t as thought I’d just made a mistake. But then the £20 became a pending again. That was the only point I was trying to make. I now in future will use pen and paper so as not to rely on my online account as not as accurate as I thought 

I'm not sure what you want to happen though. To take your example of a £20 payment pending leaving you with a balance of say £50 available.  If the retailer didn't process the payment for two weeks what do you want to happen to the pending payment?
Left at pending or returned to your account? I understand what you are saying that if it's returned to your account it looks like you have £70 available and maybe budget on that. But the other option is to leave a pending payment in pending and the question then is for how long. Indefinitely is not an option so it's a matter of how long. 
Currently it's a week or so, should it be two? What about pending payments that will never be taken, these are your funds that are yours to spend but not available as they are tied up in pending for longer.
There is no easy answer here other than, as you suggest keeping better track of what you've spent. Another, better option all around is to get ahead of yourself and not to run your bank account so close to the wire. That way you don't need to worry about £20 here or there.

skev69

kaMelo said:

skev69 said:

kaMelo said:

skev69 said:

colsten said:

skev69 said:

An update on my issue with NatWest available funds and pending. 

NatWest have informed me that some of the pending s drop off if not claimed by merchant within a set amount of days but then reappear again when merchant reapplies them. So I’ve raised a complaint as myself and others are getting caught out by this. They informed me that Tesco pay at pump and Aldi are famous for this and any online gaming sites. So reverting back to pen and paper from now on to keep track as online banking not accurate due to this issue 

Not sure why you think a complaint to Natwest will change the way retailers report their pruchases.

The issue you have is that you are using a bank account as a budgeting tool. They have never been designed to be that, so it isn't surprising that they don't work as that. An awful lot of people do think, however, that they could/should use their bank accounts as budgeting tools.

You really do miss the point judging by your patronising response. They’ve agreed that it can be misleading when the pending amounts disappear so suggested that the complaint procedure may help to look into this issue. And just to add, I’m sure I’m not alone in thinking that my available balance is exactly “that”. I never thought that pending could just disappear then return days later 

How long do you think pending transactions should stay pending for?
What if the transaction never went through, it would stay pending forever. You're complaining to the bank about something it has no control over, the retailers.

I do understand the point you are making but the bank are finding this a problem too so raising the complaint is to purely to help them investigate the issue. It was something that I and others are not aware of. If you are say £20 up in your account do you really challenge that ? I didn’t as thought I’d just made a mistake. But then the £20 became a pending again. That was the only point I was trying to make. I now in future will use pen and paper so as not to rely on my online account as not as accurate as I thought 

I'm not sure what you want to happen though. To take your example of a £20 payment pending leaving you with a balance of say £50 available.  If the retailer didn't process the payment for two weeks what do you want to happen to the pending payment?
Left at pending or returned to your account? I understand what you are saying that if it's returned to your account it looks like you have £70 available and maybe budget on that. But the other option is to leave a pending payment in pending and the question then is for how long. Indefinitely is not an option so it's a matter of how long. 
Currently it's a week or so, should it be two? What about pending payments that will never be taken, these are your funds that are yours to spend but not available as they are tied up in pending for longer.
There is no easy answer here other than, as you suggest keeping better track of what you've spent. Another, better option all around is to get ahead of yourself and not to run your bank account so close to the wire. That way you don't need to worry about £20 here or there.

Thank you for understanding my discussion. I know what you are saying by how long is too long to leave a pending amount pending. I just think that if it disappeared that it was accounted for so didn’t think to look further. If I had then I would of noticed it wasn’t accounted for. As for been “close to the wire” unfortunately I don’t earn a fortune 

skev69

colsten said:

If this experience made you realise that you shouldn’t use a bank account as a spending tracker / budgeting tool, it was a great life lesson at no cost.

colsten said:

If this experience made you realise that you shouldn’t use a bank account as a spending tracker / budgeting tool, it was a great life lesson at no cost.

colsten said:

If this experience made you realise that you shouldn’t use a bank account as a spending tracker / budgeting tool, it was a great life lesson at no cost.

Well excuse me for thinking if I asked my bank for a balance then that would be my balance ? And don’t forget the bank has told me this is causing a lot of problems. 

colsten

skev69 said:

Well excuse me for thinking if I asked my bank for a balance then that would be my balance ? And don’t forget the bank has told me this is causing a lot of problems. 

Your account will show exactly the amounts retailers have told banks you spent with them. If retailers have not told the bank that you spent anything with them, the bank cannot know that you have. 

Your issue is with the retailers, not with the bank.

eskbanker

skev69 said:

Well excuse me for thinking if I asked my bank for a balance then that would be my balance ?

Perhaps you're confusing the two separate concepts of 'balance' and 'available balance'?

If you ask your bank for your balance then they'll tell you your balance and it'll be 100% accurate, in that it'll reflect all completed transactions actually processed at that point in time.

Your 'issue' arises from a mistaken belief that a notional available balance, derived from both completed transactions and authorisations (that may or may not turn into actual settled transactions), will be able to predict whether such authorisations will actually be converted into settled transactions or if they'll just time out....