Balance has disappeared from my card

xxxpinkladyxxx

About 6 weeks ago, we had our windows done. We put the balance of £3.5K onto an interest free credit card. However, when I went into the window shop to pay for the windows, I put my pin number in and it said payment accepted but then the battery went flat on the credit card machine so they wasn't sure if the payment went through. They asked me if I could ring my credit card company and check that the payment did go through. I called them and they confirmed that the exact amount I had paid was showing up on my card. But this is where I am now confused. I haven't received a credit card statement so I checked my account online and my balance showed as £0.00.

This is a joint card, I got my card first about 6.5 weeks ago and then my husband got his card on Friday. I called to activate this and then spoke to one of their customer service reps. I asked him what my balance was and he said it was zero. I told him that I had purchased something using this card about 6 weeks ago but he said there is nothing showing up.

The window company haven't contacted me to say they haven't received my payment and I'm assuming that they did get it because I'm sure they would have called me if they hadn't.

Does anyone have any ideas how this could have happened?

kazwookie

No idea.

But if you want the windows, I would suggest you contact the window company.

PROLIANT

Keep silent and keep your fingers crossed, you never know you might land a freebie :beer:

Bokkens

Nope.
I would visit the company speak with the manager and find out if you owe them or not.At this point it often works to pretend to be a bit simple and confused and get them to do all the talking just ask them what you owe.
They will soon tell you if you haven't paid them.
Liase with your credit card if no payment has been made you haven't lost out,at the end of the day you don't want them chasing you for the money for years so it is best to sort it out asap.

Bokkens

PROLIANT wrote: »

Keep silent and keep your fingers crossed, you never know you might land a freebie :beer:

You won't land a freebie your just end up with a totally worthless credit score,legal action and people knocking on your door every day.
Be honest, get rid of it by paying.

PROLIANT

It was meant as a bit fun, dont take it too serious. :rotfl:

benf90

To answer the original question of how it could have happened. This is one possibility...

When a retailer first requests a credit card payment the card issuer will supply an authorisation code if its successful. Authorised transactions will show up straight away so this will be what the card issuer will have confirmed to you originally, the amount and authorisation code etc will show up on their systems (they wont usually see the retailers name though).

Then, the money doesn't actually debit from your card unless the retailer calls for that payment. This is sometimes done on a daily basis each night or can be twice a week, whenever the retailers payment processing company does it. They basically quote the card details, amount + auth code and its at this point that the retailers merchant account is credited and the card debited.

What sounds like that may have happened is:

The card issuer authorised the payment but the retailers payment system didn't receive the auth code. When they later processed all their payments yours wasn't included so it didn't debit your card.

It can still go through, but only if the retailer still has all of the necessary details and they actually call for the payment.

Authorised transactions will generally only show up on the card issuers system between 3 days and a week, during this time the funds are reserved for that transaction (the 'available' credit is reduced accordingly). After this they just drop off the system and the funds become available to spend.

This is what usually happens if you hire a car or visit a hotel. They will get authorisation to take a payment but if everything goes ok then they just don't request the payment from the card.

As it's no longer showing on your card issuers systems then the funds will have become available again. The retailer will have to process the transaction again probably.

Bokkens

PROLIANT wrote: »

It was meant as a bit fun, dont take it too serious. :rotfl:

If it was supposed to be a joke then it should be funny or you lable it as a joke,there are thousands of people out there in serious debt trouble reading what you write and may well act on what you write.

PROLIANT

Bokkens wrote: »

If it was supposed to be a joke then it should be funny or you lable it as a joke,there are thousands of people out there in serious debt trouble reading what you write and may well act on what you write.

Go away and find a sense of humour, if people can’t take responsibility for there lives and how much debt they take on that is not my fault, moral of the story, don’t bite off more than you can chew.....

CannyJock

PROLIANT wrote: »

Go away and find a sense of humour, if people can’t take responsibility for there lives and how much debt they take on that is not my fault, moral of the story, don’t bite off more than you can chew.....

You been to the Dennis Leary school of life coaching?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAVoQfoU0dQ

ShelfStacker_3

I had this happen to me in Starbucks; I tried to top up my Starbucks Card via my credit card and the PIN pad failed halfway through, so the transaction was authorised but wasn't debited. What this basically means is that the money was reserved for the transaction, but the pad never got round to actually setting the transaction up.

In your case, and mine, the solution is/was to go in once the auth has cleared off your card (i.e. your available balance goes up to what it was before) and pay again. Do this or face legal action; my transaction was only £30, but I think £3.5k might be a bit more of a concern for the window company