Debit Card Dilemna

[MurphmanL]

Hey all, just wondering has anybody ever used a debit card to pay for an item in Game high street stores before?
Am wondering because I did so for the first time ever on Saturday and this is teh first transaction that has had a weird knock on effect on my bank.

Basically it went like this:
I went into game and bought a 360 hard disk for 70 quid, then went to an ATM and withdrew a tenner. The ATM showed my balance had indeed been deducted.

Came home and then checked my balance, which had been deducted correctly (in the available balance field, not Credit field). So next day i spotted a cracking deal on an xbox live subscription on play.com so I figured i may as well as my subscription is close to expiration , and got an email yesterday confirming disaptch.

Thing is, I then proceeded to check my bank statement and the figures were a little off, and now I've looked this morning, both the ATM i withdrew from, Play.com and a transaction ive taken from gamestation earlier this week have all taken their dough as expected, within 3 - 4 days i commonly find it.

The only worry ive got is my balance has shot back up, as if Game have NOT taken the money for the hdd...
Now, by my calculation the other day the balance was inclusive assuming the hdd was about to be taken, but now it seems the transaction may not have gone through after all!

Im well confused, so now ive got around a hundred quid sitting there with my name potentially on it, but am unsure if to spend it in case game suddenly appear and snatch away what the hdd cost, but surely this would have happened by now and not went to happen and somehow get dropped / reversed / not debited?

Any advice / light shed would be really appreciated. Dont know if this is a glitch in the system or what but if the money is going to stay there, I could really use the cash so honesty may not be the best policy...

[MD]

they have loads of time to take the money from you - don't spend it....

I hope it balances up though.

Matt.

[XA04]

When I use my card it takes at the most 1-3 days, but it usually shows up as the money being gone the next morning.

[leeglf]

a mate of mine once had £1000 pounds appear in his account for no apparent reason (barclays) he did not tell the bank and it stayed there for 3 weeks before he decided to spend it,
and a couple of days later the bank phoned wanting the money back! he was well peeved!

[rox0r]

NatWest uswed to do that when I had a solo card account with them. Spend the money on it and sometimes it wouldn't come out for a month, even though it had been deducted on the day and magically re-appeared.

Bloody annoying it is, you just have to adjust your budget figures to account for it though as they'll claim it's normal.

[XA04]

Well I guess that's why you should keep track of what money you do actually have and not spend what isn't yours.

[listy]

easier to pay in cash then you now whats coming and going from your bank

[Lee @ SCAN]

Originally Posted by listy

easier to pay in cash then you now whats coming and going from your bank

True, but when your in the pub and football's on and you've gone through 10 quid already I find it easier to open a "tab" behind the bar and use my debitcard rather than pay 2.50 to withdraw from the cash machine in the pub

Saying that, the only real time I use my card is to purchase stuff from work, pay for nightclub tickets ( when there is a good night on - always need tickets in advance ), festivals and the occasional online shopping from Tesco.

99% of the time I use cash myself.

[Spud1]

I presume that you are checking your balance with internet banking?

Internet banking is now the most up to date thing in the world, and with some banks it can be alot worse than others. Best bet is to go and get a mini-statement or even a full statement from your bank directly - this will give you the real figures

[listy]

cash machine in the pub <<<< when did that happen? the city(town) i live in is still in the dark ages we have to walk to bank to get cash mind you some of the pubs i could start a tab in but i dont drink often so no need

[Big Leon]

Cash machines in pubs, shops etc have been around for a while. They usually charge you approx £1.50 though for taking money out.

[listy]

maybe in the big bad world they do but this is scotland and were a town that claims to be city just because it has a cathedral

[MurphmanL]

The money still remains in my account, no sign of it being taken despite it now being almost two weeks since the transaction.
Like i say it was initially debited as per norm but since it has somehow found its way back into my account and has not shown on my statement.

Is there not like a law that says if company does not claim money for transaction within X amount of time, it shall be forfeitted to the account holder?

I cant keep track of my finances if my money wont straighten itself out!

[herulach]

Best bet i to ask your bank about it.

[rainbow]

spend it or withddraw it anyway then keep it as cash then if they dont send you a letter or ring you of anything then its yours

[rox0r]

It will come out, probably bang on 28days from transaction.