OK - Here’s my situation. I made a purchase on 6-21-03 on my debit card. Now, this debit card can also be used as a charge card. On that same evening I took out money on this debit card and that initially posted on 6-21-03 and then officially cleared on 6-23-03. Here’s the crazy part. The purchase has YET to appear as either pending or authorized. I’ve checked daily and it is just not there.
I know we have many wise Dopers…how long does a bank have to officially charge me? I know checks expire after a certain amount of time…what about debits?
I don’t think it’s your bank’s problem. It sounds like the merchant didn’t put the charge through in the first place.
My credit union officially debits my account at midnight. So, the charges I made today on my debit card will be deducted at midnight tonight. Before then, they “set aside” the money that was charged, so the balance will be whatever’s there less the amount of the charges. Generally speaking, any charges that aren’t deducted within 24 hours or so are delayed because of the merchant, not the credit union. (i.e., the merchant didn’t authorize the charge and didn’t put it through his bank.)
If this bugs you that much, go back to the merchant and ask him to research the charge and put it through again. It may be something as simple as a misplaced charge slip or a delay from his bank.
Just a WAG, but at some stores, they’re not set up to take debit cards, so when you use it, it just goes through as a charge. If that happened in this case, it won’t show up until you get your credit card bill.
A debit card works like a regular Visa (or MasterCard) card, but it deducts money directly from the person’s checking account instead of accruing a balance. So there is no credit-card bill.
I have found that it takes about 3 days before the charge clears my account when i use the debit card as a charge card. It may be that the charge has to go to MasterCard first then the bank.
I’m having a guy in the U.K. build me a custom mandolin. I paid him with a (pretty new) Visa card. He called me up–in the middle of the night, my time–because the card was declined. (It turns out that the issuing bank requires advance notification of any transaction from outside the USA before it will approve it; something I’ve never had to do before.) I switched on the light so I could give him another card number–and the bulb blew out. So by the illumination of a tiny penlight, I read him out my MasterCard number, which was accepted. Only after we hung up did I realize that, in the confusion of being awakened in the middle of the night and fumbling around in the dark, I had given him not my regular MasterCard, but my ATM/debit card, which is from the same issuing bank and bears the MasterCard logo. I had never used the debit card feature before, and never really intended to. But since the card was accepted, I figured it was all OK, and the money would simply be sucked out of my account. I also assumed this would happen immediately, but it was at least a week before the money was actually debited.
Thanks for the input. Yes, this is a VISA debit card - so the charges should have gotten sucked out of my account immediately.
One problem about contacting the vendor…I was out of state and at a show and placed the purchase with a traveling vendor. I’m not sure if the vendor’s contact information is on my receipt.
I’ve spoken to a friend who also made a purchase with that vendor. Their charge has gone through. They used a regular credit card though, so I’m not sure if that makes the difference.
I’ve had debit card payments take 3 weeks to hit my account. I use online banking to track debits, so I know exactly when they clear my account. It’s up to the merchant; some are immediate, some are sloooooooow. But I’ve never had one forget altogether.
I once transferred $1k from savings to checking using my ATM card and then made a $1k purchase, expecting the purchase to be covered by the transfer.
A few days later I found that my account was overdrawn :(. I contacted the bank and they told me that transfers post at midnight, check-card purchases post immediately (the policy of my own bank a few years ago YMMV). This was what caused the overdraft. I pointed out that I held two slips of paper showing the transfer happening thirty minutes prior to the purchase, and they kindly reversed the fees. Needless to say, I now assume that the check-card bux leave immediately (or whenever the merchant presents the charge to the bank).
I’ve worked at a bank and a credit union, and now I regularly process credit and debit cards for my employer, so I am not just taking a WAG here: what MsRobyn said is almost certainly the case. Your vendor must have (accidently?) deleted the transaction from his batch, or even forgot to send the batch through for settlement.
I have a WaMu/Visa card, and I generally check my balance and such online.
If I use it as a debit card, the charges are immediately withdrawn (or at least within the four minutes it takes me to get form the store to home). If I use it as a credit card, the charges show up about three days later. Quite the pain in the ass when you check your balance a few days after a credit transaction and wondering if that $7.32 is going to get even smaller before pay day.
I agree with most people. Let’s say, in average, it takes 3 days. It usually shows pretty instantly on my balance, but the description has taken a week to come up before.
Like Robin said the vendor might not have submitted it. If you’re lucky they lost the receipt
I have had one charge (a restaurant) that NEVER cleared. It was never debited from my account. I wish I went off that night!
That’s actually a policy with your bank, it’s not a rule among all financial institutions.
My credit union posts transfers instantly, no matter if the transfer was done online, at a branch, or through an ATM. They don’t post check-card debits until midnight.
It is a good idea to read the stuff they give you, and if you have any questions, ask. Asking can save a lot of money and hassle down the road.
