I had an unfortunate incident where my bank account was overdrawn because I had no clue that a gas station - a week later - would suddenly charge my account for the $30 tank of gas I had gotten.
It turns out that many gas stations are in the habit of only charging $1 or so to a credit card - just to check to see that the account is open - and then charging the full amount later on. Any other business that charges a credit or debit card charges the full price immediately, which is reflected immediately in the account’s balance.
I can’t answer your first question, but as to the second: stop using your debit card. It has much less protection than a credit card. Gas stations, hotels, and other business where your final charge is unknown will put a “hold” on your account- they make a temporary charge of some amount (usu. 50 for gas stations, several hundred for hotels) to check and see if you have enough to cover your bill. Once you’ve completed your transaction, the charge is reversed and they submit the real charge. On a credit card, this is no big deal, but if I have $100 in my checking account, and a night’s hotel stay is $50, my card can still come back denied. Also, if the hold didn’t get reversed fast enough I could end up overdrawn.
I also used to work at a pharmacy that would submit the credit card reciepts twice a month. The charges I made there would therefore take up to 2 weeks to post.
Sorry to say it, but this one is entirely your fault. Save your reciepts, learn how to use Quicken, do whatever you have to do to keep track of where your money is going.
You should have immediately deducted the amount you charged at the gas station. It sounds like you let it “float” and got dinged later. I’m not sure why the charge didn’t go through until a week later, but it doesn’t really matter. You spent the $30, you should have deducted the amount from your account.
In the future, keep better records of your expenditures.
There was a thing in the news a while ago about how a gas station started putting holds on customers accounts for more than the purchase as a safety measure. Since a hold reduces your available balance, this caused many people to incur overdraft fees and lots of confusion. This articlesays the practice is legal, but doesn’t give a cite.
Actually, it’s an open scandal that the banks are now encouraging gas stations to put a higher hold charge on the card, like $75, and then the real amount up to a week later. The consumer watchdog groups think this is intentional to make people go over their limit and hit those $39 overlimit fees.
I recently had a horrible time when I tried to renew my AAA auto club card on-line. It kept saying that the address on my credit card was different from what I had entered. I tried stating 4 different ways (St. Street, Apt., Apartment, etc.)
After 4 unsuccessful tries I gave up and called it in.
Well, I was startled that instead of just the $98 fee, they also still had four $98 holds on my card.
Nearly $400 went right off my “available funds”. I called several places and couldn’t get them removed, and just had to stop spending for 5 business days (8 human days, counting Columbus Day) until I could use that money again.
So even strict record keeping wouldn’t help you if you don’t know what tricks they are pulling.
I’m not sure I understand your beef is. It appears that you bought X gallons of gas on a certain date. The gas station allowed you to have that gas a few days before they actually charged you for it. I would think that it would be a benifit to you.
Except for that when I looked at my bank balance online, I saw that I had “$50” in my account, so I made a few more purchases. The reality was that, minus the $30 for gas, I only had $20 in my account, so I overdrew it.
Sorry, but this isn’t 1852, and one need not keep a nub of charcoal and a tanned hide in order to keep trakc of one’s finances. At any time, any day, I can take a look at my account balance online and know how much money I have. The onus is on the bank to correctly tell me how much money is in available to me.
When the gas station does something that defeats their ability to do that, the fault lies with them. This should be illegal.
The full charge on anything…not just gas stations…doesnt go through on your debit card until the merchant settles their account. Some places do this more often than others, but I have had charges on my visa check card come in a week later from grocery stores and such.
And Visa check cards are protected just like their credit card counter parts. Some times you just have to raise a stink a little more.
Yes, but if your Visa debit card gets double charged, it can cause you to bounce checks or get an overdraft charge. Plus it can take weeks to get the money back. If your Visa credit card gets double charged, it’s not a big deal to wait a few weeks unless you are nearly maxed out.
I was a bank teller for a few years, and I’ve heard this story many times. If you are living so close to the edge that a situation like this will cost you money, it doesn’t matter whose fault it is, or what type of writing implement you use- you need to be responsible for your own finances. You’re an adult, and you shouldn’t trust anyone else to do it for you. Especially not the bank. How will you know if they make a mistake? How will you prove it if you do know?
From the gas station’s POV, holding onto a charge slip for a few days is no worse ethically than holding onto a check. They have no obligation to “cash” it until the expiration date (whatever that is for Electonic Fund Transfers).
Yes, but how does one start doing this if the balance that is reported is incorrect? How long do I have to go without any purchases? I’ve tried using cash only for a week or two, but I can still never seem to get thing exactly balanced. I’ve pretty much given up on it. Every time I balance my checkbook I go online and find my account is off by some small, seemingly random amount.
It should take only a month. Start now keeping track of your withdrawls and checks. When you get your bank statement you see what charges have cleared and what the balance is. You now know what hasn’t cleared at the bank. Also most online banks will let you see the cleared transactions.
!. To start, live on cash or credit for one to two weeks (you already knew that, but I’ll say it anyway).
Then assume that the bank’s balance is right (as long as the discrepancy isn’t too big, like more than a few $). Make an adjustment in your checkbook for the amount you are off, so you match the bank. It sucks, but if you’ve had the account for a few years it takes way too long to slog through everything for a few cents.
Then start keeping track and balancing. If you can get your hands on a copy of Microsoft Money or Quicken, that really can make your life easier. You can even a spreadsheet if you know how. From then on, you can balance your checkbook each month, week, or day if you choose. I’m assuming you know how to do that, but if you don’t I’ve got some tips to make it easier.
Wrong. Anytime you use your debit card or write a check, it is YOUR responsibility and yours alone to ensure that you have the funds in place to cover it, and to deduct the amount of the transaction(s) from a running balance. The online balance is NOT meant to substitute for a check register or some other means of tracking your account. The situation you describe in your OP is entirely your fault, and no one else’s. Sorry, but you screwed up.
Well, if things happened exactly as described in the OP, then yes, VCO3 screwed up. But if, as several posters have suggested, the gas station put a hold on the card greater than the amount of the purchase, then s/he may not be at fault.
This happened to me many years ago when I put a rental car on my debit card. Without telling me, they put a large hold on the account – well above the cost of the rental – that caused several overdrafts and cost me $50-60 in fees. It’s never happened to me since, and certainly never at a gas station. (But I’ve never been back to Budget Rent a Car.)
Putting holds on an account without informing the customer of the amount or duration strikes me as as a deceptive practice when applied to debit cards, as opposed to credit cards, where it generally won’t have a significant impact. I think merchants should be required to disclose the fact when they put a hold on a debit card.
I agree with this. I certainly question whether this practice is ethical, even if it is legal (something of which I am unsure and doubtful). This doesn’t appear to be what happened to the OP, however, but if it is then I will retract that part of my post.
Many small businesses bank their credit/debit receipts on just one or two days a week, this means what you buy frm them on Monday might not be posted until Thursday.
It IS your responsiblity to track your own purchases. The on-line banking files are a convenience. It isn’t a substitute for balancing your checkbook.
( people do still use checkbooks, right?)
OK I now understand why it happened, but this apears the same as if you didn’t ballence your checkbook. I can’t see how this is not your fault, and really can’t understand why you are looking to blame others. Now if the gas station took out too much, then yes it would be their fault.