Bank balance issue.. please advise!

[BooBooDooDoo12]

Hi all,
I'm currently stumped with a issue with my bank.

I had 2 people transfer me money last night. £40 and £10. (before this I was at 0 -relevant) When I went to withdraw the 50 today it showed it my balance at 50 but available at 0. I have checked pending transactions and nothing is due. I'm so confused. Can anyone advise? I need this money!

Needs to be cleared funds.

How long does it take to clear? Probably 3 working days

Were they online transfers? Should show as cleared funds straight away. Have you called your bank?

Is there a direct debit pending??

If they were sent online using the faster payments system then they should be cleared funds straight away. Could they have been paid in as cheques as they take longer to clear?

Have you used your debit card? Those transactions may not always show in pending transactions

I've not called the bank no, didn't have time during customer service hours as I only have a landline and was not at home. They were done through online banking yes. I know it can take up to 2 hours, but it's been almost 24..

No, I don't have an overdraft or anything and haven't had money in the account so no debit payments that aren't showing or anything like that. I don't have any direct debits on this account either.

Most obvious would be pending transactions, but you said you have already checked that. Unless you have made contactless payment LMS these don't always show as pending so could possibly be that. If they were sent online as faster payments then the funds are available as soon as it hits your account. Cheques can still take up to 5 days. Can you see both payments in your statement online?

Your balance has three parts;

• the balance of funds in your account
• any uncleared funds (if there are any, it will reduce the funds you can access)
• any automated transactions (+ or -) that the system recognises will happen ‘tomorrow’.

So, if you have £50 in your account, with £10 uncleared, and a £39 direct debit going out the next working day, you’ll have the following;

• balance £50 credit
• cleared balance £40 credit
• available balance £1 credit

The payments you’ve received should be cleared funds, so I’d expect the £50 to be available. I’d give the bank a call to query the situation with them.

Also you will probably find that you can cal your bank up until around 11pm. Who do you bank with?

It's called pre-positioning. There may be pending transactions that haven't cleared. Or you may have a direct debit scheduled.

So in this scenario when your balance showed as zero you had no money available. Your friends pay you £50 in the evening so there is currently £50 in your account. However there is a £50 transaction or direct debit scheduled for the next day so the bank allocates the money to that so you have no money available.

Do you have phone banking, all the major banks will be open now for phone queries.

If there are no pending transactions it sounds like something isn't right, best to call them

The other thing is that when you buy something with your debit card the machine isn't always 'live'. The money doesn't debit your account until the machine is connected.

I used to work in a bank and sometimes eg Costa or similar would take a few days to get the funds in. People thought that they had more money than they actually had.

Mystery solved everyone!!

Thank you for all your suggestions and help. Luckily I found out halifax (my bank) has 24/7 customer service.

So, I made a reservation last night for a hotel. No payment today, explicitly stated and i've just checked their website again, definitely states no payment taken, pay in full at hotel on date. They've only gone and bloody put a 50 quid hold on my bank account to secure the booking! CFs!

Just for future ref, OP, that’s pretty standard. Bit ideal but pretty standard.

*Not ideal