How long should a debit card transaction take to come out of our account?

[Wiltswife]

On the 27th June I bought groceries at our local co-op store (�108 worth!) with our debit card. At the time there were funds in our account. The debit wasn't taken out of our bank until a month later (29th July) and as a result we have gone over our overdraft limit and have been charged �45 in total by our bank. The shop have admitted there was a problem with their system between certain dates in June. Should the co-op pay our bank charges? Is there a limit to how long it should take them to debit the money from our bank?

[craft1948]

I think you're on a loser here but may be wrong. I always treat debit transactions as I would a cheque and mentally deduct it from my balance until it shows on my statement.
One chap I worked with flew to Korea on business and his airfare, which he paid on his credit card, was over �3000.00........it should up on his statement 2 years later when he'd spent the money, and yes he was liable.

[craft1948]

^ sorry "showed up" etc

[hc4361]

No. The Co op haven't taken money from you they weren't entitled to and will say you had the benefit of that money for more than a month.
If it had have gone out on time how would that have made any difference? Would you have found the �108 before the 29th July?

[ummmm]

My shop takes debit card payment once a week. I kept wondering why I had X amount in one day and only Y the next without spending anything.

[factor-fiction]

It's not really any different to paying someone by cheque and they don't cash it for a month or so, or having some work done and not getting the bill until a month later. It's up to us to keep track of our own income and outgoings, not your local store manager, so you won't get your bank charges reimbursed by the store.

[dzug]

Legally the shop has 6 years to take the money.

In practice there's going to be a lower limit set by the processing bank - I don't know what it is, and it may vary from bank to bank, but it's certainly more than a few weeks.

Did you not know it hadn't been taken? Surely you keep better track of your finances than that. It's difficult to miss a sum of that size - a few �� yes.

[sue11]

If you have a good record with your bank and normally do not go over your overdraft limit then it may be worth while phoning them to explain that somehow you missed this payment as it debited your account later than you expected. Your bank may just agree to refund the charges or perhaps half them, however it is only worth trying if you are normally good with keeping within your overdraft. As others have said, you should always keep a tally of all your payments going out when you make them, not when they debit the bank account and also the credits coming in and keep a running total of the balance. Do you do this? It really is the best way to manage your money!
Cheers Sue