Debit Card Transaction?

[ChocolatChip]

I'm a bit confused, I stayed at a hotel last night and paid for it via debit card.
When I checked my balance on the internet about 12 hours later, no money had been taken out my account. Is this correct? Sorry to sound stupid but I've never had a debit card before.

[cazzz1975]

sometimes it can take up to 3 days for a transaction to be debited from your account.

[ChocolatChip]

Ahh thank you : )

[kp nonuts]

If it dont though dont tell anybody.
My debit card when I pay for anything comes up almost instantly so you may be in luck choc

[bigmamma]

As cazzz says ChocolatChip , it can take several days before the money comes out .

[Miss-taken]

I've had transactions thats have taken nearly a month to hit my bank statement - its a myth that debit card transactions get taken instantly from your bank account - its usually 3 or 4 days

[sunflower68]

yeah choc, especially Saturdays. I always find that when I do NatWest online on a Monday its a very unpleasant surprise! If you think you might go in the red monday, take out cash NOW!!!!

[kp nonuts]

Sorry but beg to differ my one always shows up immediatly and always has.
It does not show straight away in the balance but shows in the available balance.

[delta733]

some banks hold the funds aside in the account so that you cant spend it so the money will be there when the transaction comes off, but the money does not usually come off straight away. Dependin on the shop, bank and amount the money may not be held aside and just taken out a few days later. Its usually 3-10 working days

[Daisy13]

I used to work for a bank. They actually have six months to come in and claim the funds after they have received the authorisation code (they get this after they swipe your card and you enter your pin number.) I used my card in a nightclub once and the money wasn't debited for 2 months. It's very rare for a company to take over 7 days to claim the funds but it does happen.

[Mike28]

I called natwest because they debited my account on the 3rd of december 2007 for a Debit Card payment I made on the 17th of November. They said that payments can take up to 6 months to leave an account. Because of this I went just over my overdraft by �5 and they charged me �28. All of that for a �22 transactions which if it was taken out of my account at the time would never have been a problem. I must say that I only ever had issues like this with Natwest. I usually bank with Barclays and when I make a card payment it appears automaticly on the "available balance".
Natwest suggested that I Stop using my card if I was unhappy about it! This is ridiculous.
Ok I should have been more careful and print a statement to check if all transactions were debited of my account but I think this is still an unfair system!