debit card using “credit” option?
Oct.30, 2008 in
Credit
Allen Woe asked:
I know that when buying stuff at the counter i can use the credit option, then the merchant will place a hold on my fund.
then few days later they will officially deduct the amount.
I know that when buying stuff at the counter i can use the credit option, then the merchant will place a hold on my fund.
then few days later they will officially deduct the amount.
now my question is:
say i have $100 in my check account.
day 1: I want to buy a $90 dollar item at one place with credit.
go to another shop to buy a $50 dollar item.
day 2: deposit money to cover all the charges.
day 3: those merchants deduct the money and i’m fine.
the thing is on day 1, would my card still work at the second shop?
I’ve already used $90 and dont have enough money for the $50, would the card still go through with the credit option?
how fast do they put the hold, and is the holded money still spentable?
so if they place a hold my second purchase wouldnt go through?
or would it be like what the second answer said and it will go through?
October 30th, 2008 at 12:56 pm
No they put the money on hold even though they dont officially withdrawl it. If the merchant does not withdrawl the money after 24 hours, they release it for you to spend again. So if you are spending the 90 and you only have 100 you will only be allowed to spend 10 until you deposit more or they release that money (assuming they didnt withdrawl it.)
November 2nd, 2008 at 1:53 am
Yes! You can still buy the $50 item. That’s how people overdraw their accounts frequently. They believe that b/c the merchant said their card was accepted they have the money in their account to cover it.
Be careful as some merchants will process credit transactions as early as the next day and you could overdraw your account by doing that. It is safest to only “credit” what you physically have in your account at the time and not depend on future deposits!
November 2nd, 2008 at 3:03 am
Just wait until you have the money in there. Why rush to buy an item, wait until you have the money already in the account. Why risk becoming overdrawn and having to pay fees.
November 2nd, 2008 at 1:37 pm
that depends on your bank
November 4th, 2008 at 4:46 pm
they hold the money immediately. you will notice if you use your check card at a gas station, they will sometimes hold up to $100 for several days because they estimate how much it will cost to fill your tank (the machine has no idea what size your gas tank is) and there is no regulation for this. The money will stay held until the merchant sends through the actual charge.
The only time you could charge more is if either you bank authorizes it and treats it like an overdraft or you have overdraft protection on your account that allows you to do this.
To answer your ADDITIONAL DETAILS: It doesn’t matter how much money you have in your account when the actual charge goes through. Your charge for the anything above the balance at the time would be denied because you only have $100 in the account at the time of purchase.
November 6th, 2008 at 12:59 pm
while it SHOULDN’T go through sometimes it does. (this is where my daughter got into trouble, because sometimes the merchants systems are down and the funds don’t get held immediately), she purchased some items in one store and paid by credit, the stores systems were down however they allowed her to use the credit system because she is a regular customer. Walking through the mall after the purchase she spotted something she needed on sale, but she wasn’t sure she had the funds to make the purchase, they ran it through debit and of course it went through because funds were still available. However, with her other purchase her account became overdrawn because there was INSF to cover the credit purchase. So be careful if you use your card as credit and make sure the merchants systems are up and running so you don’t wind up overdrawn.
November 9th, 2008 at 3:29 am
Your bank will be more than happy to charge you a $30.00 overdraft fee and daily fees until you account balance is back above zero. I have personally seen ‘credit’ purchases on my debit card post to my checking account the same day as the purchase. The days of ‘float’ on both paper checks and credit cards are over. Some stores now uses electronic processing to clear paper checks before you reach your car.
November 9th, 2008 at 4:44 pm
The only reason that a debit card has the option to be swiped as credit, is to enable the merchant to process the payment as a VISA/Mastercard transaction. This means that you do not have to enter a pin number. In many cases now days you do not need to swipe for VISA purchases under 25.00 and mastercard purchases under 50.00. Please do not confuse a debit card with a credit card. Having a debit card does not mean you can access more money that the funds available in your checking account. It simply allows you to process payment with a merchant who accepts credit cards. This was to prevent merchants from having to have a seperate card reader for debit cards, and another for credit cards. Most all debit cards carry a visa or mastercard logo. With current payment processing times for credit card transactions, if you spend $90.00 on an item, the second that charge is authorized and the merchant receives their authorization code, the charge is assigned a reference number and is immediately debited from your account and would be reflected as such in your available balance. Were you then to spend another $50.00, if the purchase was made online you would most definately go into overdraft. With an in store purchase it would vary depending on how long it takes the merchant to process that batch of transactions. Some merchants only process transactions once a week, others such as restaurants, gas stations, ect, process every day, sometimes multiple times a day. The bottom line is you are better off to write a check for the other $50.00 charge and hope that the merchant does not have electronic check processing capabilities. Either way the moral of the story is don’t spend more than you have!
November 11th, 2008 at 3:01 am
Deposit enough money. Wait one business day for cash, longer for checks. The money will not be available on same day your deposit it.
My bank works like this (Each bank is different)
Go to the Merchant
Hit either Credit or ATM/debit button
My on line bank account info shows a pre auth ATM or a pre pos debit transaction. Then after two or three days it show it hard posted.
Home depot and Lowe’s put larger holds on your card and don’t clear the pre authorization correctly. This will look like a double charge but falls off it about one week.
pos=point of sale