FAQs for pending authorisations

What is a pending debit card authorisation?

These are recent card transactions that haven’t been fully processed by the company you paid yet.

Be aware that sometimes a company might add a card authorisation to put a hold on an amount of money until you’ve paid your final bill, this might be a £1 amount or a higher amount than what you finally owe. These amounts should not debit your account and will usually disappear immediately but can occasionally take a few days.

What if I don't recognise a pending debit card authorisation?

If you have a joint account, firstly, check whether the other person recognises the pending card authorisation.

Sometimes, companies like hotels, ‘pay at pump’ petrol stations and online grocery stores add a debit card authorisation of £1 to test the card. The actual amount will leave separately and the £1 payment will disappear soon after. If the £1 debits your account, and isn’t due, you’ll need to speak to our card services team on
03 456 100 100.

The other possibility is that the transaction is a regular payment, sometimes a monthly, or annual payment, set up on your card, for example, to pay for gym membership, Amazon or security software companies, like McAfee or Norton. Give us a call on 03 456 100 100 any time if you need to stop these payments.

Finally, if you recognise the retailer, but the transaction amount doesn’t sound right, please double check if it could have been due to getting cash back in addition to the transaction amount in a supermarket. This will be added to the pending card authorisation amount.

If you still don’t recognise the transaction, you’ll need to speak to our card services team by calling 03 456 100 100 (Text-phone 03 456 100 147 or if calling from outside the UK +44 113 234 5678 (Text Relay +44 151 494 1260))

Why does the debit card authorisation disappear from the top of my transaction list?

A pending debit card authorisation will disappear when a company has released the hold on funds in your account. If the company has taken the funds, the transaction will appear in your transaction list. If the company doesn’t take the funds, the authorisation will expire after 3 working days (for a card authorisation made in the UK, including ATMs) or 5 working days for international authorisations (non-ATM).

I have identical transactions in my pending card authorisations list but I only paid once?

Sometimes companies can experience system issues when taking payment which leads to multiple transactions being authorised. Whilst you can see multiple transactions pending, its likely only one transaction will debit your account and the duplicate ones will disappear. You might want to contact the company to discuss this. If duplicate transactions do debit, you’ll need to speak to our card services team on 03 456 100 100.

What are upcoming transactions?

They're an indication of transactions that are due to come into or go out of your account on the next working day. They include:

payments into your account like your salary, pension, state benefits or tax credits
your Direct Debits that are set up to cover things like bills or subscriptions, and come out of your account regularly

These will show in your upcoming transactions list until they actually debit or credit your account. They're updated and processed regularly throughout normal business days.

What if I don’t recognise an upcoming transaction?

This could be a direct debit that is due to come out of your account. You can check your Direct Debits by selecting 'Manage Regular Payments' in the 'Move Money' section of your App or in the ‘Regular Payments’ section of ‘Manage Money’ in Online Banking. You will be able to check the sort code and account number for the direct debit as well as your reference of when this was last paid for the last 6 months which might jog your memory.

If you still don’t recognise the transaction you’ll need to speak to our card services team on 03 456 100 100.

Why can’t I see my salary?

The type of credits included in upcoming transactions are BACS payments into your account. These will only show 1 working day before they’re due to be paid in. Therefore your salary will not show if it doesn’t get paid through BACS. Please speak to your employer if you need more information.

When will my card authorisations show?

Immediately after you’ve used your card to buy something, or a hotel or ‘pay at the pump’ petrol station has taken a pre-authorisation to put a temporary hold on funds in your account until you have paid your final bill.