Transactions in an excessive pending state, anyone have ideas of why?

[LuvOrlando]

Literally every transaction from one institution to another seems to have an absurdly long pending state and the lag keeps growing, anyone have thoughts on the rationale?

All of us are now stuck in a world where most stores, with the exception of grocery stores, are so poorly stocked that we are all required to use credit cards for day to day purchases. I despise it and prefer cash but it is what it is so I do it. As a result, I watch my cards closely to pay off the charges as soon as they move out of pending. I am noticing absurdly long lags on these charges leaving pending state and it is getting worse and worse over time. You'd think these businesses would want their money so what are they up to?

Started with regular banking deposits and payments getting a lag, I remember when the law was changed a while back, then the practice seeped into other transactions & now it is just ridiculous. I am looking at a small charge I assigned to an otherwise zero card on 6/13, it is still pending & I already have the stuff. There is a statement in the space that says it should only be pending 48 hours, well that ship has sailed & now the whole this is just a curiosity so I watch it like a really slow golf game

I wonder, is a credit card company/bank/ etc able to declare a pending charge an asset with the associated interest to investors the whole time it is pending and avoid losing that asset and interest when it gets paid off? There has got to be something going on with this, it is just too pervasive.

 

[sam_gordon]

Literally every transaction from one institution to another seems to have an absurdly long pending state and the lag keeps growing, anyone have thoughts on the rationale?

All of us are now stuck in a world where most stores, with the exception of grocery stores, are so poorly stocked that we are all required to use credit cards for day to day purchases. I despise it and prefer cash but it is what it is so I do it. As a result, I watch my cards closely to pay off the charges as soon as they move out of pending. I am noticing absurdly long lags on these charges leaving pending state and it is getting worse and worse over time. You'd think these businesses would want their money so what are they up to?

Started with regular banking deposits and payments getting a lag, I remember when the law was changed a while back, then the practice seeped into other transactions & now it is just ridiculous. I am looking at a small charge I assigned to an otherwise zero card on 6/13, it is still pending & I already have the stuff. There is a statement in the space that says it should only be pending 48 hours, well that ship has sailed & now the whole this is just a curiosity so I watch it like a really slow golf game

I wonder, is a credit card company/bank/ etc able to declare a pending charge an asset with the associated interest to investors the whole time it is pending and avoid losing that asset and interest when it gets paid off? There has got to be something going on with this, it is just too pervasive.

Haven't had that issue. I make a purchase, it shows up on my CC statement as "pending", then, usually within a day, two at the outside, shows as "posted".

Regarding the bolded, I don't understand how "poorly stocked stores" require customers to use credit cards? I've heard of (not really seen) stores that have stopped accepting cash (actually parking at my airport no longer accepts cash), but what that has to do with item availability I don't understand.

 

[_19disnA]

Not sure I follow how a shortage of items requires you to use your credit card for purchases. Every credit card I have has a monthly billing cycle so you only pay the balance once a month. Debit cards are different and deduct from your bank account as soon as the charge is posted. I haven't notice any changes in how long it takes charges to appear for either of these. Every store where I shop lets you either pay cash or use a credit/debit card.

 

[fla4fun]

Perhaps they are having to buy needed items online since they can’t get them in person?

 

[nw6675]

Other than affecting the credit limit temporarily, at least it isn't part of the balance owed right at that moment until it moves from pending.

Walmart and Sam's are the only ones I've noticed that seem to take forever.

 

[DCLMP]

In remember in 2021 a lot of stores were only taking cards due to a shortage of coins. I haven't seen it as much lately.

 

[DCLMP]

I haven't noticed pending charges taking longer, but I only pay off my credit cards once or twice a month. I'll try to pay more attention and let you know if I notice anything.

 

[kymom99]

Thorntons gas and the car wash my husband use sometimes take a bit longer. I don’t think it’s any conspiracy. You aren’t going yo get hit by any fees. I use credit cards for just about everything. It’s convenient. I refuse to go back to using mostly cash.

Our stores are stocked like normal now.

 

[Southernmiss]

To me, charges hit quite fast. There was a time when posting took a week or so.

I'm quite ok with how it currently works.

 

[Miffy]

I'm wondering if the OP has had to use their cc instead of cash because they have to use a self-checkout that takes only cards, since there are so few checkout lines with a human at the register.

That being said, I pay off my cc frequently, because I don't like to have a balance, and when something's pending and I know it's not something I might return, I just pay that too.

Edit for clarity.

 

[Skippy918]

May I ask why you don’t use a debit card instead if you want more real time balances? For credit cards you don’t need to pay when a charge gets posted. You can wait till your statement and pay in full.

 

[barkley]

the only lag time i've experienced is with a couple of retailers that i tend to order from on line vs. going to their brick and mortar. this seemed to time out with labor shortages and delays in postal deliveries so it appears (from tracking my own orders) that they've changed their policies from posting the charge and letting it go through immediately upon ordering to only getting an authorization hold and letting it sit in that status UNTIL the item is physically shipped and a tracking number is issued. i suspect they had to do allot of reversals on charges so they view this as a time/labor savings.

 

[DCLMP]

I’m curious why you don’t want to have a balance? You should let the statement post and then pay it off. It shows that you use credit responsibly. It only gets reported to credit agency after statement posts. Always having a zero balance looks like you don’t use credit and it hurts your credit score.

 

[DLgal]

I exclusively use credit cards. Haven't noticed this at all. The only entities that sometimes take forever to post charges are hotels, in my experience. Those can take like 5 days after you've checked out to finally post.

Online purchases tend to have an initial authorization charge, but that falls off and is replaced by the charge once the item has shipped. Occasionally, I will receive an item and the charge will still be pending, but it doesn't bother me.

Paying off your credit cards frequently as charges post is, as the kids say, "doing the most." It's unnecessary and overcomplicated. The entire point of credit cards is that you only have to pay the balance once a month. Otherwise, just use your debit card. I don't know of any debit cards these days that don't have a Visa or Mastercard logo so you can use them the same way as a credit card. Even my son's Youth Spending accounts have Visa debit cards attached.

 

[georgina]

Haven't noticed any excessive pending time on my credit card charges. I check frequently, but let them autopay on the due date.

I know there are people who like to pay their credit cards often. If you don't want to use a debit card, perhaps try paying once a week instead of obsessively checking for charges to post and paying them off one by one?

 

[ronandannette]

May I ask why you don’t use a debit card instead if you want more real time balances? For credit cards you don’t need to pay when a charge gets posted. You can wait till your statement and pay in full.

Canadian bank debit cards are also enabled to use for on-line purchasing, which is essentially "paying with cash", and that's what we always do if I have to buy food, clothes or regular household needs off websites. I agree with the OP though, about being uncomfortable putting routine expenses of daily living on credit cards; I'm old-school and just never got into the whole "churning for points" game, although I do understand its benefits.

 

[DCLMP]

I use multiple cards every month. Some cards give better points for different things. I pay them every two weeks on pay day that way I don’t miss one. It’s hard keeping track of multiple payment dates. Some of the cards will have balances on the statement posting some won’t. I’ve read people with the highest credit scores average around 7% utilization.

The most important thing is to do what works for you to stay on budget and avoid debt. There’s not really a wrong way to do things in that regard.

Amex for me has always been the fastest with debiting and credit. Citi has been the slowest.

 

[Allison]

It doesn't work that way and it isn't pervasive.

 

[LuvOrlando]

Interesting to see the variances in experiences.

 

[sk!mom]

I exclusively use credit cards. Haven't noticed this at all. The only entities that sometimes take forever to post charges are hotels, in my experience. Those can take like 5 days after you've checked out to finally post.

Online purchases tend to have an initial authorization charge, but that falls off and is replaced by the charge once the item has shipped. Occasionally, I will receive an item and the charge will still be pending, but it doesn't bother me.

Paying off your credit cards frequently as charges post is, as the kids say, "doing the most." It's unnecessary and overcomplicated. The entire point of credit cards is that you only have to pay the balance once a month. Otherwise, just use your debit card. I don't know of any debit cards these days that don't have a Visa or Mastercard logo so you can use them the same way as a credit card. Even my son's Youth Spending accounts have Visa debit cards attached.

Agreed and we also make one payment a month to pay it all but will add that I rarely use a debit card. It just doesn’t offer the same fraud protection as a CC. IME, a CC will immediately reverse fraudulent charges and as the rep told my DH when it happened to us, “it’s now up to the vendor to prove it was a legitimate charge.” The bank will investigate before returning your funds. This can possibly cause legitimate debits to bounce or leave you short of funds.

Canadian bank debit cards are also enabled to use for on-line purchasing, which is essentially "paying with cash", and that's what we always do if I have to buy food, clothes or regular household needs off websites. I agree with the OP though, about being uncomfortable putting routine expenses of daily living on credit cards; I'm old-school and just never got into the whole "churning for points" game, although I do understand its benefits.

I don’t churn. It’s more work than I’m willing to do but I do charge absolutely everything for points. Until 2022, we hadn’t paid for a flight in many years. We flew to Ireland on points in 2022 and We’re headed to Boston on Friday and NOLA for New Years free.

In 2022, we had two unexpected trips. One an end of life last time together with DH’s dear dear sister and then another for a celebration of her life after she passed. Both were last minute in planning and were best purchased from an airline where we had no miles so cash. We did buy them with a card that gave us future points. Those were the first airline tickets we purchased with cash in a decade or more.