I use Monzo regularly for buying fuel and I always do pay at pump. It initially shows on my account as a transaction amounting to £1, although I spend around £30. Would there be any way of sending us a push notification to say the true amount has been updated so we can keep an eye on our balance in real-time as it updates.
Welcome to the community, Jonathan.
I would love to see this a reality myself, pay-at-pump is far more convenient most of the time. Though I have not used Monzo for it as yet.
I can only assume you have a Monzo current account? Which pay-at-pumps work for you?
Thanks
At the moment just the pre-paid card. I have only tried Sainsbury’s but it works there and always appears as £1 to begin with, same with my other bank.
Ah okay, they aren’t supposed to work with pre-pay but Sainsburys must be online so that’s great to hear that it does I know the CA cards should work with all pay-at-pumps though.
What ever card I’ve used at Sainsbury’s it always tests for £1. Then dependant on card I’ve used it keeps that £1 in place until transaction completes 2-3 days later. Only difference I noted was using MBNA credit card - they blocked £99 for 7 days - that is there policy apparently.
My Monzo card didn’t work last time I tried at Sainsbury’s but that was a few months ago.
Surprised pay at pump works… most prepaid cards block the MCC Code as it’s possible to put you in negative balance. Unfortunately this idea isn’t possible, the pay at pump auths for £1 to check it’s a valid card, Monzo won’t know of the final transaction amount until it comes in clearing.
Is the OP not requesting a further notification after presentment? This is entirely possible and I would think reasonable to expect.
Alternative and completely made up scenario: You auth €100 of one of them refundable (not presented) if unused, credit for charge to room or minibar usage at a hotel. You run a bill of €80 and after a few days hotel presents for €250 (whether in error or not). You are not notified of the change and the hotel transaction gets buried into a number of holiday withdrawals and transactions. You feel like you overspent and you either have to go back fishing for suspicious transactions or you just put it down to a mixture of accidental overspend and currency fluctuations while on holiday “Did I really spend that much?”
In keeping with the spirit and ethos of Monzo, of being notified and real time usage and knowledge (not having to rely on monthly statements) it makes no sense to me whatsoever not to inform us of updates to transactions where eventual presentment differs from authorised amount. Other than the usual currency fluctuations “this transaction has not yet settled”.
The initial auth is not reused for the settled transaction, it is only reserving the funds but will generally expire after a short period. The settled transaction is a new financial transaction and will be pushed through offline, therefore Monzo will not be asked to auth the amount, but will only know of it through clearing.
The initial auth and eventual presentment are linked, you are correct in saying sometimes the former expires and the latter is shown in monzo as a new transaction, no problem here.
The OP however is specifically talking about a presentment for a different amount presented at monzo before the authorisation expires. It also happened to me and I corroborate his experience. In this specific case, monzo updates the same transaction when it settles. OP asks, and I echo his concern, that we be notified by monzo app when this occurs.
It doesn’t matter the method of delivery to monzo. Whether the information is sent by a native American tribe through smoke signals, the Queen by carrier pigeon or a bank by presentment file. It would be good to know when a transaction is modified on our timeline.
Exactly, would just be nice to know that the amount has changed from £1 to X amount at a later date so I can keep my eye on my funds more closely. New transactions receive push notifications, as does this for the amount of £1, but the updated transaction does not, leading me to believe it is the same transaction and not a new one, as no push notification is sent.