Our investigation

Lindsay’s bank is small and does not have a direct relationship with Visa. Payments are sent via a big bank. System limitations prevent full overnight reconciliation of payments, so Lindsay’s bank would provide a “temporary” credit balance to show customers that payments had been made – although they could drop off if the system was not reconciled in time.

We considered the information Lindsay’s bank provided could cause confusion, and the bank agreed to changes, including removal of the temporary balance, meaning balances would not update (and then possibly revert to an earlier balance) until finalisation of payments was complete. The bank also updated its payment confirmation message to note that payments would usually be sent that same day, but might take longer to show up on customers’ internet banking records. 

Outcome

We considered this was a reasonable solution to the complaint.