Debit card payment error

[MrM]

I went to pay off my statement balance this morning and, after authenticating the debit card transaction, I received an error message. The Amex UI shows no payment received.

However, my current account shows the transaction pending with funds already removed from my balance.

The Amex payment platform has always been unstable, but I’ve never had this situation before where my bank considered the transaction successful but Amex did not.

I called Amex customer service and didn’t get much useful information, other than it might go through in a few days. I was told there is a known technical problem relating to payments, but I don’t see any evidence of this on the wider internet.

Has anyone experienced this either today or before? If so, what should I expect, Amex to eventually process the payment or to have just sit and wait for the pending transaction to drop off my debit card?

[RobL]

I get this error every month however the transaction goes through and the funds are credited to the amex statement after a short time.

[dundj]

Happened to me a few months back. Started making the payments via the automated phone service instead which works much better and only takes a couple of minutes, usually whilst doing something else more mundane.

[can2]

yep I get that a lot, too — especially when paying with a particular debitish card. sometimes it goes thru, sometimes i try the next day again.

[davefl]

I got an error screen full of code yesterday after paying mine but nothing had been taken, second attempt worked.

[bd85uk]

Just tried to pay player 2 card and got declined.

Debit card needs to be in account name it said

[windym]

This happened to me yesterday as well. Showing as pending leaving the bank but not received at Amex. I rang them up and they stated they were having issues and it may go through in a couple of days or we may have to pay again. Just checked and still showing as pending leaving the bank. As our statement date is Tuesday, I’ll call them again tomorrow and get something sorted.

[marshy11]

bd85uk wrote:

Just tried to pay player 2 card and got declined.

Debit card needs to be in account name it said

I pay player 2’s card with mine every month, never had an issue with the card being in a different name.

Yesterday when paying I got the banking authority text as normal and the funds are pending out of my bank account but the Amex account gave the error when I input the authority text in.

Amex has been useless saying there is nothing they can do. My statement date is Tuesday – I don’t really want to leave it until then and be charged interest on the amount owed when it is already pending and taken from my bank balance.

[RobL]

Working fine when I paid just now.

[marshy11]

RobL wrote:

Working fine when I paid just now.

Yeah, I am just off the phone to them. They say the issue is fixed but that pending payments will take 24 hours to clear or be rejected. I said they told me this yesterday and they adjusted their comment to say it is 24-48 hours.

[MrM]

marshy11 wrote:

RobL wrote:

Working fine when I paid just now.

Yeah, I am just off the phone to them. They say the issue is fixed but that pending payments will take 24 hours to clear or be rejected. I said they told me this yesterday and they adjusted their comment to say it is 24-48 hours.

Glad to know it wasn’t just me, thanks for sharing. They gave me a similar story in my 2 calls yesterday. About 26 hours later and no sign of the payment from Amex. Remains pending from current account. My payment is due next Friday so have a little more wiggle room.

[marshy11]

MrM wrote:

marshy11 wrote:

RobL wrote:

Working fine when I paid just now.

Yeah, I am just off the phone to them. They say the issue is fixed but that pending payments will take 24 hours to clear or be rejected. I said they told me this yesterday and they adjusted their comment to say it is 24-48 hours.

Glad to know it wasn’t just me, thanks for sharing. They gave me a similar story in my 2 calls yesterday. About 26 hours later and no sign of the payment from Amex. Remains pending from current account. My payment is due next Friday so have a little more wiggle room.

You are not alone, it affected ‘a few hundred’ payers.

They did suggest I try my bank (First Direct) sadly FD say as it has been sent by me then it cannot be reclaimed. FD did offer to dispute it but explained that could take even longer. Amex have put a note on my file to say I have paid in full (or at least attempted to) and the assurance was that there would be no black mark for non payment or interest – I suspect that was just to get rid of me today.

I will update if/when it clears/rejects. Hopefully all will be well but the bank holiday means that Monday is really Sunday. 🙁

[marshy11]

Well, 48 hours later and no change. I still have the money pending on my bank account and no sign of the credit to Amex. This is not an insignificant amount of money – what to do?

[MrM]

marshy11 wrote:

Well, 48 hours later and no change. I still have the money pending on my bank account and no sign of the credit to Amex. This is not an insignificant amount of money – what to do?

Same position here. I think all you can do is call again and demand escalation.

I am now hoping the charge will drop off and then I will repay, but I have the luxury of my payment due date being Friday.

Either way, I will launch a complaint on the other side of this. Agent responses have not reflected reality.

[roger]

This has happened before for me. error on Amex app but gets resolved after few days.

[marshy11]

I have called again to a very helpful young lady who has noted in her diary to call me back on Tuesday. In the meantime she suggested I make the minimum payment – which I did via her on the telephone and it is showing immediately – she has said the interest charges will be waived and if the full credit does not appear I will simply pay again. I will check again on Tuesday.

[MrM]

marshy11 wrote:

I have called again to a very helpful young lady who has noted in her diary to call me back on Tuesday. In the meantime she suggested I make the minimum payment – which I did via her on the telephone and it is showing immediately – she has said the interest charges will be waived and if the full credit does not appear I will simply pay again. I will check again on Tuesday.

At some point this afternoon, my pending debit card transaction settled, but was immediately refunded by Amex. So, this is resolved. I will pay again after the bank holiday. Glad it’s over, what a mess.

[marshy11]

MrM wrote:

marshy11 wrote:

I have called again to a very helpful young lady who has noted in her diary to call me back on Tuesday. In the meantime she suggested I make the minimum payment – which I did via her on the telephone and it is showing immediately – she has said the interest charges will be waived and if the full credit does not appear I will simply pay again. I will check again on Tuesday.

At some point this afternoon, my pending debit card transaction settled, but was immediately refunded by Amex. So, this is resolved. I will pay again after the bank holiday. Glad it’s over, what a mess.

You prompted me to check mine. Sadly still pending. Yes I agree a mess.

[marshy11]

Still in limbo. Not credited to Amex and still pending on FD.

[can2]

Bank holiday.
Mine is in a similar situation, refunded to Barclays on Saturday but still not showing.

[marshy11]

This is now getting very tedious. It is still pending at FD and nowhere near hitting my Amex. Another 24 hours say Amex. Meh losing any hope this will sort itself out but am at a loss on how to resolve it.

[Skywalker]

https://www.headforpoints.com/forums/topic/amex-bill-payment-gone-slightly-awry/

It happened to me, it fixed itself.

[JDB]

When this resolves itself and unless you are paying via some ‘clever’ debit card scheme to earn points, why not pay by transfer? It’s extremely quick, simple, can be set for future dates if required and has never failed for me in as many years as I can remember. You will get a confirmation from Amex in minutes.

[Skywalker]

JDB wrote:

When this resolves itself and unless you are paying via some ‘clever’ debit card scheme to earn points, why not pay by transfer? It’s extremely quick, simple, can be set for future dates if required and has never failed for me in as many years as I can remember. You will get a confirmation from Amex in minutes.

@JDB – I agree with this, except I my first bank transfer went missing (despite all of the correct details in place) which both Amex and I had to hunt down – it seems I cannot win!

[marshy11]

This is now resolved. The amount appeared as both debit and credit on my FD account. I then repaid using the phone service which wasn’t quite instant but with the intervention of the call operator it appeared. I am not paying by any ‘clever’ process, merely using my FD debit card.

I too have had issue with BT so prefer not to pay that way as it has been unreliable more than once from two different banks.