Current vs Available balance

[mercurial]

I'm a bit confused ATM. How does this work? I need to purchase something, but I want to transfer some funds from my credit card to my cheque account (and I have been doing this online with ABSA), but my current balance is not the same as my available balance. Does my current balance need to be the same as the available before I can transfer the majority of it?

 

[Peder]

afaik current balance is the total balance in the account, and available balance is the amount you can actually use

the total balance is there for bank costs etc, also for a safeguard for the bank...

It also holds why a cheque is busy clearing.

 

[Guji]

the current balance also includes your overdraft facility

 

[johndoe1983]

don't do it! save!!!

lol

 

[mercurial]

Got it sorted. Thanks.

 

[guest2013-1]

Yes, Available balance reflects the amount that you're able to use now. If the current balance is more than the available balance it means that there's a cheque or credit amount that still needs to be "cleared" before it become available to use.

Usually takes 24 hours for a credit card to show any incoming money from the day before, even if it's inter account transfer

 

[InTheCube]

AFAIK, credit card pre-authorisations reduce your available balance, but not your current balance. Credit Card pre-authorisations are often used as a security measure, so that a supplier is guaranteed to get the funds from your account, if and when necessary, although your account is not charged immediately.

If you cancel a pre-authorisation, or a pre-authorisation gets converted to proper debit charge, then your current balance and available balance will become the same again.

This is how it worked for me when checking into a hotel overseas. Instead of asking for a deposit, they just pre-authorise your credit card.

 

[Ou grote]

If you currently have R1000 in your account and a credit limit of R5000, you have R6000 available.

 

[MrJacques]

I'm also a bit confused.

On the app I can see some pending transactions which don't show on the website. The website doesn't list them in the transaction history or under pending transactions. In the detailed balance section there's an amount for 'outstanding card authorization', but that doesn't add up to the difference the pending transactions in the app add up to. I'll check again in a few days to see if all the pending transactions have gone through and what the total was.