You may often wonder what does pending mean in banking. It would refer to the payment or deposit made to the bank. The bank would be aware of the payment or deposit and process it. Rest assured, a deposit would not reflect instantly in your bank balance. Therefore, you might be at risk of overdrawing your account if you spend the deposit or payment thinking it to be processed completely.
Pending charges and deposits
When you access your bank account over the phone or online, the chances of you encountering some charges and deposits as pending would be relatively higher.
Such could be inclusive of check automatic payments, deposits inclusive of payroll charges, or deposits you have made with your debit card. The bank would be aware of such transactions made by you. However, these transactions might not reflect in your total balance. In the event, the deposits have been made to your account, rest assured the money would not be available for you to withdraw or spend until the transaction has been finalized by the bank.
At times, most of the amount, but not all of it, especially from a huge deposit made in the bank would be made available instantly and the remainder would be listed as pending.
Do you have queries about the reason for a time-consuming transaction to finish processing? Consider contacting your bank.
Risk of overdraft
Do you have a pending deposit listed on your account? It would be in your best interest not to spend the money thinking it to be in your account. In the event, you spend the money; you would be at risk of overdraft provided your balance goes into negative figures.
Alternatively, for an individual having pending charges to his or her account, such funds would be deducted from the balance amount. Ensure you do not spend more than you have in your account.
Moreover, it would be imperative to remember that pending transactions would not be processed in any specific order. If one transaction has been initiated earlier, it does not imply it would be finished earlier than the other transaction. Therefore, you should not assume that any deposit would complete processing the transaction before a later withdrawal or charge when determining the amount of money you have to spend.
Unlisted pending transactions
There may be a few transactions made possible to your bank account that may not be listed on the portal of your online account. For example, you may have issued a check to someone and that individual has not taken it to the bank or you could have bought something with your debit card that has not been reflected in your bank account.
You might have an automatic debit set up from any recurring expense, for instance, your car payment, which has not yet been withdrawn. Alternatively, you may have dropped checks or cash in the ATM or deposit box after the working hours of the bank. In such an event, it would be processed on the following working day.
If you were confused, about how much money has been made available in your account for you to spend, you would require to consider the current balance along with the incomplete transactions inclusive of debit card deposits or purchases and outstanding checks.
