Tesco apologises after taking £120 out of customers’ available bank balances but won’t stop doing it

Tesco has apologised after taking £120 from customers' available bank balance.

The supermarket giant has changed the way it carries out card transactions at its petrol stations, which has led to a bit of panic.

As most of you will know, when you go to fill your car up, you can either pay at the pump or go to the till.

If you choose the former, you have to enter your card details at the pump, with the shop taking the money directly from your account once you're done.

However, in a slight tweak to the system, Tesco has now started processing payments of up to £120, taking it from the available balance in customers' accounts.

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If the customer has less than £120 in their account, a smaller limit will be set, with the difference being returned almost immediately if they spend less.

At least that's how it's meant to work.

But the change has not gone down well with some drivers.

Taking to X, one customer contacted Tesco directly to see what was going on after they saw their account was over £100 lighter.

"@Tesco can you tell me why you have taken out £120 from my bank when I put in £20 petrol," they wrote.

"Money still not back in my account 24 hours later."

Responding to the understandably miffed motorist, Tesco explained that it had recently introduced the new payment method.

"I'm very sorry for any concern this has caused!" a spokesperson for the supermarket said.

"We've changed the way we pre-authorise your fuel payment due to changes to payment rules by Visa and Mastercard.

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"We now contact your bank and pre-authorise up to £120 for your fuel payment."

The spokesperson went on: "The funds are reserved while you fill up and should be released back to your available balance almost immediately.

"If you continue to see a pending transaction on your banking, please contact your card issuer who will be able to help further."

This comes after Tesco shoppers were urged to use up the £16 million worth of Clubcard vouchers that were set to expire yesterday (30 November).

These vouchers will have been issued all the way back in November 2021.

Emma Botton, Tesco Group Customer Director, told the Independent: “We want to help customers’ household budgets stretch further right now and Clubcard is the best way to get great value with Tesco.

“With more than £16m worth of Clubcard vouchers due to expire at the end of November, we’re reminding customers to spend them now – or even use them to get ahead with some early Christmas shopping.”