Well, interestingly, this morning the £2 inexplicable debits on my CC account are still pending this whereas the actual payments for items has been  now added to my balance...a quick calculation indicates those £1s have not and still remain as pending so I have to assume they were deleted from my balance and wont be added going forward.

I haven't felt well enough for stressful phone calls today so haven't spoken to anyone at Lloyds but looking at my online account today  am thinking all is likely well and I wont be charged. Obvs that is the main concern.  I suppose it's not dissimilar to the way petrol stations now 'reserve' an amount, albeit in their case far far more then £1, but which is never actually taken and goes 'unreserved' as soon as you've paid for the actual amount of petrol pumped into your car.

I have in my own mind made some kind of sense of this and so now plan to just ignore it should it happen again.  I hope this is usesful also for you to get your head around.

Why is everything so fraught and complicated nowadays...I am left wondering about that though 🙄  J

The £1 charges are pre-authorisation holds initiated by PayPal when a credit card is used. They will never actually be authorised so the £1 payments will never actually leave your account; the hold just falls off after a few days.

 

This thread might be useful - there have been many similar threads since the end of last year.

Thanks , this is the first possible real answer, although I have spoken to PayPal, and they swear it isn't them, and they can't see any £1 charges on their system on my PP account

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Thankyou yes, but it was just surprising that it keeps on happening on websites and traders where it's already occurred and that didn't seem to make any sense. But yes as you point out it does seem eventually to fall off..it still baffles me why on some purchases it doesn't ever seem to occur but on others randomly......

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@ninaursa wrote:
Thanks , this is the first possible real answer, although I have spoken to PayPal, and they swear it isn't them, and they can't see any £1 charges on their system on my PP account

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PayPal may say that it isn't them but it has to be them as these pending pre-authorisatuon charges can only be initiated/triggered by the merchant.  When you pay for an item using a debit/credit card linked to your PayPal account then PayPal is effectively the merchant in terms of that payment. 

 

The charges will never actuslly appear on or be linked to your PayPal account in any way as it is just something that happens in the background as part of the payment process.

That would explain why my bank Nat West couldn't see anything and had no explanation.
They all deny having anything to do with it, the bank, PayPal and Ebay.

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Well to me this just epitomises the ethos or lack of, of most financial orgs/institutions nowadays....never accept responsibility, or simply deny all knowledge.

Ever tried obtaining a large amount of cash from the bank who are holding it for you.  Aint happening withouot a massive song and dance...and despite their claim this is to protect you, that's utter BS and is all about covering their own backs.  I regard it as theft and have called the police when it happened to me before now.  I nearly lost out on an important cash purchase because of their idiocy before they capitulated.....

Yes, me and my partner both had problems with taken larger amounts of cash out.
You called the police, wow, respect!
I wouldn't have dared to do that.
Did they help?

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🤣  I was actually shaking inside and terrified...I'm old fashioned, anything police scares me witless in truth !

 

I kept thinking what've I done...and other people were starting at me as I spoke much too loudly like a proper  Karen...the staff shuffled us all into a back room where I just plainly spoke my truth and bank teller glared at me all the while.  In the end the police sort of mitigated only but the staff DID allow me to withdraw the money if I produced evidence of purchase which I just happened to have in my handbag. After that I obviously closed my account and wrote an appalling review.  More recently I also had a transfer to my own daughter blocked and when I called up this ghastly woman said 'it sounds like a scam to me'.  On this occasion I lost it I'm afraid and shouted down the phone and told her I'd be reporting her and closing that account.  Next morning the account had been unblocked and I was able to make the transfer.  I dont know, maybe I have the face of some sort of criminal...who knows. 🤔   But I mean, juist how dare they ????

Good on you!
You took a stand and got what was your right.

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