Available balance in my HSBC bank account?

Question

Right, this is slightly complicated. im with HSBC bank, and im 17. today at 11am i deposited £50, to make an online purchase for some clothes, for £45 in total. SO i made the purchase, but then changed my mind within aboout 3 minutes! so i rang up and they said i have 30 mins to cancel, so i did. this was around mid day. the lady on the phone said my order was cancelled. so instead of getting the clothes online, i decided to go to my local shopping mall, and i got their, went to withdraw my money again, and it said that I have £57, but only £12 is "available". so i couldnt take the money out. what does this mean? my online order was cancelled within 10 minutes. iv checked just now online and it says the same. would it be that when they cancelled the order, it takes 24 hours for my money to go back in?

Answer 1

When you make a purchase, a hold is automatically put on those funds.  That's why you can "see" the money in your balance but it is not available.

Hopefully, it will only take 24 hours for the money to become available but it's difficult to say as all banks do their own thing.  

You should contact the bank and ask them but they may not be able to say for sure.  If anyone could call and get a hold dropped off an account, there would be no point to the holds for a purchase.

Good luck.