There is an unpleasant bug in the “Quick Payments System” – your money can hang up no one knows where and for how long

Many marketplaces, online stores and brick-and-mortar stores accept payments through the Faster Payments System (FPS). This is convenient, because you do not need to enter your card details (and in the case of offline payment, attach the card to the terminal), just launch the bank application and scan the QR code.

As it turned out, the SBP does not work as reliably as traditional payment systems (like Visa, Mastercard and even Mir), and in the event of failures, the money may not reach the seller. For example, over the weekend, the Tinkoff mobile app had a warning that transfers by phone number were temporarily unavailable, but the problems also affected payments through the SBP using QR codes.

Money was debited from the account, but the stores did not record the purchases, and transactions are still marked as requiring verification. Different banks have their own terms for verifying payments, usually the operation is approved within a few days, and if problems arise, this period can be delayed up to a month. All this time, the money will be frozen on the account, that is, you will not be able to use it.

Tinkoff support replied that the operation could not be disputed, and the seller had to be contacted for a refund. The seller, in turn, did not see this transaction, because due to a failure, the money did not reach him. A more serious investigation is required: the store needs to analyze which payments did not go through on a certain date, and draw up an appeal to the National Payment Card System (SBP operator) with an application for a refund to the buyer. Getting through to the support of the marketplace is a separate quest.

The store may not display a notification about an error when making a payment, the order will simply be lost – you will not find it in your personal account. Most likely, contacting the store support with this problem will speed up the refund. Otherwise, the money may remain frozen for several weeks before it is returned to your bank balance. It is one thing when it is a purchase for a few hundred rubles, and it is much more unpleasant to lose a larger amount, especially if you will not be able to re-order due to lack of money.