This might be a longish post but i feel it might help with some answers i need.

Basically i was changing banks after my old one p:@@ed me off, so at the new bank we filled in all the right paperwork to change the Direct debits over. All was fine until i tried to transfer the balance from old to new bank, it kept saying i didnt have the funds!

So off i went to the old bank yesterday to close the accounts down and get the outstanding balance. This account is only used for house bills and never for buying online or at a shop EXCEPT i pay my gas bill quarterly online from my main home pc, which has upto date anti virus and i keep an eye on it anyway for unknown hidden tasks. So at the bank we find out that at exactly the same time i paid my gas bill last week online an additional payment of £1 was waiting to be cleared and the address was the USA??? The bank wasnt too interested as i was leaving them but gave me all my money except the £1 that was awaiting clearance.

So, what i want to know is the payment of £1 a fraud attempt or a charge from british gas that i dont know about? Even if i had a keystroke logger installed on my PC they wouldnt be able to use it so quickly or at all due to the payment using the additional Visa varify which for those who dont know is a second passworded check on payment where they ask for 'first, third, last ect' letters of the password.

Should i be worried about this or not?

not if you've closed the account. it is weird tho.

If I had a pound for every time someone has asked me this...

There are some services where they do a credit check, say when paying by credit card. It usually involves a £1 transaction that is then reversed almost instantly after.

Hotels seem to do this quite a lot, its something to do with making sure you have a valid card or sufficient reserve for you additional charges (e.g. sloshing down the mini bar).

I bet there is a lot on t'internet about it.

could be, i was thinking it was a hack and an attempt to take £1, if that worked they would have taken more. But good job i closed the account.

The bank clerk didnt care much! Everytime i used my own account from the bank we have just moved our other accounts too for anything overseas i get an automated call to check it was legit.

Sound's like my bank, which I'm in the process of leaving. A 'fraud check' phone call every time I buy anything and all cards stopped until I jump through their hoops! Also having to phone them if I'm abroad to be able to use card. PITA! Oh and for the record it's santander.