What Is TGTG on My Bank Statement?
TGTG is Too Good To Go, the app that sells surplus food from cafés, bakeries, restaurants and supermarkets at a reduced price. Each charge is a single order collected from a shop — it is not a subscription and it does not bill monthly.
The bit that causes most of the confusion: the descriptor carries a random-looking order code rather than the shop's name. You collected a bag from a bakery; your statement says TGTG followed by a string like qa1xjqsyq1qv0, which is an internal order reference and means nothing to you.
At a glance
- TGTG means
- Too Good To Go
- What it is
- Surplus food app, discounted bags
- Billing
- One charge per order
- Subscription?
- No, never recurring
- Odd code in descriptor
- Internal order reference
- Charge with no order
- Usually an authorisation hold
How it works
Shops with unsold food at the end of the day list it in the app as a bag at a reduced price. You pay in the app, then collect in person during a set window. The shop's name appears in the app, but the payment is taken by Too Good To Go, so their name is the one that reaches your bank.
That is the whole explanation for most people: you remember the bakery, and your statement remembers the app.
The descriptor
Expect something along the lines of TGTG plus a payment method marker such as AppPay, followed by a long alphanumeric string.
That string is an order identifier tied to one specific pickup. It is not a reference you need to decode — but it does mean each charge maps to exactly one order in your app history, which makes checking straightforward.
It is never a subscription
Worth stating plainly, because people often assume an unfamiliar recurring-looking charge must be a membership.
Too Good To Go does not run a subscription model. If you are seeing several TGTG charges, they are several separate orders — possibly by someone else in the household using a shared card.
A charge with no order against it
This is the case Too Good To Go documents on its own help site, and it is usually not a real charge at all.
When you start a purchase, your bank reserves the funds to check they are available. That authorisation hold can appear in your statement or app as though money has gone, even if the order did not complete. Your bank releases it automatically, typically within a few working days.
So: a pending-looking TGTG amount with no matching order is most likely a hold that will disappear on its own. Check again after a few days before treating it as a problem.
How to check it in a minute
Open the app and look at your order history. Every genuine charge corresponds to an order with a date, a shop and an amount.
Match the amount, not the name. Bags are usually small round-ish amounts, and the shop name will be in the app rather than on the statement.
Ask who else uses the card. Too Good To Go is exactly the kind of app a partner or older child uses on a shared card without mentioning it.
Is it a scam?
No. Too Good To Go is a well-established app operating across the UK and Europe, and the descriptor is legitimate.
If your app shows no orders at all, no holds pending, and nobody in the household uses it, then the question is not about Too Good To Go — it is about who has your card details.
If the order went wrong
The app has its own process for this, and it is the right first stop: bags not available on collection, shops closed early, or an order you could not pick up.
Refunds are handled in the app rather than by the shop, because Too Good To Go took the payment.
If that fails, a card claim is the fallback — chargeback on a debit card, usually within 120 days.
If you never used the app
Treat it as an unrecognised card payment rather than an app query. Your bank must refund an unauthorised payment by the end of the next working day, and your liability before you report it is capped at £35.
Small food-app charges are a common way to test whether stolen card details still work, so a modest amount is not a reason to wait and see.
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🛡️ Build your recovery plan
Tick what applies to you. The order below is deliberate: most of these organisations will ask for your Action Fraud reference number, so doing it in this sequence saves you making the same call twice.
Nothing ticked yet: the steps below are the ones that apply to everyone. Tick a box above to add the rest.
- 1
Report it to Action Fraud and get your crime reference number
Action Fraud: the national reporting centre for fraud
- Onlinereportfraud.police.uk
- Phone0300 123 2040
Do this second, and do it before you contact anyone else. Almost every organisation in this list (lenders, credit reference agencies, debt collectors) will ask for the crime reference number Action Fraud gives you, and without it you end up making the same call twice. It also creates the official record you'll rely on if you have to dispute anything later. Expect an update within 28 working days, though that's about the investigation, not about clearing your name; that part is on you and starts now.
Have ready: What happened and roughly when · Any account or reference numbers involved
- 2
Get all three credit reports and read every line
Experian, Equifax and TransUnion
- Experian0800 013 8888
- Equifax0800 014 2955
- TransUnion0330 024 7574
All three, not one. Lenders report to different agencies, so a fraudulent account can sit on one file and be invisible on the others: checking a single report is the most common way people miss the second and third account. You're looking for accounts you didn't open, searches you didn't authorise, and addresses linked to your name that you've never lived at. That last one matters more than it sounds: a linked address you don't recognise is often how the fraud was set up in the first place.
Have ready: Your addresses for the last six years
- 3
Add a CIFAS protective registration
CIFAS: the UK fraud prevention service
- Onlinecifas.org.uk
- Phone0330 460 9601
This puts a warning flag against your name in the National Fraud Database, so member organisations run extra identity checks before granting credit in your name. It costs £30 and lasts two years. It does not affect your credit score, and it doesn't touch accounts you already hold, but it will make your own applications slower, which is the trade-off. If someone has your details, that's usually a trade worth making. Note that not every application is checked against the database, so treat it as a strong deterrent rather than a lock.
- 4
Check you're on the electoral register at the right address
Your local council
A quick one that's worth doing while you're here. The electoral roll is one of the main ways lenders confirm you live where you say you do, and being missing from it both weakens your own applications and makes it easier for someone to claim your identity elsewhere.
- 5
Escalate if you get nowhere
Financial Ombudsman Service, or the ICO
- Financial Ombudsman0800 023 4567
- ICOico.org.uk
If a bank refuses to refund you, or a lender won't remove an entry it has accepted is fraudulent, complain to the firm first and give it eight weeks. After that, or as soon as you get a final response, take it to the Financial Ombudsman. It's free and its decisions bind the firm. Where the argument is specifically about inaccurate data staying on your credit file, the Information Commissioner's Office can also look at it. Both routes cost you nothing.
- 6
Close the door behind you
You
Change passwords on your email account first, not your banking: email is the master key, because it's where password resets land. Turn on two-factor authentication wherever it's offered. If documents were lost or stolen, report the passport or driving licence to the issuing body so it can be flagged. And set a reminder to re-check your credit reports in three months: fraudulent applications sometimes surface long after the original breach.
Contact details and process reflect Action Fraud, CIFAS, the credit reference agencies and National Debtline guidance for England and Wales. Scotland reports fraud through Police Scotland on 101 rather than Action Fraud; the rest of the process is the same. General information, not legal advice: free, independent help is available from National Debtline, Citizens Advice and StepChange.
