Fast payment scheme and American Express

RonnieCollins

I have been merrily using my Amex card (with cash back bet deal as Martin told us!) and paid it last month on line from my First Direct account. I always use the "to arrive by" option when paying bills so it leaves my account as late as possible to arrive there on the date due. I did this last month for the Amex bill and was shocked to see a late payment fee and interest charge on my July Amex bill.
It seems that Amex have not subscribed to the fast payment scheme - but FD seems to have included them!
Amex have refunded my late fee but refuse to reimburse the interest (£53 I am not impressed!).
Both FD and Ames say "make sure you send it earlier next month! DOH yeah no sh** Sherlock I had figured that one out!
So guys be warned - fast payment is great but not all of them have signed up.
Are Amex alone?
naturally I am still going to do battle with FD to try and get reimbursed but not optimistic - any ideas?
Cheers
Ronnie

skyrider007

You may find it useful to check the FP compatibility before making payment at http://www.apacs.org.uk/sortcodechecker/index.html

Milarky

Can you clarify. Did Amex refund the late payment fee by way of 'goodwill' or did they admit an error in applying it? I can't see them ever admitting they have made a 'mistake' to cause you a loss however because they weren't responsible for the timing in any way.

First Direct may had misled you as to the timescale (was it a future dated payment request?) in which case - if you set it up originally early enough to have gone via BACS you have a potential claim - because you might have epected them to schedule for BACS. But if you requested payment within the '3 days' required by BACS then you are responsible for not complying with AMEX. In other words, in that case, FD could not be liable for a failiure of the payment to reach the account in time.

Good luck though

agsnu

Hmm... Paying credit card accounts sometimes takes a certain amount of time above and beyond normal BACS clearing times (often a day - 3 days to clear into the receiving bank account, then overnight clear through into your credit card account). The American Express literature should tell you how many days you should allow.

You may very well have a case against First Direct's online banking being misleading, though.

lijaloo

Same this has happened to me. Direct Line advised me to contact American Express which I did. First of all I was told by American Express that they knew nothing about faster payments and then that it is becasue Lloyds TSB doesn't accept faster payments which is incorrect. It turns out that American Express uses Lloyds TSB to collect their payments. The sort code on the payment slip identifies an account which accepts faster payments. You can check this out on the APACS website. http://www.apacs.org.uk/
After several calls to American Express, each time being given a different excuse, I was even advised that as American Express is not a bank they can't accept faster payments, rubbish, I am not a bank yet I can receive a faster payement into my account. I was even told that American Express has informed all banks that they do not accept faster payment. Pity they didn't tell their receiveing bank or customers.

I have made a formal complaint to American Express. The money was received into their holding account on the due date. Its not my fault that it takes them three days to update their records. I have informed them that I am therefore witholding the late payment fee and interest charge until it is sorted out.

Righthook

I've just got off the phone to Amex who have promised to credit back the late payment fee in my next bill, neither do they seem to have applied any interest - good on them!

I'm very upset with First Direct though, who insist that Amex are part of the same day payment system, even though Amex insist they're not. The supervisor I spoke to said, apparently, that people making payments to Amex were now being advised that payment 'may take longer because of Amex's systems'. I'm going to test this in a minute. Doesn't help if you bank online though does it.

jonesMUFCforever

A direct debit for the minimum amount is all that's needed to avoid all this hassle.

Xerxes

I, too, have been hit with this and told exactly the same line with FD bank being blamed by Amex.

As an earlier posting commented, the faster payment system is accepted by FD and Lloyds TSB the two banks involved and so the funds hit Amex's account at Lloyds TSB on the same day. It is not a question of whether Amex has joined Faster Payments, it's simply that if their bankers have then the amount hits Amex's bank account within 2 hours of sending.

Surely, since Amex has a bank account with Lloyds TSB and our funds arrive on or by the due date then Amex has been paid. Legal? Others views?

The issue seems to be that Amex processing cycle to get the money into our Amex accounts takes place a day or more later. Is there anywhere in Amex Ts &Cs where it says the money has to be lodged against my account in Amex's system. I can't find it.

Anyone have a different view?

Sun

I have Llyods TSB card and I just scheduled a payment from FD current acccount and fund arrival date after 3 days (means not using FPS!).

System

lijaloo wrote: »

I have informed them that I am therefore witholding the late payment fee and interest charge until it is sorted out.

Be careful about doing this as it could affect your credit file and credit rating and it's not easy to put right.

Regards
UNDERGROUND

baby_frogmella

WOO HOO! Looks like Amex accept faster payments now. Just made a payment to my green card from my First Direct current account and system told me payment will reach same day. Also entering 30-00-00 in the sort code checker states that incoming FP's are accepted. Now when will Halifax cards accept FP....