Abbey - extended cheque clearance?

Innocent_Guy

Hi Guys,

FYI - I had the same issue with Abbey. I paid in a cheque of £6000 and they decided to send this for "extended clearance" When I complained, they advised me that it was a security measure.

I managed to get them to clear this buy sending them a fax, which was a letter on headed paper stating where the cheque had come from.

When they received this I had access to the funds immediatly.

HTH

Joe65_2

agsnu wrote: »

I'm confused - are you saying Abbey don't follow 2-4-6, because that's hard to believe.

In this computerised day and age it's totally unbelievable that people still pay anything by cheque...

Well Actually... it's a lot less stressful just handing over a cheque and let the recipient bank go collect the funds, than have to make tripple sure You got all the digits right on the Electronic Payment instruction, and then wait (up to) 3 more Days before knowing for sure they sent it to the right place.

(& eg. Lloyds gives instant interest on up £1K of cheques paid in each day) .

... but perhaps better for moving Out of, rather than In to the offending bank in question.

willo65

jane271 wrote: »

Having massive problems, paid a large cheque in on Saturday, counted Monday as first day, expected it to be cleared today at latest (normally would have been cleared on Thursday), not cleared, called in told wouldn't be cleared until Monday! I pointed out that the website still states it takes 4 days to clear a cheque. Not impressed at all.

In all fairness the cheque can still bounce until the end of business on the 6th working day so if you get access to it before then this is a bonus and although standard practice if you paying a large cheque which is not usual for the account then the bank has a responsibility to protect itself and shareholders from loss through cheque fraud.

It also says in their T&C's "The timescales given in this table are for guidance purposes only and illustrate when we aim to make funds available to you."

PBA

agsnu wrote: »

I'm confused - are you saying Abbey don't follow 2-4-6, because that's hard to believe.

Abbey do follow 246, they used to allow withdrawals on day 3 but too many fraudsters knew this was an easy way round the system, so now it's day 4. Where the cheque is particularly large or is unusual for the account then withdrawals may be extended.

In general, the problem here is with the way cheques are processed centrally. Banks don't get positive confirmation when a cheque has cleared, so have to take steps to protect themselves.

Ashley208

I'm still spitting bullets after having a conversation with Abbey business banking earlier today and this evening.
This is why - Last Friday I paid in 4 Building society cheques (2 from Alliance and Liecester) into my 2 accounts with abbey - 2 to my personal account for just over £500 and 2 to my business account for just under £8000.
The £500 cleared yesterday, but the £8000 should be cleared tonight at midnight - AND AVAILABLE MONDAY!!!!!!
The biggest problem being I've signed out cheques from this account on the understanding that the funds would be available today, so they'll even try and profit £96.00 for bouncing them! Even when I complained about this unfair practice the answer I got was that the larger cheques were "selected for extra clearence as a fraud prevention method". When I pointed out that they were building society cheques, one from another arm of Santander it didn't seem to make much difference.
Considering I'm about to invest a considerable amount of money in the next few weeks this is a really poor show and I shall be writing to the Banking Ombudsman (fat lot of good that'll do, but I'll try anyway).
Glad I'm emigrating in September....

weboliver

I had a problem paying in a cheque for 3k - luckily I asked at the counter when it would cleared and they put a note on my statement. I complained before the cheque eventually cleared and their credit they gave me £25. They wouldn't have given me anything if it wasn't for the statement. I was very lucky that I asked.

starsailor123uk

Abbey are a shocking bank ( I regret ever going near them ) Note to MSE remove them from your top cash ISA as they are a nightmare

Transferred ISA Cheque from other provider took 15 days from being sent to appearing on my account

Then they placed extended clearance on a cheque drawn on another provider.

Total nightmare and will be moving it a.s.a.p ( as soon as I can work out if and when I can do it without losing tax free status! )

debbie_carney

5 months ago I tried to make a purchase over the telephone using my abbey debit card (deposit for my daughters wedding dress) the transaction was refused and I had to go into the store to chip and pin the payment which was accepted no problem at all. 2 days later I tried to pay for insurance on my car on the internet and my card was declined, this happened for 2 days and 4 telephone calls to the abbey followed before it was identified that a stop had been put on my cards due to the attempt to use my card when I was not present in a store - I can go along with the anti fraud element and the abbey putting their system into place I can not go along with the fact no one else other than the faceless fraud department knew why my cards had been stopped and I certainly didnt. My account has now been put as a high risk account my wages cheque which has been paid into the abbey account for the same amount from the same company for 4 years is subject to EXTENDED CLEARANCE. I have spoken to the abbey and I am now at the stage of a formal complaint as no one in any department or branch can tell me when I pay a cheque in the branch how long it will take to clear, all I get is it may be 5 days, it could be anytime up to 14 days but not sure. I was also told total lies around the fact if it is a regular payment it will be cleared, I have spoken both on the telephone and at branch level and been given no help whatsoever as to how I can change this, the abbey offered me an overdraft facility so my mortgage (to the abbey)would be cleared 10 days after my wages cheque is not cleared. This is just not acceptable the fact they will not try and give any answers or try to help it to be sorted in any way at all, oh and the money leaves the company account in the normal time, the abbey just holds on to it for 2 weeks!!! I am at the end of my tether now and feel my only option is to close my 3 accounts with the abbey, change my mortgage, house, life and contents insurance all with the abbey. The abbey have been told all this and are not one bit intrested all I was told in the branch today was the number of customers we have and how big they are - too big for their boots I say - any suggestions of what I can do would be helpful! I tried the fax system of showing my wages slips and getting it cleared and they have said point blank no no no, I am sick to death of their lies now