Natwest CHAPS

Enji_Benji

Hi there,

I sent a payment by CHAPS from my Natwest account. It's going to Bangkok Bank in London (they have an international branch). Natwest and Bangkok Bank have some kind of connection.

Basically, I had to send a payment by CHAPS to Bangkok Bank in London, who will then receive it and credit the payment to a Bangkok Bank account. The payment MUST be there by Monday and this is why I used this service, as it was explained to me by someone in Bangkok Bank whom I called before that...

.. if the payment was made before 3pm in UK, it would be credited to the account instantly once they receive it.

So, the payment got sent at around 2:40pm. I called Bangkok Bank in London to ask if they have received it about 1 hour after, however they hadn't received it. I checked my bank account online and the CHAPS payment has come off - so the money isn't in my account anymore.

So, I'm wondering if that means that Natwest have closed their CHAPS or something before 3pm which to me, is unlikely. Or, the money has been lost or something?

When I was in Natwest bank, I called Bangkok Bank in London and gave the phone to the lady who was doing the transfer in Natwest who had everything explained to her as she was a bit confused about sending by CHAPS to Bangkok Bank.

Basically, i'm just wondering why Bangkok Bank hadn't received it if CHAPS is supposed to be instant. Also, I know that some Natwest branches are open tomorrow - including mines. If the problem is because Natwest, would they send it tomorrow or do they not deal with CHAPS payments on weekends?

Bangkok bank is closed at weekends, and, like I said, the money NEEDS to be in the Bangkok bank account by Monday so i'm worrying a bit.

Appreciate help
Thanks

charlieboycat

My recollections of having made a CHAPS payment from a NatWest account are:

1 - All the branch do is fill in a form, get you to sign it, and fax it to one of their "central" offices for implementation.

2 - The time that it is actually "sent" is the time the "central" office process the fax.

3 - They tell you that to be sure of same-day processing the fax should be sent before 1pm.



However, given that you can see that the funds have left NatWest today then they should have hit the destination account today. Provided the destination a/c no, sort code and your personal reference were correctly input by the NatWest "central" office then someone at the receiving bank/branch will no doubt process the incoming receipt and (by virtue of the personal reference) allocate it to your account in Bangkok.

The timing of that allocation will depend on the systems in place at the receiving bank/branch. If they have a self-imposed 3pm cut-off for making such allocations and the funds only arrived from NatWest shortly after 3pm then allocation to your account in Bankok may not take place until Monday (UK time).

Enji_Benji

thanks very much for that reply.

I just got told about CHAPS transfer having to be in by 2pm at a certain bank. In your reply, you said 1pm. Guess I was just a bit late.

Any how, feeling a little bit less worried now.

charlieboycat

Enji_Benji wrote: »

Any how, feeling a little bit less worried now.

Good for you. I hope it works out for you ok by Monday.

cottager

Done several CHAPS payments from Natwest over the past year, and am always told at the desk the cut-off time (for them sending the faxed form to the processing centre) is 3 p.m. They're more stringent now about checking ID and getting someone 'higher up' in the branch to authorise the payment before faxing, so always tell me to allow enough time for this and not dash in with 10 mins to spare and expect it to get away by 3, but 3 was certainly still the deadline for Natwest 2-3 months ago (it's earlier in some banks). Unless it's changed very recently you should have been fine if it was sent at 2:40... assuming all the details on the form were filled in correctly.

Enji_Benji

cottager wrote: »

Done several CHAPS payments from Natwest over the past year, and am always told at the desk the cut-off time (for them sending the faxed form to the processing centre) is 3 p.m. They're more stringent now about checking ID and getting someone 'higher up' in the branch to authorise the payment before faxing, so always tell me to allow enough time for this and not dash in with 10 mins to spare and expect it to get away by 3, but 3 was certainly still the deadline for Natwest 2-3 months ago (it's earlier in some banks). Unless it's changed very recently you should have been fine if it was sent at 2:40... assuming all the details on the form were filled in correctly.

Thanks for the reply.

As I said before, the payment was getting sent to Bangkok Bank in London to credit the Thai bank account in Thailand. Again, the lady in Natwest was confused a bit so I offered my phone to her and she talked with another lady working in the Bangkok bank. The only thing that she needed to do in the form on the computer (that influenced where the payment was going to) was to select the bank that the money was going to and their account number - I gave their SWIFT code as well but i'm not sure if it was needed. The other details such the account the money was going into were also filled in correctly. However, even if the account that it was going to was not filled in correctly, Bangkok Bank in London still hadn't received the transfer even though the money was taken from my bank account.

I called Natwest yesterday and they said it might have been too late, but given that the money was taken from my account this was a good thing (or something like that). The person I was talking to said because I done it at the time I did, then the other bank might not have received it until right at the end of the day.

Anyway, I'll find out tomorrow morning.

I've made a few bad decisions in my life, but paying natwest £25 for this CHAPS transfer, then possibly having to pay Bangkok Bank £20 or so ontop of that is definately one of the most stupid decisions I've made considering it could have been sent instantly via western union for £27! :mad::T

:rotfl:


edit: instantly.. now there's a word i've heard before

jonesMUFCforever

Sounds to me like you wanted to make an International payment but Nat West either misunderstood or did not know differently.
This could get messy.
First of all under the new regulations payments to some countries can take up to 12 days - you left it very late in any case.

If i have read your post correctly you have asked NW to send money to Bangkok bank in London - how will you then authorise further payment to Thai account?
You have no connection or authority to ask them to send it further - without it being an international payment.

Enji_Benji

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

Sounds to me like you wanted to make an International payment but Nat West either misunderstood or did not know differently.
This could get messy.
First of all under the new regulations payments to some countries can take up to 12 days - you left it very late in any case.

If i have read your post correctly you have asked NW to send money to Bangkok bank in London - how will you then authorise further payment to Thai account?
You have no connection or authority to ask them to send it further - without it being an international payment.

Sending like this is the exact same way as it would be to send by BACS(?) which I done before? The only reason I done it this was was because BACS last time took 3 working days and I only had 1 full working day this time. It still got sent to Bangkok Bank - doesn't matter whether it is based in UK or Thailand?

As for Natwest misunderstanding, that is my concern. I thought that perhaps Natwest sent the payment to Bangkok Bank in Thailand. However, if this was done then it would have been another SWIFT code used. The one I gave the Natwest member, and the one that was given to her over the phone, was the SWIFT code for the bank based in London.

I can't remember if a SWIFT code was used or not when the lady in Natwest was filling out the details on the computer.

edit: Should say, Bangkok Bank and Natwest are 'corresponding' banks or something. They are connected in some way or other.

cottager

Were you given a copy of the CHAPS form which was faxed from Natwest? -- I've always been given one as a matter of course. I really hope you won't need it, but...

Enji_Benji

cottager wrote: »

Were you given a copy of the CHAPS form which was faxed from Natwest? -- I've always been given one as a matter of course. I really hope you won't need it, but...

yeah, still got it.

i'll phone Bangkok Bank at 9:30am tomorrow when they open to see if they have it.

hopefully no problems - only a student so i can't afford nor can be arsed with losing any amount of money, especially one that consists of 3 digits.

If there is a problem i hope i'll be able to get the money back. Like I said, I gave the right account number, name and details to send it to - so surely if something did go wrong, it won't be through fault of my own but through Natwest's for not knowing what to do. Once again, Natwest and Bangkok bank are corresponding banks/connected banks or whatever so it's up to them to know the procedures.

jonesMUFCforever

But it would be up to you to say 'I want to do an International payment' or 'I want to do a CHAPS payment' - don't rely on NW staff being able to tell the difference.
If the ultimate destination is abroad then IMO you needed to do an International Payment.