Santander / A&L "Extended Clearance" Scam

hallmark

I paid a 5-figure cheque into my A&L current account on 13th August. Still hasn't cleared. Just rang to find out why & was told that because it was "so high" it's subject to "extended clearance" & instead of clearing on 17th August as a "normal" cheque would it won't clear until 24th August!

This is a vanilla transaction, a cheque from my current account with a different bank into my A&L current account.

11 days to clear?

And needless to say there was no mention of this at the cashier when paying in the cheque.

A scam pure & simple, designed to defraud people out of interest.

Banks often disgust me but this one takes the biscuit.

oldfella

not sure they can do this, cheque clearance times are now fixed - http://www.bba.org.uk/bba/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=263&a=367

bendix

hallmark wrote: »

I paid a 5-figure cheque into my A&L current account on 13th August. Still hasn't cleared. Just rang to find out why & was told that because it was "so high" it's subject to "extended clearance" & instead of clearing on 17th August as a "normal" cheque would it won't clear until 24th August!

This is a vanilla transaction, a cheque from my current account with a different bank into my A&L current account.

11 days to clear?

And needless to say there was no mention of this at the cashier when paying in the cheque.

A scam pure & simple, designed to defraud people out of interest.

Banks often disgust me but this one takes the biscuit.

Why is it a scam? Given the low interest rates - you're putting it into a current account - and the fact it's only a five figure sum, how much do you think you are actually losing by this so called scam?

bendix

oldfella wrote: »

not sure they can do this, cheque clearance times are now fixed - http://www.bba.org.uk/bba/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=263&a=367

And these rules clearly state that the period is six working days.

The OP put the money in on Friday 13th. Saturday 14 and Sunday 15 don't count.

Monday 16 is one day. Tuesday two days. Wednesday 3 days . . you get the drift.

Ergo, for it to be cleared by Tuesday 24th is - woopy doo - exactly six working days.


Well, what do you know? Another scam revealed to be no more than an individual's frustration at not knowing the facts.

YorkshireBoy

bendix wrote: »

And these rules clearly state that the period is six working days.

Isn't it only 4 days (2-4-6) to clear for withdrawal purposes and 6 days to clear for fate, ie in case of fraud, for current accounts?

It's only 6 days (2-6-6) for savings accounts isn't it?

king100

bendix wrote: »

And these rules clearly state that the period is six working days.

The OP put the money in on Friday 13th. Saturday 14 and Sunday 15 don't count.

Monday 16 is one day. Tuesday two days. Wednesday 3 days . . you get the drift.

Ergo, for it to be cleared by Tuesday 24th is - woopy doo - exactly six working days.


Well, what do you know? Another scam revealed to be no more than an individual's frustration at not knowing the facts.

Being picky but if before a certain time he puts the cheque in doesnt that count for 1 working day!!!!!

He cant really complain anyway, surely online transfer thens there is no fuss.

hallmark

bendix wrote: »

And these rules clearly state that the period is six working days.

The OP put the money in on Friday 13th. Saturday 14 and Sunday 15 don't count.

Monday 16 is one day. Tuesday two days. Wednesday 3 days . . you get the drift.

Ergo, for it to be cleared by Tuesday 24th is - woopy doo - exactly six working days.


Well, what do you know? Another scam revealed to be no more than an individual's frustration at not knowing the facts.

Well it was the A&L person I spoke to who said to me "a normal cheque for less would have cleared on Tuesday 17th"

Well, what do you know? Another snotty poster with nothing better to do than have a pop at someone for no reason.


The reason it was going into a current acct was so I could transfer it to the linked savings acct BTW, so it's not the negligible current a/c interest I'm losing (admittedly most interest is fairly negligible these days but that's not the point). I couldn't pay the money direct into the savings acct because I'd only opened it a few days before & wasn't opened fully & accessible when I paid the cheque in.

The reason I didn't online transfer it is the £10K/day limit.

bendix

hallmark wrote: »

Well it was the A&L person I spoke to who said to me "a normal cheque for less would have cleared on Tuesday 17th"

Well, what do you know? Another snotty poster with nothing better to do than have a pop at someone for no reason.


The reason it was going into a current acct was so I could transfer it to the linked savings acct BTW, so it's not the negligible current a/c interest I'm losing (admittedly most interest is fairly negligible these days but that's not the point). I couldn't pay the money direct into the savings acct because I'd only opened it a few days before & wasn't opened fully & accessible when I paid the cheque in.

The reason I didn't online transfer it is the £10K/day limit.

I repeat. Where is the scam?

The BBA guidelines are that you should allow 6 working days for clearance.

Just because you don't understand or like the guidelines, doesn't make it a scam.

hallmark

Firstly: Got a link to those facts?

Secondly: Next Tuesday is 8 working days so what has 6 working days got to do with anything?

bendix

hallmark wrote: »

Firstly: Got a link to those facts?

Secondly: Next Tuesday is 8 working days so what has 6 working days got to do with anything?

Oh dear.

First: The link is in the second post on this thread.

Second: Wrong. Next Tuesday is six working days. You deposited the cheque on Friday 13th. Monday 16th is one working day, Tues 17 is two, Wednesday 18th is three. Thursday 19th is four. Friday 20th (today) is five working days. Monday 23rd is sixth.

The BBA says the funds are guaranteed to be available "at the end of six working days". Ergo, they are available to you on Tuesday 24th.

hallmark

Wow, you really can't count.

The Friday counts as mentioned earlier, that's one.

Mon-Fri the following week is another five.

Tuesday the week after is seven-eight. It'll clear on the 8th working day.

You also don't seem to have an answer for the fact that A&L themselves told me a lesser cheque would have cleared a week earlier i.e. last Tuesday.

You should probably just stop digging.