not allowed to draw on cash paid in??????

opel2000

Hello all, I'm new to this forum, however...........

My wife paid £450 in cash, and a cheque for £4600 into her First Direct account via HSBC.

On arriving home my wife went to use the internet banking to pay her credit card bill, only for her account not to be showing the cash she had just paid in.

On phoning the bank she was told the cash would take a day to clear because it was paid in on the same paying in slip as a cheque :eek: :mad: :mad: :mad:

This sounds pretty damn wrong to me, and I'm currently prompting my wife to take this to as high a level as she can, I would personally love to afford the legal expenses to sue the bank concerned, but.........
Does this procedure sound correct to you ? regarding cash and cheque on the same paying in slip????

Clive

Jim02

Which bank did she phone? HSBC or FD? I wouldn't believe much that HSBC tell you.

Cash should clear straight away -- they tap the amount into their little computer and it shows on your account. You should (in theory) be able to pay cash in, then walk outside and withdraw it all from the ATM 30 seconds later. The paying-in slip is just a record of the transaction, and has no bearing on the clearance time. The cheque might take three days or so to clear (less if from the same bank chain), but the cash should be credited instantly.

Going by various stories on these boards, HSBC customer service etc. is total cr*p, so I'm not surprised you've had problems! It might be worth complaining, but I doubt you'll get much more than an apology, if that.

What would you sue the bank for? Your costs? The inconvenience? That would probably come to about 15 quid. I can't see them giving you punitive damages!

Fatboy_NSS

The explanation sounds wrong, as the cheque should show on the account at the same time as the cash, but would then take a few days to clear.

I must be really bored to have checked this, but section 3.2.2 of the FD T&Cs says that:

When you pay cash into your account at a branch of HSBC Bank, you will be able to withdraw the monies and they will be shown in your balance and available balance immediately. For interest calculation purposes, the cash is taken into account on the day it is paid in.

So looks like FD messed up. If your CC payment was late because you couldn't send it that day then you'd have a good case to claim the fee charged back from FD, but otherwise I'd say there isn't a case for compensation. It's still worth firing off a quick email to them tho, as one of their staff must have messed up (prob the call centre rep and also someone in the branch for not processing the transaction properly most likely) so they need to know about it.

amandathepanda

I work in a bank, but not HSBC but it all depends on how their computer systems work.With my bank if you pay in cash it goes in immediately and you could go online and pay a bill. But if you mix cash and cheques together on the same credit, because the cheque has to go and be cleared, the credit is sent off to a processing centre. The cash will show as cleared the next day, but the cheque can take up to 10 days to clear.

Walletwatch

Have worked in banking and related industries for seven years now, and I do find it baffling that a bank like the HSBC will have such idiotic practices. First of all, I would not expect such an operational process to be in place, which causes cash payments not to be credited and made available immediately. Secondly, and more importantly, if systemic limitations make this necessary, one would expect the tellers to educate the customers, and always accept cash and chq deposits separately.

bunking_off

I wouldn't defend them, but I think what HSBC/FD are saying may well be the case.

I know that the few times I've gone into an RBS bank with both cheques and cash, they've made out a separate paying in slip for me for the cash to prevent it getting held up while the cheque's processed.

If HSBC are the same, though, you'd think they'd have the decency to warn your missus when she paid them in...

opel2000

Many thanks for the replies.

I was so angry at the time my wife told me what had happened, but moreso with the atitude of the people she had spoke to on the phone when placing her query as to why the cash she paid in wasn't showing.

After being talked down to and sneered at for not knowing it was going to take a day to clear when paid in on the same day as a cheque, the person in the call centre eventually abided by my wifes wishes and got his superior, who simply took a worse atitude towards my wife than the first bloke.

Goodbye to HSBC/First Direct I think, not standing for this atitude from anyone.