Barclays 'Cleared Funds' handling - Is it legal?

Murtle

persecuted-citizen wrote: »

Okay, calling it a scam may not be correct, I suppose as opinions4u says; it is just my emotional reaction to my failure to follow the rules! I will change my description from a scam to being fleeced.

Apart from dunsonh who is a IFA, and rb10, the rest of you all seem to be in support of the fact that banks should be allowed to have a system that is engineered to prey on the vulnerable. (Rather than making money from investments, stock and shares etc from which they had to be bailed out) Oops sorry!

I really thought this forum was to bring up issues about money saving and fairness for the consumer but it seems to be a bit of a soapbox for the banks.

Well I'm off to the Halifax on Monday to see what they can offer!

It's about being a savvy consumer..so it has worked and done what it says on the tin as you are off to open an account with the Halifax.

A savvy consumer has choice, and it's what they do with that choice which is important.

I am not a Barclays fan, but through my own lack of organisation I left the opening of an ISA to the very last minute, I liked Barclays as they were able to open one for me...the Halifax couldn't - so it's about choice and choosing what is right for you, rich or poor, working class, middle class or upper class.

persecuted-citizen

jamesd wrote: »

At Barclays the likely solution is to have an agreed overdraft facility in place that's sufficient to cover the transactions. You'd still probably pay overdraft interest while it's in use, perhaps including for transient deficits due to the cutoff time.

Thanks for your advice jamesd but unfortunately I already have an overdraft in place which I tried to increase but was refused. So I have to somehow work within the overdraft that I have which is very difficult. As I said before, I have to work on a day to day basis with my finances and have to make sure I can pay enough money in to the bank daily to cover the direct debits going out.

Everything was fine before the recession but now with only 50% of the turnover I had, which gives me only 20% of the income I used to have, things are very tight. I'm also paying out a fortune in bank charges and fines that I never used to have!

And yet i'm still working just as hard :shocked:

Sorry to be so grumpy about it.

Murtle

have you been to debt-free wannabe board for help in reducing your debts so you can move towards living within your means and saving xxx

persecuted-citizen

Murtle wrote: »

have you been to debt-free wannabe board for help in reducing your debts so you can move towards living within your means and saving xxx

Yeah. I've had a look around the board but the only debt I have is the overdraft and a fair bit on credit cards. The crippling thing is the interest charges and also fines for being overdrawn. (As well as the cost of fuel and insurances etc).

I have also got my self into the unfortunate position of using the personal reserve that was kindly given to me by Barclays and can't get out of it. So I have £88 a month charges for that and about 6-10 unpaid direct debits that I get charged for, plus £100 month interest on my overdraft before I can pay out any debits.

Every time Barclays bounces a payment to a credit card it not only costs me £8 but I also get charged from the other side and it puts a bad point on my credit score for missing a payment.
Last month they bounced a payment to a card that I had 0% interest on and it cancelled the 0% deal, that will now cost me an extra £100 in interest per month. ::(

I guess the banks etc are having a field day with me :beer:

david39

Going back to the 3.30 cut-off time which was the start of this thread, those of us who are old enough can remember when banks closed their doors at 3.30 every day.

That meant that if you could not meet the 3.30 deadline you couldn't even deposit the money and, in the case of the OP, he would be hammering on the door demanding they took it from him to save him coming back the next day (and missing it again, no doubt).

dunstonh

Apart from dunsonh who is a IFA, and rb10, the rest of you all seem to be in support of the fact that banks should be allowed to have a system that is engineered to prey on the vulnerable.

My status as an IFA has nothing to do with it. I have qualifications in economics, banking law and accountancy (chartered institute of bankers - albeit 20 years ago). IFAs are typically anti-bank because of the way they do things. I just prefer to keep a balanced view point.

Traditional banking finished at 3.30. Building societies used to go on later until 5pm but then added one day to clearing to make up for it. Also, they didnt deal in anywhere near the volumes the banks did. It was mostly cheques which dont require till balancing and historically, they used to walk those across the road to the banks.

I remember when Lloyds went into late hours and they delayed everything after 3.30pm until next day. That was very common with the most of the banks. I don't believe they do this any more as they updated their computers and brought in counter waste processing rather than passing it to a machine room to process. Maybe Barclays still use the old way? Barclays have always been a bit weird in their processes.

The reason the late processing rules applied when you had machine room processing is that until the tills balanced and the waste processing balanced, no-one could go home. Bank staff are paid to 5pm (although flexible hours with some can adjust that. Plus, I haven't followed contract trends for a long time). So, late opening allows the branch to hold the transactions after 3.30 in the till to be done the next day first thing and have that balanced independently rather than holding back half the branch on overtime until everything balances.

Every bank has it's own quirks. My experience is that Barclays were the weirdest of the big four. However, it is their business to decide what they do or dont do. Just as it is with your business. A lot of what banks do (or should do) is set out in law and FSA guidelines. Changes can be damned expensive. Maybe Barclays dont have large volumes of customers after 3.30 in your branch and its not worth paying the hundreds of thousands of pounds in hardware, software and staff training to make the change to same day processing for late business?

Just out of curiosity how come banks are charged for holding cash and who by?

I don't know where the charge goes but the branch was charged by their cash centre for the amount of physical money it held. Limits were imposed on how much you could had and disciplinary action could be taken for breaching limits. Managers could lose bonuses if charged too much. I have a few ideas on why the charge exists but they would just be guesses.

opinions4u

persecuted-citizen wrote: »

Apart from dunsonh who is a IFA, and rb10, the rest of you all seem to be in support of the fact that banks should be allowed to have a system that is engineered to prey on the vulnerable.

I think Barclays are archaic in this area. But they don't hide the fact.

I really thought this forum was to bring up issues about money saving and fairness for the consumer but it seems to be a bit of a soapbox for the banks.

My main money saving tip for you is to manage your money in a way that doesn't get you bank charges.

I want your bank to make less money out of you. It's within your power to make that happen.

Cmdr_Bond

OK, started reading this then skipped to the end.

I have to agree with the OP to a certain extent... If you have paid cash in over the counter, and it has been checked and verified by a cashier - then it should be able to be drawn on immediately. Say what you like about Santander (I know I have), I believe they operate this policy.

pay it in through a machine then expect it to take an extra day no matter what time you pay it in. I'm happy with this.

thebusinessman

An MSE newbie here. Joined up today because I was so compelled to make a comment in this thread.
Firstly, I wholly support the points that persecuted citizen is making.

If the cashier has taken cash off you and registers it in the account then it should be used against any future debits or withdrawals.

Just imagine this scenario; “Can I pay this money in please” “Yes certainly. There it is showing in your account now” “Oh I forgot I need some cash for tonight can I withdraw some” “No I’m sorry Sir it won’t be cleared until close of business tomorrow” !!!!!!!!!!!!

I am well aware that Barclays always pay out of the account before they put any money in because I too have been caught out by this by mistake. At the time it happened there were £1000’s going in and out of the account on the same day so I was extremely annoyed when they return all the payments as unpaid items before crediting any of my previous afternoons payments into the account. And they had a totally zero tolerance attitude when I questioned them about it. But now I know this rule and until I change banks I have to abide by it.

As for the personal reserve, I can tell you that I have at least two employees that I know about who are ‘trapped’ inside it and they can’t get out of it because if you cannot afford to pay this £22 usage charge back within the week you end up paying another £22 for not paying the first £22 etc etc. Or is this really just a very smart interest on top of interest on top of interest that increases by £22 every week?

Anyway, how many people may not have known about these facts until they have read this post? Perhaps because they have never yet come close to reaching this zero balance scenario! Thank you OP for publishing this fact :T and hopefully you may have saved some unsuspecting Barclays customers from falling into the same trap that we fell into.

Hopefully you will get your business back on it’s feet again soon and my advice is move to the halifax if you can

superste

Hi there! I am new to the site, and this is the first time that I have posted anything.

Can I just ask... Do you bank with Barclays yourself...?

I haven't read the Terms and Conditions inside out, but I have banked with Barclays for a long time and have not had any problem. What you set there about cleared funds is not actually what they have in practice, although stated in their Terms and Conditions.

I will give you two frequent examples that I have come across...

1) I tend to get paid on a Monday, which means I should really only have the funds available Sunday night/ Monday morning. However, Barclays actually clears funds midnight of the previous working day, so I always have the money available in my account Friday night/ Saturday morning, even though it's shown Monday's date. The funds are fully available to use without any bank charges on Friday night/ Saturday morning!!! Customers WIN?!

2) It is true that if you pay in after 3.30/ 4.00pm, the fund is shown as the next working day, however, it is actually available to use as soon as you pay in the money, so you have full control of it. Barclays does take that money into account and honour Direct Debit payments and cash withdrawals.

Feel free to correct me if I am wrong!