Barclays 'Cleared Funds' handling - Is it legal?

masonic

persecuted-citizen wrote: »

I disagree. It’s not clearly stated unless you go to the t&c’s to find it, or you happen to get caught out by it. I wonder how many people call Barclays in a day querying why their direct debits have been returned when they had the money there to cover them!

But you read the T&Cs and agreed to them when you opened your account. Or did you agree to something you didn't read?

The way I see it is you either knew about this charge and therefore only have yourself to blame, or you didn't read a document that you agreed to be bound by in which case you only have yourself to blame.

You are now in the powerful position that you know about this cut-off time and you know it is inconvenient for you. You also know that other banks do not impose the same cut-off time. If you choose to stay with Barclays then you only have yourself to blame.

thebusinessman

If I really were a business man!?
I can tell you dunstonh that I am an extremely successful businessman

I disagree with your statement that commercial requirements vs reality. Commercial requirements can sometimes compromise the level of service that can be offered but you don’t just sit back and accept it. You have to adapt and look at ways to keep your customers happy or they will go away and never come back again.

I can sympathise with the OP and his problems (presuming it is a he). When I started in business I had nothing and was literally scraping the pennies together on a daily business. After a few years everything was going well until a debtor went into liquidation on me owing me a fair amount of money. I found myself in an awkward situation with cash flow at the bank and boy when the vultures come in they come in! I was lucky enough to get a windfall that bailed me out of the spiralling debt that the bank was creating for me by way of unauthorised overdraft charges and the like.
Today that is all behind me, but I learned the lesson about the banks so I know what its like to be in that position.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the Halifax or any other bank declines the OP if his (or her) business is not in a good way. Especially where an overdraft may also be required. So where does that leave the OP? Stuck with Barclays! And no freedom of choice!

As for paying money in and then within a few hours drawing it out being a pointless exercise; this is how it works in reality. You pay your money in (or your employer does) and then you draw on it. Usually by using your debit card.
Barclays wont let you do that until it is cleared which can be up to 5 days later if it is a long bank holiday weekend.

And as for saying ‘Do I close the theme park if someone doesn’t like one of the rides is laughable. :rotfl: If someone comes to my theme park and they don’t like one of my rides (which is usual anyway at a theme park because some of the rides are not for everyone – Granny certainly would not like a lot of them:eek:!) then they have the choice of my many other free rides and attractions to go on. I certainly wouldn’t fine them.

And yes I do bank with Barclays I have done so for years because they offer me a good service but that’s because I have money!:j

dunstonh

You have to adapt and look at ways to keep your customers happy or they will go away and never come back again.

Ok, lets say it costs £5 million to keep around 100 people happy whilst it costs nothing to keep 50,000 happy. Which do you think is most logical?

And as for saying ‘Do I close the theme park if someone doesn’t like one of the rides is laughable. If someone comes to my theme park and they don’t like one of my rides (which is usual anyway at a theme park because some of the rides are not for everyone – Granny certainly would not like a lot of them!) then they have the choice of my many other free rides and attractions to go on. I certainly wouldn’t fine them.

No-one is fining the OP either. He just doesnt like their opening hours and believes that the bank should shut earlier because of him.

Perhaps a better comparison would be shutting the theme park earlier because someone doesnt like it.

And yes I do bank with Barclays I have done so for years because they offer me a good service but that’s because I have money!

I'm not a fan of Barclays but its good to have choice. I am sure they excel somewhere.

persecuted-citizen

dunstonh wrote: »

No-one is fining the OP either.

Well I think it is a fine because if they charge me £8 for ellegedly not having any money in the account I say thats a fine!

dunstonh wrote: »

He just doesnt like their opening hours and believes that the bank should shut earlier because of him.

I never said that!
I said that if there should be a cut off point, it should be when the bank closes its front door, meaning at 5pm or whenever. If the bank door is open and they take the money off you and register it in the account then it should be in the account to at least use the next day. Like most other banks.

Or, they should at least respect the fact that money has been paid into the account before they bounce the debits at £8 a shot, and then put in the credits.

It should be one or the other, not both.

masonic

persecuted-citizen wrote: »

I never said that!
I said that if there should be a cut off point, it should be when the bank closes its front door, meaning at 5pm or whenever. If the bank door is open and they take the money off you and register it in the account then it should be in the account to at least use the next day. Like most other banks.

If the bank opened between, say, 7:30AM and 3:30PM, then the cut off point would be at closing time, plus thousands of customers who have full time jobs would be able to visit the bank before they go to work and not have to waste their lunch break doing so.

Cmdr_Bond

As I said before - if the cash has been physically counted and checked by a human cashier then it should be available immediately. The fact that it has been counted and registered by an employee of the institution you bank with should be as good as clearing the funds.

If you pay it in through a machine, then tough, you take your chances, the whole point of paying cash over the counter is that it is there straight away.

It would appear that the only reasonable way to "immediately" fund accounts (especially out of banking hours, but also after 3:30 in the OP's case) would be via Faster Payment from another account...

I have recently made small (less than £500) FP's from Lloyds to Santander - Lloyds say they will be there within 2 hours, so far they have all been there within 30 seconds!

dunstonh

As I said before - if the cash has been physically counted and checked by a human cashier then it should be available immediately. The fact that it has been counted and registered by an employee of the institution you bank with should be as good as clearing the funds.

That is the ideal scenario and most of the banks have moved to that level (whilst originally doing the same as Barclays). Barclays are lagging behind in this respect.

However, all the decisions made on transactions on your account have long been made and any cash paid in at that point isnt going to make any difference in stopping a transaction being bounced. If you want the cash out that night then dont pay it in.

persecuted-citizen

Cmdr_Bond wrote: »

As I said before - if the cash has been physically counted and checked by a human cashier then it should be available immediately. The fact that it has been counted and registered by an employee of the institution you bank with should be as good as clearing the funds.

If you pay it in through a machine, then tough, you take your chances, the whole point of paying cash over the counter is that it is there straight away.

Exactly! Customers at Barclays are being penalised because of Barclays' lack of 'moving with the times', or as I have said previously, maybe it is deliberate so as to make more money?
Well I'm voting with my feet. I have my appointment at the Halifax next week, hopefully they can sort me out!

While I am here, does any one know what the difference is between a £25 'Paid referral fee' (which was outlawed), and the £22 'Reserve usage fee'. In my eyes they are exactly the same thing! :mad:

dunstonh

or as I have said previously, maybe it is deliberate so as to make more money?

If they are not transacting that night then they are not making a penny on the money in the till.

Well I'm voting with my feet. I have my appointment at the Halifax next week, hopefully they can sort me out!

Ex building societies tend to have a range of restrictions that go back to their building society days and tend not to offer full banking services. Make sure in advance that they provide the service you want. Otherwise we will see another thread from you in a few months saying Halifax wont do this that or the other.

JuicyJesus

persecuted-citizen wrote: »

While I am here, does any one know what the difference is between a £25 'Paid referral fee' (which was outlawed), and the £22 'Reserve usage fee'. In my eyes they are exactly
the same thing! :mad:

Paid referral fees, and indeed bank charges in general, were not and are not outlawed in any sense. The banks won that one in court.

Focus on not getting charged the fees rather than finding baseless legal complaints about them.

With regards to the cash thing, Barclays may have an idiosyncratic policy but it is their policy and they don't make a secret of it. That's the whole point of the terms and conditions booklet - it tells you by what rules they and you both have to play with regards to virtually everything. Yes you can complain but given that they make the restrictions quite clear you don't really have much to go on and will probably just get a more polite version of what I've just said sent back in the form of a response letter.