Transfer Money is missing?

mikeopvc

One of my customers has paid online for a job I did for him, He paid on Saturday but said he had to make 2 payments as the total was over the banks limit.

Only one payment is showing in my account, the smaller one.

He said he paid the larger amount first followed by the smaller amount so how come the smaller amount has cleared first and where is the larger amount?

The smaller amount actually cleared on Saturday just after he made both transfers.

Confused:o

scottishblondie

Sounds like the smaller payment went by Faster Payments, while the larger one went by BACS. BACS payments take 3 working days to clear, so should arrive on Wednesday. He can check with his bank how the payment was sent, just to be sure

mikeopvc

The smaller one did show as faster payments!
How come the larger one didn't go through as faster payments?

scottishblondie

It is possible that it was over the bank's FP limit, or something didn't go quite right in the process. AFAIK all the banks state that faster payments are not guaranteed, or something along those lines!

Sceptic001

Was it Santander? They have a policy of sending the first payment to a new payee by BACS.

mikeopvc

Sceptic001 wrote: »

Was it Santander? They have a policy of sending the first payment to a new payee by BACS.

My bank is Santander, customers bank is Halifax.

ManAtHome

Halifax limit for FP is £2,500 http://www.halifax.co.uk/onlinebankinghelp/fasterpayments.asp - was that likely to be 'his banks limit' or the £15k for BACS?

mikeopvc

ManAtHome wrote: »

Halifax limit for FP is £2,500 http://www.halifax.co.uk/onlinebankinghelp/fasterpayments.asp - was that likely to be 'his banks limit' or the £15k for BACS?

That makes sense, The total was £16K so his first payment was for £15K and the second for £1K

pelirocco

They tend to limit the total you can pay in one day by FP , not the total in any one payment

agrinnall

mikeopvc wrote: »

That makes sense, The total was £16K so his first payment was for £15K and the second for £1K

I don't believe there is any bank that currently allows personal customers to make an immediate payment by FP for more than £10,000, so the larger payment would have gone by BACS whatever bank was involved (although with some, not Halifax, if the total had been split sensibly and made over 2 days then it could have all been sent by FP.

2sides2everystory

1. If the customer is a business, then how they arrange their banking is part of their business. It is not clearly good business to imply that these kind of sums are in assured transit to arrive by a fixed date without actually having an exact handle on when they will hit the supplier's account.
2. If the customer is not a business then I suppose we might forgive the doubt on their part about how their own banking works, but if I was on the receiving end (presuming that £15,000 of outstanding debt was significant to me) and I had any doubt about whether the customer was stringing me along about the bulk of the outstanding, then I'd be feeling very much the same as in the first scenario.

Either way then I'd likely be making a some phone calls today informing myself about what happened so my last call before five o'clock to the customer would leave them in no doubt what I expected to happen next if it wasn't on the right track.
At least the fact that the first payment went by 'Faster Payments' confirms that the customer is in possession of the correct account details, so if the second payment was posted with the wrong account details there can be no argument about who is at fault.

These direct online electronic transfers are all well and good in conversation, but this thread shows they are not without some potential stress and hassle just as the fears of bouncing cheques are a hassle. Clearly it is very important that if you invite electronic transfers direct into your bank account that you do not rely on just giving your sort code/account number by telephone. You must give it in writing. 1 digit wrong could be a £16,000 mistake.

The thread reminds us that payment could still possibly have been more comfortably solved for the supplier using more traditional methods of payment or conversely by insisting on a CHAPs payment.

Hope it comes out in the wash.