Bank or CC company - who has rejected the payment?

shell820810

I made an online banking transaction through my current account (not with Halifax) in sufficient time to clear my credit card balance with Halifax. However I have just been checking my current account and there has been a contra entry on the same day and the payment was rejected.

I have contacted Halifax, and they say that they dont reject them, and it would go into a holding account until they manually allocate it to my account if the system doesnt.

I have spoken to my bank and they say only the payee can reject it, and they will give me a letter saying as such for Halifax.

So neither is taking responsibility and i have now incurred a late payment fee and (albeit 2 days worth) of interest.

Just to be clear, the payee details are correct in my online banking setup and I have used it numerous times before to pay this credit card. This is what Natwest say online:

In what circumstances will a Faster Payment be delayed or rejected?

The majority of payments will normally be processed without delay. However, transactions considered unusual to the normal operation of your account will be referred for further investigation. If this occurs the payment will not be sent until the investigation has been completed. Payments with invalid sort code and account number details may also not be processed.
Payments sent faster can either be automatically rejected by the scheme (e.g. where an account has been closed), or returned following manual review by the beneficiary's bank (who may not be able to accept the payment).
In both cases, funds will be sent back to the customer immediately and show as a contra entry in their account.
Depending on the type of payment and the method of return, either 'REJ' and a four digit code or 'RET' and a four or eight digit code will be displayed in the narrative of the contra entry.
To help you locate the definition of a code please contact telephone banking or your branch.

agrinnall

I suspect the answer to your question is neither, and that it is a scheme reject as mentioned in your pasted section. If you are sure that Halifax have not changed the account number to send the payment to since the last time you made a payment (unlikely but possible as part of the integration with Lloyds) then the most likely reason is that the Halifax was unable to receive Faster payments at the time you sent it and it's bounced back. I would expect the narrative to have the information that would indicate what happened, if the NatWest people you are speaking to are unable to establish the reason then post it on here and I'll see whether one of my technical contacts at RBSG can look up the code and tell me what it it means.

shell820810

Halifax account details havent changed. Only skeleton staff available on the phone at the minute for my bank (ulster bank) and they didnt know the reason but the code it shows on my online banking is REJ 1100. (googled and found :1100 No referenced transaction found)

I feel I did my part in making the payment and the fact it didnt go through is either the responsibility of my bank or the credit card company, and I want to know who is the best person to chase with regards the late payment fee.

Curr946

Halifax are still unable to accept faster payment to there credit cards, i have had the same issue recently. I had to make my payment by bacs. (using same details and take 3 days to clear)

shell820810

:mad:

Curr946 wrote: »

Halifax are still unable to accept faster payment to there credit cards, i have had the same issue recently. I had to make my payment by bacs. (using same details and take 3 days to clear)

So its Halifax's problem?? I assume they should have been able to tell me this today when I called. They told me just to make the payment again.

Will ring again tomorrow when its not weekend staff and see if I get any further with them. I assume this payment will bounce too then.

Is this only a recent thing? I made payments a few months ago the same way with no issues.

chattychappy

shell820810 wrote: »

So neither is taking responsibility and i have now incurred a late payment fee and (albeit 2 days worth) of interest.

If you usually clear your balance in full, then I'm afraid it will be more than 2 days' worth. They will likely apply interest back to the date of each transaction.

shell820810

chattychappy wrote: »

If you usually clear your balance in full, then I'm afraid it will be more than 2 days' worth. They will likely apply interest back to the date of each transaction.

There is only £119 balance on it (one transaction) (always pay in full at the end of the month).

I am 8 months pregnant at the minute and cannot be bothered with this hassle, but I dont think I should be responsible for the fees so will have to fight my corner.

chanz4

Curr946 wrote: »

Halifax are still unable to accept faster payment to there credit cards, i have had the same issue recently. I had to make my payment by bacs. (using same details and take 3 days to clear)

This is not the case, in the last week they are now accepting faster payments

rb10

Curr946 wrote: »

Halifax are still unable to accept faster payment to there credit cards, i have had the same issue recently. I had to make my payment by bacs. (using same details and take 3 days to clear)

No, Halifax do now accept Faster Payments to credit cards. This is, however, a recent change, and I don't know when it came into effect.

It's almost certainly not Halifax's fault - since if their FP system was down at that time, then Natwest should have sent the payment by BACS instead, rather than rejecting it.

The cause of the error is most likely either that Natwest's FP system was down, or that the central infrastructure was down.

When you made the payment, did you get a confirmation screen saying that the payment had been accepted? If this is the case, then you can probably get Natwest to refund you the late payment fee, since FPs should provide an instant confirmation as to whether the payment was accepted or not. They shouldn't bounce back at a later stage.

shell820810

rb10 wrote: »

No, Halifax do now accept Faster Payments to credit cards. This is, however, a recent change, and I don't know when it came into effect.

It's almost certainly not Halifax's fault - since if their FP system was down at that time, then Natwest should have sent the payment by BACS instead, rather than rejecting it.

The cause of the error is most likely either that Natwest's FP system was down, or that the central infrastructure was down.

When you made the payment, did you get a confirmation screen saying that the payment had been accepted? If this is the case, then you can probably get Natwest to refund you the late payment fee, since FPs should provide an instant confirmation as to whether the payment was accepted or not. They shouldn't bounce back at a later stage.

Yes, payment accepted subject to sufficient funds being in the account etc, (which there was). My bank havent contacted me to say that the payment bounced either.

rb10

shell820810 wrote: »

Yes, payment accepted subject to sufficient funds being in the account etc, (which there was). My bank havent contacted me to say that the payment bounced either.

The bit where you say 'subject to sufficient funds being in the account' confuses me.

If you make an immediate faster payment (i.e. for the payment to go now), then you should get a confirmation saying not just that they payment was sent, but also that it's been received. This shouldn't say anything about 'subject to sufficient funds', since the payment has already gone through by this time. If you received this message, then you can make a complaint with Natwest, since the message was obviously shown in error.

If you made it as a future-dated FP (i.e. said that you want the payment to go on xx/yy/2011), then you'd expect a message about ensuring you have sufficient funds in the account. In this case, the payment shouldn't have been rejected (it should have been sent by BACS if Natwest's FP system was down) and you can complain on the grounds that they had no reason to reject the payment.