Santander and Faster Payments

Biggles

Within the last month, Santander seem to have removed the flag at the confirmation stage that told you your payment would go by Faster Payments.

Now it only tells you the day it will go but there is no flag, nor any explanation of how long it will take to arrive.

Is there any way of telling by which method your payment will go?

andrew-the-cat

Guess

In better news, from the 1st of January all payments will be FP.

ses6jwg

andrew-the-cat wrote: »

Guess

In better news, from the 1st of January all payments will be FP.

HOWEVER... that doesn't mean all payments will be immediate... the maximum time is 24 hours.

YorkshireBoy

ses6jwg wrote: »

HOWEVER... that doesn't mean all payments will be immediate... the maximum time is 24 hours.

It's actually by the end of the next 'business' day, ie D+1.

In some cases however, ie next Easter, it could take as long as long as (almost) 6 days*...and still meet the requirements of the PSD.

Unless my understanding of the Payment Services Directive is wrong?


* A payment order made on Thursday at 00:01 has until the following Tuesday at 23:59 to arrive.

Milarky

Biggles wrote: »

Within the last month, Santander seem to have removed the flag at the confirmation stage that told you your payment would go by Faster Payments.

Now it only tells you the day it will go but there is no flag, nor any explanation of how long it will take to arrive.

Is there any way of telling by which method your payment will go?

What I found on Thursday evening was the Faster Payments message had been omitted - and the only indication thereafter was on the recent transactions history if a payment had gone FP or not. However a test payment of £1 did go FP, then a second £1 (to test if multiple payments were now allowed) did go FP also. Then a payment of £998 (upto the claimed daily limit) was attempted and also went FP. Finally a further limit-busting payment of £1 was attempted and - as expected - would not go as FP.

So the service does seem to be as advertised (btw that seems to be £1000 per account per day) albeit the former messages would help. It appears the single payment restriction no longer applies but it remains to be seen when a 'day' starts in that case. If it starts exactly 24 hours later after an initial payment is made, yet allows multiple payments, that would cause problems in some cases. I hope they are additionally going to fix a 'day' on something more sensible like. well 'a day'...

Lansdowne

Presumably your final £1 went by BACS.

What would happen after Jan 1st if the £1000 limit is still in place and BACS has stopped? Would Santander charge £35 to send your £1 by CHAPS?

Milarky

Lansdowne wrote: »

Presumably your final £1 went by BACS.

What would happen after Jan 1st if the £1000 limit is still in place and BACS has stopped? Would Santander charge £35 to send your £1 by CHAPS?

No. I believe a bank will still have the option after 1st January to hold a payment instruction, then send it from the account 'overnight' (i.e. the start of the next working day) so it arrives in time before the end of that day. 'Daily limits' are not specified in the PSD changes (they just aren't ruled out either)

Minimum Standards
However the Payments Council (aka the 'trade body') has been mandated by its members - the clearing banks - to set (minimum) standards in 2012. This 'initiative' (4 years after Faster Payments and following the Payment Services Directive's own 30 month lead-in period) should see some clarity, as least, about which payments will and won't go in what timescale.

Mikeyorks

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

Unless my understanding of the Payment Services Directive is wrong?

Nope - spot on, as usual!

I missed your postscript initially :

* A payment order made on Thursday at 00:01 has until the following Tuesday at 23:59 to arrive.

...... which is equally correct - except the definition of 'D' can vary depending on the Bank 'end of day'.

But it's a step forward!

IrishGypsy

Faster Payments is now live today on the Santander system up to £1000 (certainly in branches/contact centres). The higher limits are being worked on throughout the next few days/weeks I believe.

Biggles

IrishGypsy wrote: »

Faster Payments is now live today on the Santander system up to £1000

FP never ceased to be live up to £1,000.

The issue is that you no longer get the indication of the length of time a payment will take prior to hitting 'Confirm' that you used to get. Especially when sending larger amounts (in £1,000 chunks, obviously), it was useful to have this.

IrishGypsy

Biggles wrote: »

FP never ceased to be live up to £1,000.

The issue is that you no longer get the indication of the length of time a payment will take prior to hitting 'Confirm' that you used to get. Especially when sending larger amounts (in £1,000 chunks, obviously), it was useful to have this.

Well, staff are now being told to use this button on every occasion that a one-off transfer is required for £1000 or less. The process always used bacs in branch (bill payments and standing orders went by FP after the first payment was made).

This was the change I was referring to, sorry for not clarifying it at the time.