3 days delay in paying Credit Cards from same Company

donny-gal

Just wanted to bring this to Martin's attention, Santander (and I am sure others) operate the new Faster payment system. I can transfer money to another bank and minutes later see the transation in the account on line. However, if you make a payment to the Santander Credit Cards from your Current account, it still takes three days to get there. Why???
I asked the guy I was on the phone to, and he said he had asked the question, but could offer me no answer.

dzug1

The simple answer is that a credit card is not a bank account - the money first of all has to be sent to a bank account. Once in that bank account it has to be transferred to the credit card account - a separate transaction.

Why that last bit takes so long - pass. I'd guess that it does get to the bank account on day 1, is processed overnight and is in the CC next day, and what you see online is then again processed overnight and becomes visible on day 3.

chattychappy

Is your complaint that it isn't reflected online immediately, or that when it does eventually appear it is not credited the day you sent it?

In my case sending from Nationwide, it is credited the same day. Looking back at my recent activity, the day I sent from NW is always the same as the date of arrival at Santander.

But I don't usually immediately check my CC account, so can't say when the account is updated.

Road_Hog

donny-gal wrote: »

Just wanted to bring this to Martin's attention, Santander (and I am sure others) operate the new Faster payment system. I can transfer money to another bank and minutes later see the transation in the account on line. However, if you make a payment to the Santander Credit Cards from your Current account, it still takes three days to get there. Why???
I asked the guy I was on the phone to, and he said he had asked the question, but could offer me no answer.

Probably because there is legislation in place that banks have to offer the fast payment service on banks accounts, but this doesn't cover credit cards, so they continue to drag their heels.

It's all numbers on a computer, not real money being transferred, so there is no real reason that they can't do it immediately.

chattychappy

Road_Hog wrote: »

Probably because there is legislation in place that banks have to offer the fast payment service on banks accounts, but this doesn't cover credit cards, so they continue to drag their heels.

It's all numbers on a computer, not real money being transferred, so there is no real reason that they can't do it immediately.

Yeah, but if you read my post you will see that they are gaining nothing as the account is credited the same day (ie for the purposes of calculating interest).

There is a real cost to doing things instantly. It increases fraud.