Is it normal for Santander to delay every faster payment sent?

zerog

The thread got a bit derailed, and I wouldn't normally revive old threads but anyway... here's the original post:

dezza wrote: »

About a month ago I opened a new Santander account, after switching from Natwest.

Since then I've made a number of Faster Payments, and each one, except one, has been held for fraud checks.

These payments are going to my other accounts held with other banks, family members and bill payments - some of which I have paid multiple times, and they are still being held.

I understand from some other threads on here that usually it's only the first couple of transactions which are delayed, but subsequent ones are instant, so it seems confusing as to why this is still happening with mine.

Also I know that banks, under the rules, have to action the payment by the end of the next working day, however this was hardly the case with my old Natwest account, where 99% of the time payments were instant.

I have been a Santander and Lloyds customer for 3+ years.

I regularly send £5000+ from my Santander to my Lloyds ac, and the payment has always arrived instantly in the past 2 years. But since last week, it has been held until the next working day. I then tried £100 and it went instantly. A few days later, I tried £200 and it was held again.

The solution was to send it from my Santander esaver rather than my current account. Obviously I started with £50, then the next day tried £100, then £200, £500, £1000, £2000, and finally £5000 on day 7, and they all went instantly. I then tried £200 from the current account again, and it was still held until the morning!!


Same thing with my recently opened FlexDirects. Esaver and current account to FxD1 goes instantly for the full £2500. Esaver goes instantly to FxD2 for £2500. But current account to FxD2 can only send £250 instantly, any more and it gets held until the next morning.

Strange.

10_66

zerog wrote: »

But since last week, it has been held until the next working day. I then tried £100 and it went instantly. A few days later, I tried £200 and it was held again.

The solution was to send it from my Santander esaver rather than my current account.

How odd. You'd think being a current account, it'd be the other way around, if anything. Can't imagine why it'd be because of this, but maybe it's because there's probably more movement with the current accounts than with the saving accounts (not that stops other current accounts moving instantly). I guess they're just being greedy holding on to the funds for as long as possible.

GlamGirlie

This has been driving me mad for some time now. At first I thought (and indeed was told by Santander having enquired via their internet banking message service) that this delay only applied to new payments, but I have since found they seem to do it randomly - and generally when it's important!

I'm seriously considering switching away, but as we are looking to get another mortgage in the next 6 months I'm just going to have to suck it up for now.

dezza

Up until about a week ago they were going through instantly - after about the third payment after the initial one, I received a call to verify the details and most payments went through instantly. However, they've all started to delay again.

Interesting to hear about it going through instantly through an eSaver account though, I wouldn't have thought that would have made a difference, but obviously it does.

pqrdef

Opened a 123 and had no trouble, opened another and from the second account they've blocked every single FP so far.

GlamGirlie

dezza wrote: »

Interesting to hear about it going through instantly through an eSaver account though, I wouldn't have thought that would have made a difference, but obviously it does.

Doesn't make any difference to me - I have tried!

zerog

dezza wrote: »

I received a call to verify the details and most payments went through instantly.

Oh yeah, my wife got a call about a £50 payment to a new account, when she had just emptied her account of £10000 (which did go through instantly)

She also got a call a day after withdrawing 350 euros from her Zero credit card (first use in a year). A bit late if they already approved the withdrawal.

MisterMotivated

All of my payments have been getting held up recently too (well, technically half of them, ie the larger payments after a small test payments). Fair enough, I understand their desire to check these things, but I find it very frustrating, especially as none of my other accounts have this problem (maybe Santander don't have as much confidence in their security measures)

zerog

zerog wrote: »

I started with £50, then the next day tried £100, then £200, £500, £1000, £2000, and finally £5000 on day 7, and they all went instantly.

MisterMotivated wrote: »

All of my payments have been getting held up recently too (well, technically half of them, ie the larger payments after a small test payments).

They've always held large payments to new payees for the first time.

If you do something like what I said above you should be ok. i.e. wait a day and then try a slightly larger amount. If you are only sending the payment once, then you are better off just letting it take 1 working day obviously.

What is new is holding large payments when the sending account has a history of sending large payments regularly to that payee.

welshlad

Same here for me. Large transfers over £1000 seem to get delayed every time, even to accounts I have transferred to many times before.

Very frustrating!