MSE News: New 7-day bank switching era begins: Full Q&A

Pincher

Was tempted to move my Cash ISA to First Direct, because you get 3% for £40k+ . Just found out the 3% is only up to 31st October 2013. 2% after that.

Nowhere to run, Nationwide 3.1% finishing 31st September 2013, and the Flexclusive ISA does not accept transfer in from existing ISA.

Should have just blown it on fast cars and loose women when I was younger.

Archi_Bald

You can buy a car with go-faster stripes and a copious quantity of Viagra for £40K-odd. Not too late to blow your savings.

Pincher

My GP says I can have 4 Viagra a month on NHS, gratis (FREE).

DaveO

jamesd wrote: »

You're assuming that there is a rule that one account number can only go to one destination bank account. I'm not making that assumption because it is not a necessary restriction on such a system. No technical problem to have logic that says if it's an incoming transaction from x it should go to account a and if it's from y it should go to account b.

Still don't understand what you are saying as the routing is sort code and account number, not just account number.

We could all be given a unique IBAN when we opened our first bank account but the banking system just does not support that and the effort to make it do so is just not a very pragmatic or cost effective solution.

Because that's easier for consumers, who don't need to tell everyone who has their details to change them. That is not limited to only direct debits and standing orders, it includes friends and family and others who have the details.

It might be easier in that sense but given payments are redirected if the wrong account is used is it that much of a problem?

The Royal Mail will redirect your post when you move house but at some point you will inform your friends and family you moved. Is it that onerous to do the same for the no doubt very few friends and family who pay you via FPS?

For over 20 years a group of friends have been going away every New Year and take turns organising it. We pay each other the accommodation costs via FPS these days. It would never occur to me not to check the bank account details are not current since the money is moved once a year.

I think most people would be as cautious and its far more likely it's institutions that are slow to update their details.

There's a lot of focus on what the new system does but not on what it doesn't do, like tell your mother that the payment she made 14 months after you switched didn't make it because redirection stopped after 13 months. For whatever reason 13 months instead of 13 years or 130 years was picked.

If a direct debit lies dormant for 13 months the banks will cancel it. Why not keep that going for 130 years?

I suspect 13 months was picked because DD's die after 13 months also.

It doesn't seem unreasonable to end a redirection service after the same length of time. Perhaps they could offer a paid-for service for longer as does the Royal Mail for the post?

jamesd

DaveO wrote: »

Still don't understand what you are saying as the routing is sort code and account number, not just account number.

Just substitute "account identifier" if you prefer. These days I tend to already think IBAN when I think account number.

DaveO wrote: »

If a direct debit lies dormant for 13 months the banks will cancel it. Why not keep that going for 130 years? ... I suspect 13 months was picked because DD's die after 13 months also.

I'm not happy to have my bank choosing to ignore validly given direct debit instructions. It makes the banking system less reliable. If I want to cancel a direct debit it's easy to do that.

I recently had a work charge card payment declined. At the time of the bill there was a valid direct debit instruction in place. There wasn't on the day the payment was due to be taken because the bank had chosen to cancel it without taking the trouble to tell me or the collecting party that it had decided to cancel the direct debit instruction.

In that case there was no adverse credit reporting effect. For a less understanding payment collector there could have been.

DaveO wrote: »

It doesn't seem unreasonable to end a redirection service after the same length of time. Perhaps they could offer a paid-for service for longer as does the Royal Mail for the post?

Or perhaps they could look at say the statement retention duration and observe that at least one major set of banks uses more than six years. That's probably sufficient to catch most intermittent transactions.

Does the account transfer service have a "do not notify" choice like the one Royal Mail offers? The Royal Mail one is to protect the safety of recipients, the banking one would be to make a change of account more effective in avoiding troublesome billers, who might resume harassment on the new account if told about it.

EarthBoy

jamesd wrote: »

I recently had a work debit card payment declined. At the time of the bill there was a valid direct debit instruction in place. There wasn't on the day the payment was due to be taken because the bank had chosen to cancel it without taking the trouble to tell me or the collecting party that it had decided to cancel the direct debit instruction.

What have direct debits got to do with debit card payments?

jamesd

I've changed the wording from debit card to charge card. The bill is paid by direct debit.

Archi_Bald

I am not familiar with business accounts DDs and charge cards, but still fail to see the relationship between a payment by some card and a Direct Debit mandate.

If it were a personal account, there would certainly be no link. No card on a personal current account requires a DD. The only time a bank would cancel/remove a direct debit would be if the DD has been dormant for more than 13 months.

What is the connection between charge card and DD, and was dormancy perhaps the reason for the cancellation of your DD, jamesd?

typistretired

Charge cards are usually issued by stores, you have to make a minimum payment to them each month like a credit card. Some companies which issue them ask you set up a direct debit.

A_Flock_Of_Sheep

Pincher wrote: »

Was tempted to move my Cash ISA to First Direct, because you get 3% for £40k+ . Just found out the 3% is only up to 31st October 2013. 2% after that.

Nowhere to run, Nationwide 3.1% finishing 31st September 2013, and the Flexclusive ISA does not accept transfer in from existing ISA.

Should have just blown it on fast cars and loose women when I was younger.

There is somewhere to run. It's called Equity Income. I ran there and will stay. I have little time for bank savings accounts now.