Wages Query: Differing times?

Gibblet

Hey there!

There may be a really simple answer to this so I do apologise if the question is silly.

With Natwest my wage was always paid in at exactly 3am - Always. I phone N&P today to see if they had a general time that BACS/CHAPS (Not sure how employers pay) go in at and he said...8am.

Is this correct as he wasn't sure himself? I always thought that when employers paid in advance it was set to appear in the account when the banking day changed?

Not a big deal but it did make me curious!

brendon

I doubt your wages "go in" at 3am. Rather, once the transactions have been processed, the changes get pushed to the website at 3am. There's no way your payment will be processed at exactly the same time everyday, as it takes a few hours to process them all.

Gibblet

brendon wrote: »

I doubt your wages "go in" at 3am. Rather, once the transactions have been processed, the changes get pushed to the website at 3am. There's no way your payment will be processed at exactly the same time everyday, as it takes a few hours to process them all.

I've banked with Natwest for 5 years and it's always been the case (3am being 2am UK time as I'm offshore).

agrinnall

Highly unlikely that any employer will pay by CHAPS at a cost of £20 - £40 per transaction. BACS Direct Credit is a pretty standard way for wages to be paid. NatWest process BACS DCs in overnight batch, the 3 a.m. time is simply when the business day rolls over and the transactions processed in the previous evening's batch become available. N&P may do their roll over at 8 a.m.

Just seen your reply, that makes more sense as the roll over time was always 2 a.m. when I worked there.

Gibblet

8am - That's what I feared No night shift shopping for me!

YorkshireBoy

Gibblet wrote: »

I've banked with Natwest for 5 years and it's always been the case (3am being 2am UK time as I'm offshore.

If you're paid by BACS Direct Credit (as most of the population are these days), then the bank will know the previous day what's coming into your account on 'pay day'.

However, they 'batch process' these overnight and only post the transactions to your (and their other 2m customers') account at, say, 3am...which is when it becomes visible to you.


EDIT: If you want access to your money earlier, switch to YB (or CB?) and you'll get it at 10:30pm the night before.

Gibblet

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

If you're paid by BACS Direct Credit (as most of the population are these days), then the bank will know the previous day what's coming into your account on 'pay day'.

However, they 'batch process' these overnight and only post the transactions to your (and their other 2m customers') account at, say, 3am...which is when it becomes visible to you.

Thanks for explaining that; does that mean the funds are prepared to go into the account the day before but will only be added at the specified batch time for each Bank? (2am for Natwest and possibly 8am for N&P).

YorkshireBoy

Gibblet wrote: »

Thanks for explaining that; does that mean the funds are prepared to go into the account the day before but will only be added at the specified batch time for each Bank? (2am for Natwest and possibly 8am for N&P).

In a nutshell, yes.

It may be possible (with some banks) to 'use' this money at, say, 1am and not be charged (ie your small hours spending spree!) even if you don't have an overdraft facility.

Gibblet

Thanks!

Sadly here in Gibraltar, we're limited to what banks we can use (unless we have 50-500k and a nice wad of assets!).

Gibblet

Update:

The wages went in at 1am UK time (2am Gibraltar time). One hour earlier than Natwest!

agrinnall

Good news - I did think 8 am was quite late, but I wasn't sure if N&P as a Building Society might have a late cut over - seems like they get it done earlier. Now you can spend to your heart's content in the wee small hours!