CHAPS for free with First Direct?

manub

Hi,

I had a very bad experience today with First Direct, I called over the phone to perform a telegraphic transfer (property purchase deposit) but the guy on the phone apparently had no idea of what I was talking about (even he said to me it was a telegraphic transfer) and he ended up doing a normal transfer instead (I then spoke to his supervisor and I'll make sure I'll complain formally via post to this).

Anyway they told me the money will arrive to my solicitor tomorrow. I searched a bit and BACS takes always 3 working days to clear, while CHAPS (the one I think the supervisor mentioned that was used) should usually clear within the same working day - I also read that this goes with a fee, but it seems that First Direct process CHAPS up to £100,000 for free.

Do you know if that's the case? And do you think the money should reach the beneficiary by today if it has been sent using CHAPS (both banks support CHAPS)?

Thanks for your help.

Herbalus

manub wrote: »

I also read that this goes with a fee, but it seems that First Direct process CHAPS up to £100,000 for free.

Do you know if that's the case?

I can't see why it would be free - FD's T+Cs (page 12) don't give any exceptions for an electronic fund transfer, which I suspect is what you've done. The term telegraphic transfer is a bit outdated, and these EFTs use CHAPs. The cost for those is £25, which is similar to most banks.

If they did a Faster Payment, which is a possibility considering he said it would be there by tomorrow, then that'd be free.

It almost certainly wasn't BACS:

The vast majority of Bacs payments are Direct Debits or Direct Credits (used by companies to pay individuals salaries, pensions, state benefits and tax credits).
Until the introduction of Faster Payments, Bacs was also used to process one-off internet and phone payments and standing order payments. However, as Faster Payments enables these payments to be processed almost instantaneously...it is now the default system and is used for the vast majority of these types of payment

http://www.payyourway.org.uk/payments-explained/bacs/

grumbler

manub wrote: »

...I searched a bit and BACS takes always 3 working days to clear,

How do you know it was BACS, not FP?

manub

Thanks for the difference between CHAPS and Telegraphic Transfer - I didn't know that.

I've spoken to somebody on the phone on Friday that said to me that they couldn't do Faster Payments for more than £10k.

This guy today transferred my money and said that the money left my account today (which it actually did) but he said that the money should reach the beneficiary tomorrow. The transfer was free, but apparently it wasn't a Telegraphic Transfer (or CHAPS, which now I understand is the same). If they said that they don't support Faster Payments for more than £10k, and this payment was free, then it can only be BACS? And if it's BACS, why the money should be with them tomorrow and not on Thursday (3 working days to clear)? Unless they tell me tomorrow, but that would really mean that it will be cleared in the beneficiary account on Thursday.

I don't know what's going on, I'm so confused - and my bank messing up my request after having to deal with a nightmare solicitor is not gonna help!!!

Archi_Bald

manub wrote: »

I don't know what's going on, I'm so confused - and my bank messing up my request after having to deal with a nightmare solicitor is not gonna help!!!

You certainly do sound confused. You have been told your money will be with the beneficiary tomorrow, and it costs nothing to send the money. This seems to be a good result for you, and I can't see how they messed up your request?

If you had wanted the money to arrive today, you could have paid £25 and it would have been delivered today. But this is academic now as the money has been sent.

Does it really matter what the transfer they made is called, and what the differences might be?

manub

I actually asked them to perform a telegraphic transfer which they failed to do (I was happy paying the fee!!!), but you're right that's academic.

Thing is, when you lose your trust because their staff aren't able to perform simple requests you tell them on the phone, you start wondering about everything else.

Let's see what they come back to me with.

Archi_Bald

If you had just asked for your money to reach the beneficiary today, and if you had been prepared to pay £25, they could have obliged.

But you appear to have asked for something that hasn't existed in years. No wonder they didn't know what you were talking about.

I'd love to hear the recording of that phonecall.

manub

Luckily the transfer got through today. The supervisor called me and apologised - she heard the phone call recording and she pointed out that the operator didn't tell me before the transfer that was supposed to be cleared tomorrow (at which time I would have told him that I needed it by today). Anyway... They've been great and I'm happy again

moneysavinggirl40

out of interest do you know what type of transfer it was called in the end? was it chaps for free? and on the same day money reached them..thats good news!

PasturesNew

It's not until you try to do these things that you discover the problems and pitfalls. For my house deposit and purchase I made sure the money was at my solicitor one week ahead.... so I had loads of time to move mountains if something went wrong (as usually does with me).

First I had to shovel my money into two accounts, then I used those two accounts to move the money to my solicitor.

What did surprise me was the Co-Op bank. I phoned and spoke to them about CHAPS and it seemed really complex .... then she dropped the golden nugget - by simply using telephone banking I could transfer up to £100k "for free" as their regular "faster payments" method. In doing this, I was taking a risk that it wouldn't be there on time, but as I was doing it all days ahead of time it was fine.

In the event, when I wanted to move £100k, I phoned first thing in the morning and the money was with my solicitor within 2 hours. The only guarantee they give is "by end of working day, the following day", but that's mostly bum covering. I figured that if it DID arrive at the end of the working day the solicitor wouldn't have time to then do the processing of my purchase.... so I figured to complete on a Wednesday I'd need to do the free "faster payments" on the Monday, guaranteeing it'd be in place by the end of Tuesday, giving the solicitor the whole of Wednesday with the money in place.

Herbalus

manub wrote: »

I've spoken to somebody on the phone on Friday that said to me that they couldn't do Faster Payments for more than £10k.

First Direct allow FPs up to £100k for corporate or FI customers. I don't know whether you're one of those, of course.

http://www.fasterpayments.org.uk/consumers/transaction-limits

On another note it appears Santander, with their reputation for having overzealous fraud checks on FPs, allow any customer to send £100k each time!