TSB cash deposit at Post Office

glider3560

I paid some cash into my TSB account at a Post Office branch last week, using a paying in slip from my cheque book. This was during the new "extended hours", about 9pm at the "limited service" Post Office counter next to the main tills, rather than the glass screen proper Post Office at the back of the store.

The clerk (I use this word loosely as his main job is shelf stacking and it seemed he wasn't trained to anywhere near the level you would get from the people behind the glass screen) seemed a little unsure how to do the transaction but point blank refused to stamp the cheque book stub. Instead, he gave me a printed receipt, which says:

Santander PayServ [my account number]
1 @ 50.00 50.00
Santander TC Fee
1 @ 0.00 0.00
TOTAL DUE TO POST OFFICE 50.00
Cash FROM CUSTOMER 50.00

As he didn't key the sort code (watched carefully what he was doing), I'm a little concerned about the wrong bank name being on the receipt. The paying in slip was retained, so I'm hoping this gets reconciled.

Has anyone had a similar receipt from the Post Office when paying into TSB (or Lloyds or Halifax, considering they currently work in pretty much the same way)?

MarkFromCornwall

When I pay a cheque into my Lloyds current account via my local post office the receipt states "Lloyds chq dep" and gives my sort code and account number but the amount shown is 0.00. This has always gone into my account within two or three days but I would only ever use it for small amounts.

If I pay in cash then it says "Lloyds cash dep" and it states the amount. I presume the difference is because when taking in a cheque the post office simply pass on the cheque to my bank without it ever going into their coffers, whereas with cash they take the cash into their system and then pay the same amount to my bank.

So the fact that your receipt says Santander does suggest your transaction wasn't handled correctly.

Crystallady

Our local PO uses Santander as their clearing bank so the Santander on your slip may refer to their bank rather than yours.

glider3560

MarkFromMullion wrote: »

When I pay a cheque into my Lloyds current account via my local post office the receipt states "Lloyds chq dep" and gives my sort code and account number but the amount shown is 0.00. This has always gone into my account within two or three days but I would only ever use it for small amounts.

If I pay in cash then it says "Lloyds cash dep" and it states the amount. I presume the difference is because when taking in a cheque the post office simply pass on the cheque to my bank without it ever going into their coffers, whereas with cash they take the cash into their system and then pay the same amount to my bank.

So the fact that your receipt says Santander does suggest your transaction wasn't handled correctly.

Thanks. I'm hoping the slip is what they actually use to credit the account at the processing centre, rather than the electronic record.

If the TSB T&Cs were followed to the letter, then the money should have been credited today, which it wasn't.

MarkFromCornwall

glider3560 wrote: »

If the TSB T&Cs were followed to the letter, then the money should have been credited today, which it wasn't.

As it happens I paid in cash at a post office on Friday at 17:29 and it is now showing online in my Lloyds current account. The reference is the number from the paying in slip.

SurfKing

glider3560 wrote: »

I paid some cash into my TSB account at a Post Office branch last week, using a paying in slip from my cheque book. This was during the new "extended hours", about 9pm at the "limited service" Post Office counter next to the main tills, rather than the glass screen proper Post Office at the back of the store.

The clerk (I use this word loosely as his main job is shelf stacking and it seemed he wasn't trained to anywhere near the level you would get from the people behind the glass screen) seemed a little unsure how to do the transaction but point blank refused to stamp the cheque book stub. Instead, he gave me a printed receipt, which says:

Santander PayServ [my account number]
1 @ 50.00 50.00
Santander TC Fee
1 @ 0.00 0.00
TOTAL DUE TO POST OFFICE 50.00
Cash FROM CUSTOMER 50.00

As he didn't key the sort code (watched carefully what he was doing), I'm a little concerned about the wrong bank name being on the receipt. The paying in slip was retained, so I'm hoping this gets reconciled.

Has anyone had a similar receipt from the Post Office when paying into TSB (or Lloyds or Halifax, considering they currently work in pretty much the same way)?

I can see why this is likely to cause confusion. "Santander PayServ" and "Santander TC" actually refers to the old GiroBank/Alliance and Leicester TransCash payment processing system which is still used in the Post Office to pay certain paper bills.

I've not worked in the Post Office for a few years, but I seem to recall that it wasn't uncommon for anything which had been set up rather hastily to use the TransCash system for a while until an automated system could be set up on the computer, so it's quite possible that TSB will be using TransCash to process deposits in the Post Office for now. The cash is taken in by the Post Office, and the deposit slips are sent off to the old GiroBank centre (now Santander) where they will credit your account with the money.

Of course, it is entirely possible that the person has done it wrong. I've used these new Post Office counters in the Co-Op and I've never been particularly confident that the person has had any idea what they're doing

I assume the end-of-day processing is still done by someone who has read the PO manual, so if this has been a mistake I'm fairly sure it would have been noticed and they'd have reprocessed it for you the right way before sending it off.

glider3560

The cash arrived in my account this morning. As MarkFromMullion mentioned, the reference is the number from the paying-in slip, so the slips are definitely used to credit the account and not the computer entry.

I personally think TSB need to update their T&Cs to reflect that the cash may not be available on the following working day. Also, would've been good if the PO had stamped the cheque book stub.

System

It's just a pretty poor way of working since others can use their card with cash and have it credited immediately e.g. Clydesdale

glider3560 wrote: »

The cash arrived in my account this morning. As MarkFromMullion mentioned, the reference is the number from the paying-in slip, so the slips are definitely used to credit the account and not the computer entry.

I personally think TSB need to update their T&Cs to reflect that the cash may not be available on the following working day. Also, would've been good if the PO had stamped the cheque book stub.

sheramber

glider3560 wrote: »

The cash arrived in my account this morning. As MarkFromMullion mentioned, the reference is the number from the paying-in slip, so the slips are definitely used to credit the account and not the computer entry.

I personally think TSB need to update their T&Cs to reflect that the cash may not be available on the following working day. Also, would've been good if the PO had stamped the cheque book stub.

Could it be that because it was done at 9pm it wasn't processed until the next day.

glider3560

sheramber wrote: »

Could it be that because it was done at 9pm it wasn't processed until the next day.

The deposit was made Friday evening but not credited until Wednesday. Even if it weren't processed until Monday, it should have been credited on Tuesday, if following TSB's conditions.

sheramber

glider3560 wrote: »

The deposit was made Friday evening but not credited until Wednesday. Even if it weren't processed until Monday, it should have been credited on Tuesday, if following TSB's conditions.

The Post Office will then forward your deposit to us and we will pay it into your account when we receive it, normally the next working day


Post Office branches also have a cut off time each day (which varies between branches) after which any money you pay in will take an extra day to show on your balance.

So not definitely the next working day.