Faster Payment...not so fast.

desthemoaner

Hi All


My wife transferred some money from her Santander 123 account into my account with another bank this morning at about 11am. 9 and a half hours later it still ain't there, and is showing as rejected on her list of payments, although the money has left her account.


I called Santander on her behalf because she's hard of hearing, and they said that because it was a payment to a new recipient it could take up to 16 hours, which seems very odd to me, given the name on the tin. On the advice of one of their customer service staff I did phone the security team to try to find out how long the payment would be delayed, but after a very brief conversation with that department I was cut off.


Maybe Faster Payments have spoiled us, and we've forgotten the times when it took five working days for money to move from one account to another, but I'm struggling to understand how in this day and age a sum of money can languish for several hours in No Bank's Land, when in most cases FP transfers are almost instantaneous.


Anyone else ever experienced this?

Gentoo365

The timing rules are set by the Payment Services Directive (an EU law) and in the UK these are implemented as The Payment Services Regulations.

The rule is that the money should be there the next working day. Also there must be some fraud/money laundering checks.

The banks can implement their own policies on which transactions to check, although the regulator will ultimately have to approve it.

Usually a payment to an existing payee, is lower risk so will go asap. However a new payee may go though the full process. Particularly due to the fact that once the money has gone it has gone, and there are increasing numbers of complaints from people who enter in the incorrect account details.

As you mention, the fact that some payments go within a few mins does make people think that 'faster payments' means 'asap'. However the 'faster' aspect is with reference to the old 3 working day BACS system, where money may not be cleared as quickly due to the fact it can be returned.

The plan was to have 'next business day' transactions, that were completely cleared (i.e. cannot be returned). Many banks go beyond this, but retain the 1 day times in their terms and conditions so that they can check some payments.

EDIT - maybe if your wife rings they can release it quickly. It is possible it is queued up for someone to call her to ensure it was her making the transaction.

desthemoaner

Thanks for that. I've located some old threads on this forum which clarify the situation in a similarly helpful way.


Rather than bother the poor divils at Santander tomorrow (Sunday, Father's Day) I'll probably leave them alone to do their money laundering checks and let the matter rest until Monday morning, by which time, if the money isn't in my account, the walls will be deeply gouged with climbing marks.

ceredigion

desthemoaner wrote: »

Thanks for that. I've located some old threads on this forum which clarify the situation in a similarly helpful way.


Rather than bother the poor divils at Santander tomorrow (Sunday, Father's Day) I'll probably leave them alone to do their money laundering checks and let the matter rest until Monday morning, by which time, if the money isn't in my account, the walls will be deeply gouged with climbing marks.

End of next working day = Monday evening

PeacefulWaters

ceredigion wrote: »

End of next working day = Monday evening

Tuesday evening.

A payment instigated on a weekend can be classed as being instigated on the first working day of the week.

Robin9

Saturday and Sunday don't count - your wife's payment will be made by late Monday

Compared with a few years ago - pre Internet and online banking you would have put a cheque in the post and it might have cleared by the end of the week.

ceredigion

PeacefulWaters wrote: »

Tuesday evening.

A payment instigated on a weekend can be classed as being instigated on the first working day of the week.

that told me didn`t it. In my defence your honour ive been to work all day today , so it felt like a Friday . Old age you see, don't even know what day of the week it is.

Anthorn

Probably the banks and building societies are not very good at displaying relevant information. For example Nationwide displays 7 days per week in the setup in online banking but they only do it on a working day. So if you requested a payment on a Saturday it won't go until Monday - if that's a working day.

noh

Anthorn wrote: »

Probably the banks and building societies are not very good at displaying relevant information. For example Nationwide displays 7 days per week in the setup in online banking but they only do it on a working day. So if you requested a payment on a Saturday it won't go until Monday - if that's a working day.

Not my experience.
Faster payments from Nationwide go immediately 24/7.

Future dated payments (standing orders) are processed only on working days

dingdong3000

Normally if you have sent money to that account before you will receive it within 2 hrs; otherwise may take next working day to clear the funds.

desthemoaner

Thanks again for all replies.

The reason for my query is that almost without exception, payments that I have made from my Halifax account have been in the receiving account within an hour at most, even if being paid to a new payee, and even at weekends; and this particular version of Faster Payment was a new experience for me.

Fortunately, the money is in the receiving account this morning and the panic of last night seems like a foreign country.