£25 fee for transfer of funds

clairecymru

I went into my branch today to ask for a the deposit for my house purchase (£5000) be transferred to my solicitor. I would have done his myself via online banking but I have mislaid my card reader. Staff member say that will be a £25 charge. I said I don't need the money to go today, there is a week for the money to get there. She said it would take 3-5 working days. I said that was fine so did not pay the fee. 30 minutes later I had an email from the solicitor confirming that he had received the funds. Glad I never paid the charge as the money transfer was instant anyway.

chambta

Why was a CHAPs fee mentioned for what was presumably a Faster Payment?

Each bank will have it's limits, above which Faster Payments aren't an option, but I'd be shocked if it was anything like that low for any clearing bank.

agrinnall

I suspect the teller was a bit confused, she probably picked up house purchase and solicitor and immediately thought CHAPS without considering the amount in question. Why she then complicated things by mentioning a 3-5 day payment period when she would have no ability to access such a payment option I have no idea. Seems like a bit of branch training might be a good idea.

polymaff

clairecymru wrote: »

I went into my branch today to ask for a the deposit for my house purchase (£5000) be transferred to my solicitor. I would have done his myself via online banking but I have mislaid my card reader. Staff member say that will be a £25 charge. I said I don't need the money to go today, there is a week for the money to get there. She said it would take 3-5 working days. I said that was fine so did not pay the fee. 30 minutes later I had an email from the solicitor confirming that he had received the funds. Glad I never paid the charge as the money transfer was instant anyway.

On sums like that the CHAPS fee buys you a guaranteed-that-day-if-you-request-it before-a-specific-time-in-that-day service. FPS is a by-the-end-of-the-next-working-day service. If you started by describing it as a payment to a solicitor in conjunction with a house purchase I can understand why the cashier assumed you would be after a CHAPS transaction - but once it was clear that you didn't need that guaranteed service, FPS would be the next - frankly, only - option.