Natwest - cash deposit cut-off time

gingercordial

My situation has been resolved to my satisfaction by Natwest but I am interested in others' thoughts as to whether or not I was in the wrong, and perhaps it'll be helpful to others searching in the future.

On Friday I went into a branch of Natwest to deposit cash into my account with them. Since I had a large amount in loose change I used one of their Cash & Deposit Machines into which coins can be poured without being counted first, rather than doing it over the counter. I made an initial deposit of £100 in notes then a second transaction of £150 of coins. The timings were 3.32pm and 3.34pm per my advice slips.

Before going to the branch I had checked for a cut-off time for cash deposits and found the following with reference to deposits at CDMs: http://personal.natwest.com/personal/ways-to-bank-with-us/online-banking/in-branch-services.html

Cash deposits to NatWest accounts will clear instantly, and all other transactions will be processed in the same timescales as if paid in at the branch counter.

No mention is made of a time and the same text is duplicated at this other link about CDMs: https://supportcentre.natwest.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/4310/~/what-transactions-can-be-carried-out-at-a-cash-%26-deposit-machine-(cdm)%3F

To me, "instantly" means straight away. About twenty minutes later checked my online banking app and could indeed see the cash deposits in the account as line items and cleared in my available balance. I therefore went ahead and made a payment of the loose change deposit to charity as I'd intended, relying on the deposits as having cleared.

I checked my account again on Saturday morning and was surprised to see the deposit transactions had disappeared, leaving me slightly overdrawn on Friday due to the onward payment. I transferred some money in from elsewhere via Faster Payment as I was heading away for the weekend and could not follow it up straight away.

The deposits finally reappeared in my account this morning, backdated to yesterday (Monday). I called Natwest and the lady said that there is a cut-off time for cash deposits of 3.30pm, which I had just missed, and so these were processed the next working day. She agreed that this was "unclear" and that she would cancel the £6 pending charge for going into my authorised overdraft on Friday, which I appreciate.

However I still thought this was contradictory to the Natwest website's advice that deposits would clear "instantly", which I had trusted in making my onward payments. To me that means if a CDM is available inside an open branch the deposit should clear straight away with the cut-off being the closure of the branch. I have done more digging to find the detailed T&Cs of the account (http://personal.natwest.com/personal/current-accounts/terms-and-conditions.html) and they say the following:

3.1.1 Cash paid in at a branch will be added to your account and treated as cleared immediately.
3.1.2 Cash paid into a quick deposit facility before 3.30pm on a business day will be added to
your account and treated as cleared on the same day. Otherwise, it will be processed the
next business day.

I still read that as being any cash paid in at the branch (which does not stipulate at the counter in 3.1.1 and does not exclude using a CDM) to a Natwest account during the branch's opening hours as being instantly cleared. The FAQ on CDMs refers to them under "in-branch services" and says that in all respects the timescales are as for over the counter, which in this branch's case would have been its 5pm closure as no earlier cut-off is stated. I believe I was entitled to rely on it clearing immediately. Online banking seemed to show the same thing, at least for the rest of the day before reversing overnight.

I accept 3.1.2 says that quick deposit machines have a 3.30pm cut-off but even if I'd read the T&Cs rather than just the FAQ I would have assumed they meant the ones that are not inside branches, because deposits inside branches are covered under 3.1.1. At the very least this is confusing for deposits into a machine located inside a branch.

To be clear: they have sorted it out, I'm not being charged and the lady was very nice about it. I am not looking for any compensation. I would just like to know if my interpretation is valid or if I'm being completely wrong in my reading. If I'm not wrong I may write to Natwest to suggest they amend their FAQs to refer to the cut-off at in-branch CDMs.

Thank you in advance for your opinions and I eagerly await being told I'm wrong...

pmduk

I can see both sides and I'm glad Natwest has done the decent thing by negating the charge. I use these machines elsewhere so I'm aware that the deposits aren't instant, but need to be confirmed at the end of banking, hopefully they'll make signage clearer in future.
Personally if I want to credit an account to avoid charges I avoid all bank machines, either using the counter or transacting online. With hindsight it's best not to leave it so close to the deadline. All it would take is a queue in the branch to incur charges in future...

gingercordial

pmduk wrote: »

Personally if I want to credit an account to avoid charges I avoid all bank machines, either using the counter or transacting online. With hindsight it's best not to leave it so close to the deadline. All it would take is a queue in the branch to incur charges in future...

Agreed! Whatever the website had said, I would not have left it so late to go to the bank if I'd been attempting to cover an outgoing DD/SO/something else that was automatically going out. I'd always do those by lunchtime to be absolutely sure (or actually I'd just transfer some money in from another account by FP first, and have the cash deposit as "extra").

However in this case as I believed it to be instant with no cut-off, and waited until after making the deposit and seeing the available funds before initiating a manual payment outbound, I thought I was safe to do so. If the branch had been unexpectedly closed or similar and stopped me making the deposit I wouldn't have paid it out. It really did show as available in my online banking right after I'd used the machine. I can't understand why it reversed, but I swear it was there!

Thanks

System

Normally cut-off times relate to deposits that have to be manually processed e.g. Deposit Envelopes. The cash and cheque machines that actually process deposits usually mirror counter cut off times

20aday

Although I'm no longer a NatWest customer AFAIK it's always been the next working day for deposits after 3.30pm.

I know it's certainly the case with Lloyds Bank.

NatWest do need to make it clearer on the text you've posted above that it's for transactions from open of business until 3.30pm; even counter deposits clear the next business day after that time.