Natwest transactions - Is this even legal?

joojoobeans

Looking at online banking around 12 midnight last night (9th april). Assumed it would display all transactions that had left my account that day and that no more could go through. Woke up to an additional 5 transactions having left my account on 9th april!! This senario happens all the time.

Have asked natwest to confirm what day/time they left my actual account (assuming it might not display instantly on online banking). Surely if they are processed through my account after 12 midnight though they should show the next days date?

My main concern is people getting charged for going overdrawn as transactions are being proccessed in the small hours but still being included in the previous days banking. Therefore, the information provided to customers about their account is inaccurate. Where do the banks stand on this? Is it legal?

Slinky

In my experience you'll probably find if you look tomorrow those late transactions will have been redated to today's date.

PeacefulWaters

Batch processing of transactions isn't an art to the exact minute.

If you have been charged by them as a result of their timing being different to what you expect I'm sure they'll reimburse.

RG2015

Please see the the NatWest information on the link below.

Click on "Planned System Updates" where they say the following:

"In order to keep our systems up to date, we sometimes need to carry out essential maintenance. So that we don't cause you too much disruption, we do this in the early hours of the morning from 02:00 to 02:40."

This is when they do their daily transaction update which may include transactions from the previous day.

https://personal.natwest.com/personal/service-status.html

colsten

joojoobeans wrote: »

Looking at online banking around 12 midnight last night (9th april). Assumed it would display all transactions that had left my account that day and that no more could go through. Woke up to an additional 5 transactions having left my account on 9th april!! This senario happens all the time.

Have asked natwest to confirm what day/time they left my actual account (assuming it might not display instantly on online banking). Surely if they are processed through my account after 12 midnight though they should show the next days date?

My main concern is people getting charged for going overdrawn as transactions are being proccessed in the small hours but still being included in the previous days banking. Therefore, the information provided to customers about their account is inaccurate. Where do the banks stand on this? Is it legal?

Once you have spent your money, you should not be surprised if you get charged if you are spending it again. You should also not use your bank account to try and figure out how much money you have left to spend, as for a variety of reasons - many of which are outside the bank's control - the actual debiting might be delayed. The only person who can possibly know how much money you have left to spend is yourself. You need to track your actual, and your expected (DDs etc), spend yourself.

joojoobeans

Thanks for everyone's replys.

The system updates in the early hours, being the time when some transactions are processed, makes sense.

However, it doesn't answer my main question.....

Is it legal for them to knowingly process transactions during the small hours of the morning but still display the previous days date? They obviously know they won't be leaving the accounts on that date. After all, natwest have intentionally configured their systems to work in this way and could easily change the date.

It seems to me that It works in their favour, as there are many people (e.g elderly/didabled) who will be caught out by this and possibly not have the knowldege or ability to deal with the resulting charges.

To my mind it appears that they are purposely misleading customers by not displaying accurate information on their bank accounts.

Zanderman

You don't think that maybe you're over-thinking this?

It's normal bank behaviour for overnight processing. They are processing transactions that you, the account holder, have authorised. They're doing them as fast as they can.

You cannot claim to be 'caught out' as you'll have authorised these transactions - and should be expecting them anytime soon - and planning your banking accordingly.

You can't, as people have pointed out above, rely on a 'live' bank balance to be accurate. It never will be if there are pending transactions. And, until the bank has updated, only you know what those pending transactions are - so the responsibility is with you.

There's nothing 'legal' or 'illegal' about it - this is in line with the terms of your bank account which is a contractual arrangement between you and the bank.

Why would you think lots of people get caught out by this? And why elderly/disabled in particular?

If it makes you feel any better most banks do the same with credits - so, for example, interest due on the 1st of a month usually only appears on the 2nd, in the early hours, but is dated the 1st.

John-K_3

joojoobeans wrote: »

Thanks for everyone's replys.

The system updates in the early hours, being the time when some transactions are processed, makes sense.

However, it doesn't answer my main question.....

Is it legal for them to knowingly process transactions during the small hours of the morning but still display the previous days date?
.

Yes, of course it is. Why would you think that money you spent on the 9th would not be listed as going out on the 9th?

realaledrinker

Whenever I hear the phrase on here 'is it legal...' I :wall:

OceanSound

Paypal also does the same. I.e. they are 'flexible' with the transaction dates. Pretty sure they hang on to the money for 1-2 days before its posted on to our accounts.
My complaint to the ombudsmen about this resulted in paypal offering au$100 compensation, without ombudsmen having to make decision.

PeacefulWaters

Perhaps they should process transactions at 9am. Give customers no chance to top up their account on the day.

Think of the fee income.