Al Rayan Bank Warning

masonic

quirkydeptless wrote: »

That's possible, but I also have a theory that their plan is to phase out access to the old desktop application and move customers to new version, hence the locking out when you register for the Mobile App.

FWIW I was told something to this effect when I last called them trying to register for online banking.

quirkydeptless

masonic wrote: »

FWIW I was told something to this effect when I last called them trying to register for online banking.

That's a shame. I'm happy with the account for the 1.6% expected profit, but I can't use it for my automated savings hub, but then a Savings account with Standing Orders was to my knowledge a unique offering.

I've also got a fixed rate savings deposit with them now too which will help compensate for the steady drop off in interest rates generally, but the savings market cupboard is looking increasingly bare

masonic

They may well add more features to the app in future, I get the sense they were running behind schedule in its development and took the decision to release it as soon as they were able. People were being told about a new online banking system being launched "next month" in early September.

I'd been waiting for online access for some time, after not getting online access when I opened my first fixed term account, and getting nowhere with their paper-based registration form for the old online banking system.

colsten

It looks as if they might have fixed the problem with the online login. It still didn't work first thing this morning, so I rang them. After a 40ish minute wait in the queue, I was going to reproduce the error message for the CS operative - - - and the bl$*&y thing suddenly worked ok! Fingers xed it will continue working.

Living_proof

UPDATE on my own complaint - I had another Facebook rant and finally someone rang me to sort it out. Someone with perfect command of English, very apologetic and who had all the necessary information to get me in online where I could see my deposit (with interest!). There has been an IT glitch with regard to sending out emailed customer welcome letters and one is being sent in the post. Let's hope that is the end of the problems and all will run smoothly as banks usually do.

masonic

steviex wrote: »

Last week I applied to open a fixed rate bond, however it has been a week now and I'm still waiting for the welcome letter with my log in ID etc. After reading some of the comments on here, I don't think I'll bother.

steviex wrote: »

After waiting for over a week now for my welcome pack, today I received an email stating:

"Whilst your account is open, we are aware that you have not yet received your welcome pack. This is due to the recent unprecedented demand that we have experienced for our savings accounts."

They go on to say that my pack can be viewed via a secure email system, I just have to wait for the following emails...........

Has there been any progress on your side? I've been waiting a week for a fixed term account to be opened, I can see the money sitting in my holding account (correct reference shown), and I received the same email as you and have signed up to their mimecast email system where I found a message dated yesterday asking me to make my deposit.

I don't really care as long as they get around to it in the end and backdate interestprofit to the date the payment was received.

quirkydeptless

colsten wrote: »

Their systems work in weird and wonderful(?) ways.

I have a number of SOs on my Everyday Saver, to be processed on the first of each month. Whilst those for November 1 have arrived ok in the destination accounts yesterday, they are as yet not reflected in my Everyday Saver account. This isn't the end of the world, especially if the payee is one of your own accounts, it's just something else to be aware of.

I can see my November 1st SOs in both my Al Rayan account and destination accounts on the same day from the App.

colsten

Their systems work in weird and wonderful(?) ways.

I have a number of SOs on my Everyday Saver, to be processed on the first of each month. Whilst those for November 1 have arrived ok in the destination accounts yesterday, they are as yet not reflected in my Everyday Saver account. This isn't the end of the world, especially if the payee is one of your own accounts, it's just something else to be aware of.

Also, a one-off payment I made last night and which arrived within minutes in the destination account is not reflected in my available balance. It does show as a successful payment in the Payment and Transfers Summary. The SOs paid yesterday aren't showing in that summary.

I reckon it is pretty essential to keep your own transaction list up to date and not rely on the Al Rayan transaction or statement list. They'll eventually catch up, no doubt....


EDIT: I have just seen this response

quirkydeptless wrote: »

I can see my November 1st SOs in both my Al Rayan account and destination accounts on the same day from the App.

I hadn't thought of checking the app, but you are absolutely right, thank you! Yesterday's payments are all showing, plus the SOs scheduled for today are all showing with a transaction date of November 4. So that's actually quite good. I'll just have to remember when to use the app and when to use online banking (still no means of setting up SOs in the app, for instance)

.

colsten

The online system hasn't updated in days now. I had further SOs going out today (they all worked as requested), and I also FPed some money into Al Rayan this morning. Not a sign of these transactions in the online banking! They are all visible in the mobile app, however.

Another quirk is that the mobile app shows all incoming payments before the outgoing ones, even if the incoming ones happened hours later than the outgoing ones.

My mobile balance (which is now different from my online balance) higher than the balance I track manually. This might be due to an interest payment they made on 31 October but this doesn't show as a transaction on either the mobile app or in online banking. The previous interest payment, value 01/10/2019, shows on my September statement but isn't reflected in the mobile or online transactions, and did not change my balance.

I'd say it is critical that you track all your incoming and outgoing payments manually as their systems are a bit of a pig's ear, at least for now.

Rich2808

There was also a problem last year with Al rayan cash ISAs as HMRC initially recorded them as non isas for interest taxation purposes in 2017-18 and 2018-19 - so were included towards the £500 (higher rate rate) or £1k (basic rate) tax free limits.

I was informed by email from Al rayan last March this would be rectified by HMRC but I have no idea if it has as my tax code doesn't appear to have been adjusted yet. The initial error cost me nearly £200 in wrongly due tax in 2017-18 as I had already exceeded my £500 savings interest limit as a higher rate taxpayer. So double check your HMRC interest figures if you have an Al rayan cash isa.

HMRC said it was Al Rayan's fault - and Al Rayan claimed HMRC had recorded the interest incorrectly as non isa. Given I have multiple savings with multiple providers and no one else recorded the savings wrongly who are we to believe?...