Bank Transfer Charges (over £20,000)

SPWaller

Natwest charge £23 for a transfer over £20,000 in a single day.

Is this common in most banks?  Seems a bit excessive.

Bigwheels1111

That feels like a ripoff to me.
I moved 85k last week via First Direct and was free.
The fee is right for NatWest.

masonic

Is this for a CHAPS transfer? If so, then yes that's the level of charge that is typical.

Some banks have higher Faster Payment limits. See https://www.wearepay.uk/what-we-do/payment-systems/faster-payment-system/transaction-limits/

It may be possible to make multiple payments at the transaction limit in a single day, though some banks set their daily limit = transaction limit.

Band7

Sounds like a CHAPS payment? These are available at most banks, and are always chargeable.

Other banks have similar or higher limits on payments you can make. E.g. Nationwide Building Society has a transaction limit of £10k but you can make many transactions on the same day. Santander is £100k max a day in Branch or over the phone, £25k online. Starling Bank is up to £1 million. Virgin is £100k. Barclays £50k. HSBC £25k etc etc.

Rollinghome

I paid Santander about the same for a CHAPS transfer years ago, only shortly after they started in the UK.   So £23.00 sounds like a bargain - especially as Santander forgot to make the transfer.

Perksy5

CHAPS is chargable, its a different system to faster payment. As long as its processed before 3pm should be guaranteed to hit recipient same day.
It seems expensive if you're transferring the lower end of the chargeable limit but if you're moving hundreds of thousands in 1 go, it's value.
There's a lot of extra checks and security that you as customers don't see. Really surprises me how much UK customers get free for their banking and then the niche services people rarely tend to use that are charged for (rightly so) catch the complaints. Mind boggling!

dunstonh

£23 sounds reasonable for a CHAPS payment.    Back in the late 80s, they cost around £15.  So, the charge has gone down in real terms.

Seems a bit excessive.

CHAPS involve manual work at both ends and there is limited ability to recall.    Anything that involves staff and liability costs money. 

Why do you need to use CHAPS and not BACs/faster payment which are both free of charge?  

jaypers

FPS is free and Nat West are part of that scheme. CHAPS is chargeable. 

wmb194

Barclays doesn't charge to make a Chaps payment but if you want to alter or cancel one once set-up it costs £20.

"There’s no fee for each CHAPS payment if you’re a Personal, Premier or Platinum customer."

"You can manage your CHAPS payments online – go to the 'Move money' menu and select 'Manage international and same-day payments' under 'Manage and track'. There’s a fee of £20 to cancel or change a CHAPS payment"

https://www.barclays.co.uk/help/payments/payment-information/chaps-payments/

DjangoUnchained

had this with hsbc, i needed to make two transfers about 60k each, they wanted to charge me £30 each, i went into my local branch and complained nicely and they refunded the charges.  I guess its a legitimate charge but always worth complaining and see if they will not charge you.

SPWaller

dunstonh said:

Why do you need to use CHAPS and not BACs/faster payment which are both free of charge?  

The guy in the bank didn't give me any other option other than CHAPs with it being more the £20,000. No mention of FPS.

Also I made the transfer at lunch time on Wednesday no money has been transferred yet!  They need to refund the £23 in this case surely.