How long does it take to transfer money between two banks savings accounts?

jimmy_uk_2

Got a bit of a panic on! 

Looking to ditch my low-interest-rate savings account with Virgin Bank, I opened a Sainsbury's savings account on Wednesday evening. I sent a £1 test payment to ensure everything was set up correctly. This £1 amount showed first thing on Thursday morning online in my Sainsburys savings account, great I thought - the money moved overnight. So I proceeded to transfer all of the money from my Virgin account (and it is a considerable amount of money) early on Thursday morning. I also clicked the "close my account" button when I made the transfer (this I feel, I might end up regretting). Over 24hrs later this money is not showing in my Sainsbury's account. Panic starts. 

I phoned Sainsbury's Bank and they think the money should be showing by now but as it isn't and also not in the pending section of my account it most likely would be later today. Their best advice was to contact Virgin Bank as there was nothing else they could do. I did this and spoke to a polite lady who explained that the money had left my Virgin account and should show up with Sainsbury's today. I waited half a day to phone back Sainsbury's to ask if they could see the payment pending yet, they could not and filled for a "payment investigation" as they now think something has likely gone wrong. I was told I needed to also ask Virgin Bank to do the same, so I called VB again and this time spoke with a rude individual who didn't want to help other than to tell me to just wait longer.

How long does it take to transfer money between two banks savings accounts? The £1 test payment I made moved overnight but a much larger payment is in the digital ether!

jaypers

Speak to Virgin Fraud dept in case it’s sitting in a pending queue in Faster Payments. Saying this, they should have contacted you. All electronic payments can be traced by the respective banks very easily. 

Band7

Virgin are notorious for holding up outgoing payments for days.

km1500

It is probably being held by Virgin as it is a transfer of a large amount to a new payee.

As above, contact Virgin first.

wmb194

A one pound test payment followed by a large payment is a good way to trip a bank's fraud algorithms.

jimmy_uk_2

Sorry, forgot to mention the fraud department at Virgin did call me an hour after I clicked to send the payment. I answered their questions and they said the hold would be released straight away. This was around 9:30am on Thursday. The fact the balance showed as cleared by the time I checked in evening has me concerned that it's still not showing now, Friday evening in my new account. It may well be fine in the end but the delay likely means I won't see the money until Monday as "banking doesn't happen over the weekend". Gonna be on tender hooks all weekend.

born_again

The bank you are sending a faster payment to, will not see it till it arrives.

Is the amount over Virgins faster payment limit? As such gone via the slow boat?

Swipe

What a nightmare!

Bigwheels1111

Had this issue 8-10 times in the last 4 months.
All my savings started to mature and get paid into my bank.
Then I wanted to open new fixed savers and easy access accounts.
That’s when it all went wrong.
Payment held but marked as sent etc.
To a while to sort out, made complaints and got payed out for loss of interest and good will gestures for the hassle.

dealyboy

@wmb194 said:

A one pound test payment followed by a large payment is a good way to trip a bank's fraud algorithms.

... so what would be a better approach ?

Swipe

I've always used the £1 first method and never had a problem. No way I'd ever transfer without a small test first to register the new payee.