Paralyzed by low Faster Payments limits

Minimalist1978

Is anyone else feeling paralysed by ridiculously low limits on Faster Payments?

Almost all UK banks seem to impose limits of £25,000 per day for online payments, which makes it impractical when moving around larger sums of money. For example, I want to take advantage of high interest instant access savings accounts, and wish to use my entire £85,000 'allowance' of FSCS protection in each account. So it now takes 4 separate transfers on 4 different days to move funds between my current account and savings account... and then when the banks change their rates and a new account is more competitive, it takes another 4 days to switch over.

Is there any way around this problem? I've been using Revolut, which had been working well in allowing up to £250k Faster Payments per day... but just recently, they have started declining such transfers without any explanation apart from "for security reasons". I'm assuming my account has been flagged somewhere (BOE) as a potential money laundering risk, or some other reason, but they're not divulging anything. All I want to do is get the best interest rates!! All my accounts are in my own name and all money is perfectly legit...so why should Revolut be preventing me from transacting all of a sudden?

Just wondering what other companies I could use instead of Revolut which would allow large Faster Payments.

ForumUser7

Joss1978 said:

Is anyone else feeling paralysed by ridiculously low limits on Faster Payments?

Almost all UK banks seem to impose limits of £25,000 per day for online payments, which makes it impractical when moving around larger sums of money. For example, I want to take advantage of high interest instant access savings accounts, and wish to use my entire £85,000 'allowance' of FSCS protection in each account. So it now takes 4 separate transfers on 4 different days to move funds between my current account and savings account... and then when the banks change their rates and a new account is more competitive, it takes another 4 days to switch over.

Is there any way around this problem? I've been using Revolut, which had been working well in allowing up to £250k Faster Payments per day... but just recently, they have started declining such transfers without any explanation apart from "for security reasons". I'm assuming my account has been flagged somewhere (BOE) as a potential money laundering risk, or some other reason, but they're not divulging anything. All I want to do is get the best interest rates!! All my accounts are in my own name and all money is perfectly legit...so why should Revolut be preventing me from transacting all of a sudden?

Just wondering what other companies I could use instead of Revolut which would allow large Faster Payments.

This source is not always up to date, but gives a rough idea: https://www.wearepay.uk/what-we-do/payment-systems/faster-payment-system/transaction-limits/

wmb194

Joss1978 said:

Is anyone else feeling paralysed by ridiculously low limits on Faster Payments?

Almost all UK banks seem to impose limits of £25,000 per day for online payments, which makes it impractical when moving around larger sums of money. For example, I want to take advantage of high interest instant access savings accounts, and wish to use my entire £85,000 'allowance' of FSCS protection in each account. So it now takes 4 separate transfers on 4 different days to move funds between my current account and savings account... and then when the banks change their rates and a new account is more competitive, it takes another 4 days to switch over.

Is there any way around this problem? I've been using Revolut, which had been working well in allowing up to £250k Faster Payments per day... but just recently, they have started declining such transfers without any explanation apart from "for security reasons". I'm assuming my account has been flagged somewhere (BOE) as a potential money laundering risk, or some other reason, but they're not divulging anything. All I want to do is get the best interest rates!! All my accounts are in my own name and all money is perfectly legit...so why should Revolut be preventing me from transacting all of a sudden?

Just wondering what other companies I could use instead of Revolut which would allow large Faster Payments.

Do you have a Barclays current account? You can send Chaps payments for free* and there shouldn't be any limits.

Otherwise, if they're accepted, cheques are an option.

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

*Although there is a fee for cancellation or modification.

born_again

and wish to use my entire £85,000 'allowance' of FSCS protection in each account. 

I hope you are aware the £85K is not per account.

 If you have money in multiple accounts with banks that are part of the same banking group (and share a banking licence) we have to treat them as one bank.

So if you had money in HSBC & First Direct. They are classed as one bank, as they share the same licence. So your £85K in each, would only pay out £85K under FSCS

https://www.fscs.org.uk/what-we-cover/banks-building-societies/

TheBanker

For Revolut specifically (which is not a bank, and unlikely to become one in the UK any time soon), this article may shed some light.

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/saving/article-11830763/So-Revolut-hit-surge-scams.html

The number of crime reports made to scam reporting body Action Fraud ballooned to 7,198 last year, up 81 per cent from 3,975 in 2021. That was the fourth highest figure for any firm offering current account-style services, trailing only Barclays, Lloyds and Santander. This year, the trend has sped up, with 573 crime reports in January alone — making Revolut the most complained-about ‘banking’ firm other than Barclays, even though it has far fewer customers than mainstream banks.

The company has also faced a surge in cases sent to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS), the last port of call if a complaint is rejected by a financial firm. In the first two months of this year, the FOS received 486 new complaints about fraud and scams at Revolut — second only to Barclays and ahead of major banks such as HSBC, Lloyds and Santander. In the same period last year, it received 132 complaints. Revolut had 56 per cent of complaints upheld in favour of customers last year, the joint highest of the ten ‘banking’ firms in the list. Just over half of the complaints this year were authorised push payment (APP) fraud, where a victim is tricked into sending money to a fraudster.

Minimalist1978

ForumUser7 said:

Joss1978 said:

Is anyone else feeling paralysed by ridiculously low limits on Faster Payments?

Almost all UK banks seem to impose limits of £25,000 per day for online payments, which makes it impractical when moving around larger sums of money. For example, I want to take advantage of high interest instant access savings accounts, and wish to use my entire £85,000 'allowance' of FSCS protection in each account. So it now takes 4 separate transfers on 4 different days to move funds between my current account and savings account... and then when the banks change their rates and a new account is more competitive, it takes another 4 days to switch over.

Is there any way around this problem? I've been using Revolut, which had been working well in allowing up to £250k Faster Payments per day... but just recently, they have started declining such transfers without any explanation apart from "for security reasons". I'm assuming my account has been flagged somewhere (BOE) as a potential money laundering risk, or some other reason, but they're not divulging anything. All I want to do is get the best interest rates!! All my accounts are in my own name and all money is perfectly legit...so why should Revolut be preventing me from transacting all of a sudden?

Just wondering what other companies I could use instead of Revolut which would allow large Faster Payments.

This source is not always up to date, but gives a rough idea: https://www.wearepay.uk/what-we-do/payment-systems/faster-payment-system/transaction-limits/

Thanks, yes, I've been through every listing with a fine tooth comb. Virgin, for example, is stated as having a £100k limit but in reality it is only £30k now. I still need to check Atom (which is stated as £110k limit). I'll report back if anything positive.

Rob5342

Starling let you send larger amounts, but it sometimes needs them to check the transaction first.

Minimalist1978

wmb194 said:

Joss1978 said:

Is anyone else feeling paralysed by ridiculously low limits on Faster Payments?

Almost all UK banks seem to impose limits of £25,000 per day for online payments, which makes it impractical when moving around larger sums of money. For example, I want to take advantage of high interest instant access savings accounts, and wish to use my entire £85,000 'allowance' of FSCS protection in each account. So it now takes 4 separate transfers on 4 different days to move funds between my current account and savings account... and then when the banks change their rates and a new account is more competitive, it takes another 4 days to switch over.

Is there any way around this problem? I've been using Revolut, which had been working well in allowing up to £250k Faster Payments per day... but just recently, they have started declining such transfers without any explanation apart from "for security reasons". I'm assuming my account has been flagged somewhere (BOE) as a potential money laundering risk, or some other reason, but they're not divulging anything. All I want to do is get the best interest rates!! All my accounts are in my own name and all money is perfectly legit...so why should Revolut be preventing me from transacting all of a sudden?

Just wondering what other companies I could use instead of Revolut which would allow large Faster Payments.

Do you have a Barclays current account? You can send Chaps payments for free* and there shouldn't be any limits.

Otherwise, if they're accepted, cheques are an option.

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

*Although there is a fee for cancellation or modification.

Great suggestion, thank you. Strangely Barclays is one of the only banks I've never held an account with... but this may be about to change!

Minimalist1978

born_again said:

and wish to use my entire £85,000 'allowance' of FSCS protection in each account. 

I hope you are aware the £85K is not per account.

 If you have money in multiple accounts with banks that are part of the same banking group (and share a banking licence) we have to treat them as one bank.

So if you had money in HSBC & First Direct. They are classed as one bank, as they share the same licence. So your £85K in each, would only pay out £85K under FSCS

https://www.fscs.org.uk/what-we-cover/banks-building-societies/

Thanks, yes, just a typo -  per banking group not account.

gt94sss2

Joss1978 said:

Just wondering what other companies I could use instead of Revolut which would allow large Faster Payments.

Santander
Starling

Futuristic

wmb194 said:

Joss1978 said:

Is anyone else feeling paralysed by ridiculously low limits on Faster Payments?

Almost all UK banks seem to impose limits of £25,000 per day for online payments, which makes it impractical when moving around larger sums of money. For example, I want to take advantage of high interest instant access savings accounts, and wish to use my entire £85,000 'allowance' of FSCS protection in each account. So it now takes 4 separate transfers on 4 different days to move funds between my current account and savings account... and then when the banks change their rates and a new account is more competitive, it takes another 4 days to switch over.

Is there any way around this problem? I've been using Revolut, which had been working well in allowing up to £250k Faster Payments per day... but just recently, they have started declining such transfers without any explanation apart from "for security reasons". I'm assuming my account has been flagged somewhere (BOE) as a potential money laundering risk, or some other reason, but they're not divulging anything. All I want to do is get the best interest rates!! All my accounts are in my own name and all money is perfectly legit...so why should Revolut be preventing me from transacting all of a sudden?

Just wondering what other companies I could use instead of Revolut which would allow large Faster Payments.

Do you have a Barclays current account? You can send Chaps payments for free* and there shouldn't be any limits.

Otherwise, if they're accepted, cheques are an option.

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

*Although there is a fee for cancellation or modification.

Most small name (incl Chip etc) saving cos won't take CHAPS. 

OP will probably have issues if he starts moving money to one new bank then back out again unless he's had the account for a while/used as primary.

I moved a lot around via Santander (limit is 100kday in 25k batches) without much issues however had a lot of documents for AML/KYC to provide few months later even though account was actively used and was 5+ years old.

I would probably try use Chase with their £50k/day limit.