Banks to be able to hold suspicious payments for 4 days

sausage_time

See this link for more information:

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn7yel28rx6o

MikeJXE

A great idea in my opinion 

friolento

Dreadful. A massive backwards step.

Kim_13

Better rename them Slower Payments then.

dealyboy

I have a mix of thoughts ... 

Negative
More security for the feckless
Disruption for the sophisticated customer (MSE type)

Positive
Giving information about a delay and allowing assurance to be given
More protection against fraud

We must remember that to protect a bank enables them to protect us.

PRAISETHESUN

dealyboy said:

I have a mix of thoughts ... 

Negative
More security for the feckless
Disruption for the sophisticated customer (MSE type)

Positive
Giving information about a delay and allowing assurance to be given
More protection against fraud

We must remember that to protect a bank enables them to protect us.

Ultimately it's the bank protecting themselves, since they are out of pocket to refund fraudulent transactions. But the flow on "protection" to consumers is also nice. Will be interesting to see how frequently transactions get delayed as it would cause plenty of headaches if it happens too frequently

Rob5342

The speed you need depends on the amount. You might need a few hundred pounds transferring instantly but you are unlikely to want to transfer tens of thousands without knowing a few weeks beforehand. I don't see why they can't have a notification from the app to do a second approval some time after the first request. 

boingy

Unfortunately I think we'll see even longer delays and frustrations to many legitimate transfers, made much worse by the near-certainty that banks won't take on any extra staff to deal with the extra workload. It took me just over 1 hour on hold to contact the Co-op about a blocked payment. I had another recently with a different bank where they texted me to ask "Is this payment OK?" and when I texted back "Yes" they immediately phoned me, but it was their automated system that phoned me then played me a recorded message and then put me in a bloody queue! 20 minutes later I hung up, because I had to go out.

If they are not careful we'll all go back to writing cheques to ourselves to transfer money between accounts.

njm123

Fine so long as 

a) They compensate for any loss - i.e. missing out on a purchase, missing chance to open higher rate saving account, surcharges from tradesmen/businesses for late payment or inconvenience to the business.
b) They make it clear if the payment is delayed or has to be remade by the customer later.  If it's delayed and not made clear that it will be paid in 4 days if genuine I can see some businesses/trades demanding payment by another method and the customer paying twice. 

lr1277

Sorry to nit pick…..
The article says currently FP’s have to be completed or rejected by the end of the next working day.
This rule change says banks have a further 3 (working) days for an investigation.
i make that 5 working days or a week+ of elapsed time (depending on bank holidays).

MattMattMattUK

njm123 said:

Fine so long as 

a) They compensate for any loss - i.e. missing out on a purchase, missing chance to open higher rate saving account, surcharges from tradesmen/businesses for late payment or inconvenience to the business.

They will not be required to do that. 

njm123 said:

b) They make it clear if the payment is delayed or has to be remade by the customer later.  If it's delayed and not made clear that it will be paid in 4 days if genuine I can see some businesses/trades demanding payment by another method and the customer paying twice. 

They will say a payment is delayed, as they currently do, but they will not allow a payment to be re-made, it would be blocked just as they currently block people trying to bypass a held payment.