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New speedy system for bank transfers launched; account to account in under 2 hours
Former_MSE_Lawrence
Posts: 975 Forumite
What's the deal?
On Tue 27 May, a new 'Faster Payments' system was launched for bank to bank transfers by APACS, the automated payment service. It promises to make cleared payments possible from one account to another in under 2 hours, by phone or web, for customers of thirteen big banks & building societies.
The price hasn't yet been confirmed for all banks, NatWest will be offering this for free... others are yet to confirm. This has been a huge bone of contention for a long time, so it's good to see a step in the right direction. Transfers have notoriously taken up to 4 days to clear in the past, allowing banks to sit on customers' cash, denying them interest.
How does it work?
Previously, arrange a payment from your account to a friends, and it would take 3-4 days to reach their account.
Under this new system, APACS believes transactions will be completed in under 2 hours, with a minimum transfer time of thirty mins.
Which banks are involved?
Thirteen banks are involved in getting the new system off the ground, but they're not all equal. Some banks ONLY allow you to receive them for now. So, what you can do depends purely on which bank you are with.
What about other banks?
If you're not a customer of any of these, access to fast transfers will depend on your bank/building society's own arrangements with one of those involved. It's likely that the pressure of competition will see that these arrangements are made sooner, rather than later, but currently most will still be bound to the older system.
As this system is still in it's early stages, it's not all quite as smooth as this sounds. For a good timetable of when which bank is rolling out what, the BBC have a good article.
Will banks charge you to use the service?
The previous fastest payments system, CHAPS, cost up to £30 per transaction.
Yet public interest in this new system, and competitive pressure between banks could see much lower charges, or even a free service for the Faster Payments scheme. However, so far only NatWest has confirmed that it won't charge customers for faster transfers, so we are playing the waiting game for the other banks.
For a bank by bank list of responses see BBC Radio 4 Moneybox research
Will it affect Direct Debits/Standing Orders/Cheques?
The Direct Debit system will remain unchanged, as it already offers same-day transfers.
The Standing Order system is going to be made faster, with some banks rolling this scheme out for Standing Orders from 6 June. Same-day standing order transfers should be possible, but only on banking days.
Cheques will still take up to 4 days to clear.
Listen to BBC Radio 4's Moneybox show on this.
Go to this Moneybox article and click where it says "Listen Here: Quick Quick Slow"
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On Tue 27 May, a new 'Faster Payments' system was launched for bank to bank transfers by APACS, the automated payment service. It promises to make cleared payments possible from one account to another in under 2 hours, by phone or web, for customers of thirteen big banks & building societies.
The price hasn't yet been confirmed for all banks, NatWest will be offering this for free... others are yet to confirm. This has been a huge bone of contention for a long time, so it's good to see a step in the right direction. Transfers have notoriously taken up to 4 days to clear in the past, allowing banks to sit on customers' cash, denying them interest.
How does it work?
Previously, arrange a payment from your account to a friends, and it would take 3-4 days to reach their account.
Under this new system, APACS believes transactions will be completed in under 2 hours, with a minimum transfer time of thirty mins.
- There's a cap on transfer amounts. There is a cap on the amount you can transfer; £10,000 for internet and phone payments, and £100,000 for Standing Orders (which will be possible from 6 June).
- Individual banks may differ. These limits may be lower during the launch period. The system will be running 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Which banks are involved?
Thirteen banks are involved in getting the new system off the ground, but they're not all equal. Some banks ONLY allow you to receive them for now. So, what you can do depends purely on which bank you are with.
- Send & Receive Banks: Barclays, Citi, Clydesdale Bank, HSBC, Lloyds TSB, Northern Bank, Natwest RBS and Yorkshire Bank
- Just Receive. Alliance & Leicester, Halifax Bank of Scotland, Nationwide, Northern Rock
To quickly check whether your account qualifies use the APACS Sortcode Checker
What about other banks?
If you're not a customer of any of these, access to fast transfers will depend on your bank/building society's own arrangements with one of those involved. It's likely that the pressure of competition will see that these arrangements are made sooner, rather than later, but currently most will still be bound to the older system.
As this system is still in it's early stages, it's not all quite as smooth as this sounds. For a good timetable of when which bank is rolling out what, the BBC have a good article.
Will banks charge you to use the service?
The previous fastest payments system, CHAPS, cost up to £30 per transaction.
Yet public interest in this new system, and competitive pressure between banks could see much lower charges, or even a free service for the Faster Payments scheme. However, so far only NatWest has confirmed that it won't charge customers for faster transfers, so we are playing the waiting game for the other banks.
For a bank by bank list of responses see BBC Radio 4 Moneybox research
Will it affect Direct Debits/Standing Orders/Cheques?
The Direct Debit system will remain unchanged, as it already offers same-day transfers.
The Standing Order system is going to be made faster, with some banks rolling this scheme out for Standing Orders from 6 June. Same-day standing order transfers should be possible, but only on banking days.
Cheques will still take up to 4 days to clear.
Listen to BBC Radio 4's Moneybox show on this.
Go to this Moneybox article and click where it says "Listen Here: Quick Quick Slow"
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Comments
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The link above to the APACS Sortcode Checker is giving a "page not found"....0
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"A nation of plenty so concerned with gain" - Isley Brothers - Harvest for the World0
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First direct are providing the service free of charge but for the first week it has a limit of £20 on transfers to make sure the system is working ok, then it will allow the full £10k limit as of the 03rd june. For the standing orders this is not on the system at the moment but is due to be started in the next few months.
It`s a good idea but unfortunately some banks are only recieving payments which will allow an increase in their income without having to pay out money straight away. all banks should alow this and it should be free of charge. it`s about time the uk cam up to speed with the rest of the world.0 -
I now live in Thailand, a country that in many ways is 50 years behind the UK. Yet I can effect immediate transfers to another person's account and it's there in about 10 seconds simply by using my ATM card. I fill in the bank and account number and confirm the transfer and that's it. I've checked whilst we've been on the phone. Easy! About time the UK banks woke up. Incidentally it's free.:A0
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I was quite pleased to see the announcement of this service, I regularly transfer money using internet banking between my high interest Nationwide account and my RBS current account, but I didn't realise until I read this article that there was any possibility of it not being free! I assumed it was exactly the same as the current system that I use, just faster.
Steve0 -
Just checked my payments and can pay some store cards the day they are due and not 3 days early. I'm with First Direct.
Tried my sister who is with Alliance and Leicester and that was still 3 days still.
Same as you Steve just assumed it was free and a quicker way of paying. Hope it stays free.:female:0 -
Well I didn't get my pay early even though the transfer from Barclays left yesterday to my A&L account.
The above link shows my A&L account cannot accept fast transfers even though they are listed in the above article as being able to recieve? Think it might take a while for this system to get from a walking pace to a jog (hope it gets to a sprint in the end!!)0 -
I have just set up a payment from my ONE ACCOUNT (Natwest RBS) to my credit card through internet banking and have been informed the payment will be received the same day instead of the usual 3 working days. This means my cash can be in my account 3 days longer working for me instead of them...hooray!!:T"Doing nothing is very difficult..........you never know when you're finished!"0
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I now live in Thailand, a country that in many ways is 50 years behind the UK. Yet I can effect immediate transfers to another person's account and it's there in about 10 seconds simply by using my ATM card. I fill in the bank and account number and confirm the transfer and that's it. I've checked whilst we've been on the phone. Easy! About time the UK banks woke up. Incidentally it's free.:A
Yeah I wonder why the banks have taken so long to make the transfer faster?
On a totally different note, a news article yesterday suggested that by sitting on cash for those extra few days, banks last years probably clawed back £30 million.
Call me cynical...0 -
Tried it last night
HSBC->Natwest - done in the time it took to figure out it's necessary to log out of the Natwest system and back in again to refresh it.
Natwest->HSBC - instant. Literally, pound sent, refreshed about 2 seconds later and it was there. Very good!
Hope A&L accept it soon, as I've just kicked off the process of transferring to them from HSBC so it'll make the process that little bit easier.0
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