New speedy system for bank transfers launched; account to account in under 2 hours

smithja

I am pretty sure the A&L current account computer system in a relic from the 1970 and 80's that they inherited from The Natioanl Girobank. When A&L purchased Girobank it was that which gave them the banking license they needed to be able to well act as a bank.

It is certainly the reason for the 9 digit account numbering system requring you to use the first digit of your account number as the last digit of the sort code. They used the Bank of England at the time as their clearing bank, the same a NS&I do at the moment. This was the model on which other providers with the same 9 digit numbering systems based theirs, although they use different clearing banks (except for National Savings and anything else Government owned).

Mayday

Yesterday, I transferred money from my Lloyds c/a to my HSBC credit card a/c - still no sign of it

MarkyMarkD

smithja wrote: »

I am pretty sure the A&L current account computer system in a relic from the 1970 and 80's that they inherited from The Natioanl Girobank. When A&L purchased Girobank it was that which gave them the banking license they needed to be able to well act as a bank.

Indeed, that is all true.

The 9 digit account number system is actually more efficient than most banks' systems where you require the whole 14 digits (6 sort code, 8 account number) to uniquely identify your account.

But apart from that, the system is not very customer-friendly.

Night-owl_6

MarkyMarkD wrote: »

Indeed, that is all true.

The 9 digit account number system is actually more efficient than most banks' systems where you require the whole 14 digits (6 sort code, 8 account number) to uniquely identify your account.

But apart from that, the system is not very customer-friendly.

I have to say although I would highly recommend A & L the fact that they do not have may branchs is a real put off to me, as the nearest one to me is 10 miles !!
And when I do go in branch they tell me they cant help me with any think of the account as it was set up online and I can only pay money in/take it out.
I would recmmend to anyone if you have a branch near you to NOT set up your account online or the branch will not help you if you ever need any advice with the account.
Other than that they appear to be a "training bank" by this I mean that eachtime I go in to my local one that they will have someone working the ONLY open desk and they have only been training for 2 weeks!!!!
I dont know if I trust branch staff as they have made to misakes in the past 6 months on a amounts I have paid in!

MarkyMarkD

Presumably you knew where the branch was when you opened the account, so I'm not sure why you did if the lack of a close branch was an issue for you. :rolleyes:

My nearest A&L branch is about 5 miles away but as I can pay in and withdraw at my local post office, free of charge, which is only 200 yards away the branch location doesn't worry me. I also do nearly everything online or by DD so the frequency of branch visits is very low in any case.

Whether or not you open your A&L account online, though, the branches are not able to sort out much because that's not their purpose in life. The best way to sort out current account issues is on the phone to the current account call centre, if you can't resolve it yourself online.

Milarky

Another problem with Faster Payments appears to be 'intermittent connection': Natwest can receive/send BUT it currently doesn't want to send a payment for me as the next available date on the 'dropdown' is Monday! The whole point about this reform was that it ushered in a seven-day-a-week service. Whilst the 'infrastructure' is now there to do this, how can a bank be allowed to make selective use of it?

Does anyone in the know if Natwest have plans to continue to restrict access to FP beyond the 'rollout','bedding-in','it'll all be done by Christmas' hiatus we are currently going through?

Mikeyorks

Milarky wrote: »

The whole point about this reform was that it ushered in a seven-day-a-week service.

It gives a 24/7 service, once bedded, for 'immediate' payments ..... but SOs (and possibly bill payments) remain at Bank working days. As my Bank doesn't support FP .... I'm a bit unsure how you choose 'immediate' ...... so have you checked that's what you selected? As it (logically) shouldn't have a date selector on that one?

Night-owl_6

Anyone know if tranfers from Paypal will also take this fast payment service up??!!

Milarky

Mikeyorks wrote: »

It gives a 24/7 service, once bedded, for 'immediate' payments ..... but SOs (and possibly bill payments) remain at Bank working days. As my Bank doesn't support FP .... I'm a bit unsure how you choose 'immediate' ...... so have you checked that's what you selected? As it (logically) shouldn't have a date selector on that one?

No possibility of a mistake - I was trying to make a 'single' payment (payee already set up) the option to specify a date - other than today's - is part of the process. [Admittedly, I haven't used Natwest for much to date so have studied these screens too closely before. The only way to test your suggestion is to go back and try again - probably without success - but I don't feel in the mood now..

As regards whether future dated 'single' payments will count as 'immediate' or 'standing order' type - it should make no difference once standing orders are incorporated after 6th June.

...but what a typically British **** up ?

[PS I think there must be Gremlins in MSE at the moment, as it becomes quite difficult even to refresh pages. I suspect we're at the point where the servers will need replacing and it will become unavailable for a time!]

medic1978

Milarky wrote: »

Another problem with Faster Payments appears to be 'intermittent connection': Natwest can receive/send BUT it currently doesn't want to send a payment for me as the next available date on the 'dropdown' is Monday! The whole point about this reform was that it ushered in a seven-day-a-week service. Whilst the 'infrastructure' is now there to do this, how can a bank be allowed to make selective use of it?

Does anyone in the know if Natwest have plans to continue to restrict access to FP beyond the 'rollout','bedding-in','it'll all be done by Christmas' hiatus we are currently going through?

I made a transfer from Natwest on 21 May around 10pm. The earliest date from the 'drop down' menu was 22nd May. However, when i went ahead with the payment the confirmation screen told me that the payment will leave my account today and be received in recipient account today (HSBC). 1 second later the money was in HSBC. I think if you select Mon as payment date it will probably also be transferred immediately.

This is exactly what would happen with instant transfers to other Natwest accounts before faster payments. i.e. payments made at weekend would need to have Mondays date selected as earliest payment date but the money was there instantly in another Natwest account (as stated by confirmation screen)