MSE News: Customers being 'ripped off' by banks on Faster Payments limits

The limit for transferring money by Faster Payments with your bank is £100,000, yet many banks set the limit much lower...
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Customers being 'ripped off' by banks on Faster Payments limits

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  • cifpower
    cifpower Posts: 6,502 Forumite
    Or you could set up a one time standing order I suppose.
  • Archi_Bald
    Archi_Bald Posts: 9,681
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    "Someone buying a house could pay for as many as five or six different CHAPS transfers, whereas if the limit was raised to the £100,000 level, it's likely they'd only need to pay for one or two, which could up to £100."

    I think MSE misunderstand CHAPS payments. There has never been a limit to individual CHAPS payments. Thus there is no need to make five or six CHAPS transfers, one is enough.
  • Archi_Bald
    Archi_Bald Posts: 9,681
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    cifpower wrote: »
    Or you could set up a one time standing order I suppose.

    Agree, this would be an option at most banks.

    Also many, if not all, banks actually allow you to make several faster payments on the same day. The limit is just per transaction.
  • Pincher
    Pincher Posts: 6,552
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    What have they done with BACS?


    CHAPS is really more for international telegraphic transfer any way.


    The only time I need Faster Payment is 31st January, when I file my taxes at the last minute, and have to pay some tax last minute. The rest of the time, the payment can take a week for all I care.


    So what is going to happen if I want to buy a house, and I need to transfer say £200k to my solicitor? I don't mind waiting a few days. Somebody is going to make me pay, one way or another, I bet.
  • BMN
    BMN Posts: 330 Forumite
    What an incredibly mis-informed article.
    MSE wrote:
    Once you hit your bank's Faster Payments limit, your transfer will tip over into what is known as a CHAPS (Clearing House Automated Payment System) payment.

    If you want to make a payment the method doesn't just switch from Faster Payments to CHAPS if it's above a certain limit.

    CHAPS is for the guaranteed same-working-day transfer of funds between UK banks.
    MSE wrote:
    Helen Saxon, senior money analyst at MoneySavingExpert.com, says: "It's outrageous that people have to pay – sometimes up to £30 a time – for a service that the bank could offer for free, as it does for smaller payments.

    CHAPS payments require manual work 'behind the scenes'. Banks could offer CHAPS payments for free but we'd have to subsidise the cost in other ways. I would rather pay a one-off charge on the few occasions that I will need to make a CHAPS transfer. Faster Payments is suitable for pretty much all my other payments.
    MSE wrote:
    "Someone buying a house could pay for as many as five or six different CHAPS transfers, whereas if the limit was raised to the £100,000 level, it's likely they'd only need to pay for one or two, which could up to £100."

    Already addressed by Archi Bald.
    MSE wrote:
    Banks often cite security as a reason for limiting Faster Payments amounts, but Boulger says this is not a viable explanation.

    "If the banks use security as an excuse for limiting their maximum that would of course be a very weak excuse because there is no reason why they couldn't impose whatever level of security checks they require for a CHAPS payment of the same amount," he says.

    Many banks require you to visit a branch with additional identification (aswell as verifying your PIN). That wouldn't be a feasible option for Faster Payments.
  • bouicca21
    bouicca21 Posts: 6,507
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    As I found out just in time when buying my flat, even the publicised limits are not adhered to. If you are not in the habit of transferring large wads of dosh, Santander will flag the transaction as unusual and block it. Yes you can save the CHAPS fee by using their faster payments system - but only after jumping through hoops that you have no reason to believe exist simply by reading their website (or even by talking to their staff in branch). The precautions are probably sensible - but they really should publicise them (they do for CHAPS).
  • The bank bashing on this website is at times astonishing. Do they believe that every thing should be conducted on a free basis?

    As long as the customer is informed of the charges at the time of their decision making process, then it is just business, plain and simple. If they do not want to pay the fees, write a cheque, wait 5 days. Or have it done same day and pay a relatively small percentage for the convenience.

    MSE - your journalism is looking even more crass and amateurish, which is saying something, considering the low bar you have set yourself.

    When writing an article, I recommend you a) get the facts correct and b) write for both sides of the argument, then lean to one side, based on fact and a substantiated opinion. Basic journalism, that it appears most of the articles on this website seem to ignore.
  • colsten
    colsten Posts: 17,597
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    BMN wrote: »
    What an incredibly mis-informed article.

    It's a sad day when MSE get their facts so wrong.
  • I saw ripped off in the title and thought it must be a newbie come to rant.
    Are you for real? - Glass Half Empty??
    :coffee:
  • Archi_Bald
    Archi_Bald Posts: 9,681
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    BMN wrote: »
    MSE wrote:
    Once you hit your bank's Faster Payments limit, your transfer will tip over into what is known as a CHAPS (Clearing House Automated Payment System) payment. You will be charged for this transfer, with the fee varying between banks, but typically being between £20 and £30.

    If you want to make a payment the method doesn't just switch from Faster Payments to CHAPS if it's above a certain limit.

    Crikey, I had missed that MSE implied that Faster Payments will 'morph' into CHAPS payments. Of course that is not the case.

    This article was not well researched, not one of MSE's prouder moments.
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