Internet banking

Can anyone please explain exactly why a payment from my bank using their internet banking service takes so long? There -is- actual CASH in the account, no cheques waiting to clear, no overdraft. Yet when I click to make an online bill payment, instead of funds being instantly transferred, it takes 5 working days FFS :-/ Surely in this age of technology there can be no excuse for this, there are no pieces of paper to be transferred between banks anymore.

Reply to
Steve Leyland
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It uses BACS which should take 2 working days eg send money monday, money arrives wednesday.

I have had some payments arrive "next day" for utility bills however, so perhaps these get sent in bulk via CHAPS.

Reply to
Adrian Boliston

The Lord alerted my mind to the presence of this EVIL article by Steve Leyland, and I thusly replied:

It's normally three working days if you're lucky, four if you're not. If the payment is going to the same bank it will be instantaneous.

The problem is this:

Bill payments are sent through the BACS system. This is a central clearing house which all the banks are members of.

You can send same day payments if you wish, via CHAPS. There is often at least a 20 fee for this service.

While there is still money to be made from this, bill payments will always take 3 or 4 working days.

I agree though... in this age of growing technological involvement in the banking systems it seems surprising that paperless transfers cannot be cleared within the same day, or at most by the next day.

Reply to
Reverend Parson Peter Parsnip

The Lord alerted my mind to the presence of this EVIL article by Paul Rooney, and I thusly replied:

I agree with this. Most banks now open for at least a few hours on a Saturday, so they clearly are working. The Royal Mail has finally classed Saturday as a working day, so why can't the banks?

Reply to
Reverend Parson Peter Parsnip

Unless it's Alliance and Leicester, in which case it still takes a day to "clear".

KotF

Reply to
KotF

"Reverend Parson Peter Parsnip" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@news.teranews.com...

Surely it's down to BACS rather than the individual banks themselves, as BACS control the transfer process.

Reply to
Adrian Boliston

The Lord alerted my mind to the presence of this EVIL article by Adrian Boliston, and I thusly replied:

I was under the impression that the banks run BACS in the first place?

Reply to
Reverend Parson Peter Parsnip

Its the bank making some extra money on interest, if they did it instantly, you interest would go down, or charges would go up to compensate for it.

5 days to most people only matters when they are going to be late with the payment...
Reply to
Phil Deane

The Lord alerted my mind to the presence of this EVIL article by Phil Deane, and I thusly replied:

You're such a cynic. The original question was quite genuine.

Followups overridden.

Reply to
Reverend Parson Peter Parsnip

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