BACS payments

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Can anyone confirm as fact how long this takes i.e. how many working days AND if there's such a facility of paying £15 to have it fast clear?

Just a question, no one owes me nor do I owe anyone, just a discussion between me and a work colleague, he says 3 days and there is the facility and I just say 3 days and no facility

Who's right?
 
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Direct from the bacs website... http://www.bacs.co.uk/Bacs/Businesses/BacsDirectCredit/PayingBy/Pages/GettingStarted.aspx

Bacs processing cycle
Input - day 1
Input day is the latest day a business user/bureau may submit a payment file to Bacs for a processing cycle. Payment files must be transmitted to Bacs between 07.00 and 22.30.

Processing - day 2
Files are delivered to the recipient banks which then process each payment.

Entry - day 3
Payments are simultaneously credited to the recipients’ accounts and debited from your account.
 
Thanks jock, I did think of looking but while at work I was doing it from my phone so didn't see that.

Nothing about fast clearance though?
 
Bacs processing cycle
Input - day 1
Input day is the latest day a business user/bureau may submit a payment file to Bacs for a processing cycle. Payment files must be transmitted to Bacs between 07.00 and 22.30.

Processing - day 2
Files are delivered to the recipient banks which then process each payment.

Entry - day 3
Payments are simultaneously credited to the recipients’ accounts and debited from your account.
Some payments are instant. I don't know how it is decided for which. Perhaps payments to regular payees.
They are debited or at least deducted instantly so that you can't spend it again.

I would say any delay is deliberate to allow interest to be accrued.
No one is going to look at them all.
 
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If you ever watch a programme called 'Can't pay - we'll take it away' on ch5, the high court bailiffs want instant payment, or they remove goods. Often, whilst they are at the debtor's property, the debtor phones there bank for an instant transfer to the bailiff's a/c. Straight after, the bailiff phones his bank to see if the funds have gone in. So, I assume there must be a system.
 
Technically BACs payments take 3 days, it depends on the banks involved though and if you receive a payment from someone who uses the same bank as you it could well be the same day. I don't think I've ever had a BACs paid to me where it took 3 days tbh.

Then there are CHAPs payments which are guaranteed the same day but they cost the sender £25.

Then there is the Faster Payment Service which is free, but this is a same day service and works similar to BACs but it quicker, not all all the banks operate this system and there is a limit on the amount. Never used it myself though.
 
Rather than use BACS most banks operate a 'Faster Payments' system. This allows payments between different bank accounts, at different banks, to be made virtually instantly.

When I actually checked if it was that quick when I made a payment to a different bank by the time I had logged into the second bank the money was showing in the account.

Some banks impose a limit on how much can be transferred.

More info at http://www.fasterpayments.org.uk/

In the Can't Pay program they rely on debit card transactions. The money may well not reach their bank instantly but the notification of the payment is logged with their account. The money might take a few days but their notification does confirm the money has actually been claimed from the payers account and is in the system. Once that has happened the money is virtually guaranteed (apart from a bank computer error) in the Can't Pay companies bank account.

Edit: (Was still composing this post when freddy posted his reply).
 
Most of the payments I make using online banking go via faster payments - funds arrive almost instantaneously.
 
There is a facility banks use (something like Direct transfer) Takes seconds to transfer money from your account to the designated bank account (or vice- versa) I'm sure they charge you to use this though. ;) ;)
 
A lot of our customers pay by BACS, we are lloyds bank and if they are too the money usually hits our account in 2 hours.
 
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