Bloomin banks

[AdamW]

I'm sure this has caught out other people before, but I feel like venting some spleen!

Last Wednesday I remembered "Oooh, I better pay my credit card bill!". So, I went on to the internet, logged into my bank, and sent a big wodge of cash to the credit card company (a different bank to my current account). Seeing as it was due on Friday, I thought "well, that leaves 2 working days and nights for a computer to beep down a fibre at another computer"

On Thursday I looked at my statement and thought "Good, the money has been transferred, and with a day to spare!"

However, today I get my statement through, it shows a late payment charge... I ring them up, turns out the money didn't reach THEM until Monday...

That's four, FOUR days my money disappeared for. Where was it?! Why can an IBM server at Natwest not speak to another IBM server at MBNA without taking four days about it?

If I had been working in London that day, I could have WALKED to the Natwest tower, taken an envelope stuffed with cash, then walked to the MBNA London office, and got back to my desk all in my lunch hour. Sure, it would have been a brisk walk, but a walk nonetheless.

So why do computers take four days to do what a human can do in a lunch hour?

(I know MBNA's creditcard business is actually in Chester, btw )

Naturally, I've rung them up and they've refunded the late fee telling me it CAN take as long as FIVE WORKING DAYS to transfer money electronically. FIVE! Not including weekends!

Come on Eddie, you work for a bank, tell us where my money was before I start making an effigy!

 

[petewood]

I think that money dissappears like this so that there is no interest to be payed on it whilst it is in the system but not in the customer's account. I completely agree with you that these things are way too slow, I think that the banks use the 'Information Narrow Twisty B Road' instead of the 'Information Superhighway'. I recall reading a few months ago that the govt was looking into this.

Can't you set up a direct debit to pay your credit card bills, it saves a lot of headache.

 

[pna]

Adam,

I had a similar thing happen to me twice (and also with MBNA). I work in IT and have been involving in similar systems - my guess is the problem is down to how quickly the receiving bank/ credit card company's systems can process received transactions.

An analogy is it takes them up to 5 days to open letters from the Royal Mail and post them internally to the relevant person.

If I was cynical (heaven forbid), then I would say a credit card company only makes money from interest and charges. I no longer use my MBNA card as the credit period is shorter than other cards and I was always close to being late with payments due to working long hours and spending the week away from home.

Pete.

 

[AdamW]

Now, a direct debit WOULD be the smartest choice, but I keep on forgetting to set one up (I know, I know!)

I think I will see if they keep my 0% interest rate going (I have to speak to them tomorrow), if not I'll switch.

I wonder how much human involvement there is in these things anyway? Do they check every transaction somehow, or do they have some criteria that means they manually check say, one in a thousand transactions, I wonder?

 

[Slogger]

Happend to me (VIRGIN) i kicked up a fuss they dropped the charge they did try to offer to half the fee but i said do that and you can cut the card up too so try it next time ( set up them debits )

 

[pna]

I don't think the delay is in manually checking transactions, more likely in deliberately delaying the crediting the money against your account, due to things like smoothing out the number of transactions to be processed per day.
e.g. if a bank receives 200 & then 100 payments on 2 days, but can only process 150 per day, then 50 people out of the first batch are processed on the second day.
Whilst this is happening (or not), the money is already in their bank account and earning interest, it just hasn't been marked that you have paid up.

 

[Steve]

A similar thing happens with my HSBC credit card, despite paying it online from my HSBC CURRENT ACCOUNT. Can take up to 3 days to re-appear on my credit card account.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

They are all a bunch of conniving money-grabbing unscrupulous b******s.

As long as you work on that basis, you won't go wrong.

Here's another war story:

Credit card (can't remember which), had a statement showing that we owed £X.

We knew that we had returned an item to a shop, and had had £Y refunded to the account, and there would have been plenty of time for it to get through.

There were no other transactions outstanding

Sent a payment of £(X-Y).

Next statement showed a brought forward balance of £0, plus a charge because we hadn't paid the account in full.

Phone call ensued.

Story was that although our balance had indeed been zero on the appointed date, we had not "paid in full" because a refund from a shop does not count as a payment.

"You mean that in order to avoid a charge, we would have had to pay £X, thus putting our account £Y in credit?"

"Yes"

"If you think I'm going to let you get away with that, you've got another think coming".

We did get the charge refunded, and without too much aggro, but it just goes to show....

 

[2scoops0406]

Adam, that should read used to work for a bank, well I still do, but not a clearing bank. The answer is simple, you have been scammed, it doesn't take 5 days to clear funds, it takes micro seconds. The reason it is done. Roll all that money up into a big wodge, put it on the overnight markets (interest being approx 100 - 500% PA) depending on who you are. Deign to pay joe public 5 days later, loads of wonga. Thanks very much. Total rip off.

 

[Moz]

HSBC... a joke ..

I had to "wire " an amount too a solicitor an I watched as the bank/bimbo girl went online an transfered my payment in seconds to this shyster lawyer an no probs except , HSBC charged ME £25 for this ...lol

 

[2scoops0406]

That would be a CHAPS payment then as opposed to an APACS payment. No difference really (oh apart from the £25.00)

 

[2scoops0406]

I could have WALKED to the Natwest tower

Tower 42 these days, not owned by NatWest.