Credit and Debit Cards

Did you try and pay the bill via your Natwest site?

Nope.  I would have needed the account number and sort code for the Barclays site to do that.   In the past I have paid off Barclaycard bills of £5000+ early using my Debit Card with no problem.  It's the fact that they changed their 'rules' and didn't bother to advertise the fact widely AFAIK.

I tried to pay off my car lease last year so that it wouldn't affect a mortgage application. The finance people would not let me pay the £7000 balance because of so called money laundering reasons.

It's a mad world. Fraudsters can buy multi million pound properties in London but the man in the street cannot settle his own bills without fraud prevention and money laundering restrictions.

Redmires posted:

I tried to pay off my car lease last year so that it wouldn't affect a mortgage application. The finance people would not let me pay the £7000 balance because of so called money laundering reasons.

It's a mad world. Fraudsters can buy multi million pound properties in London but the man in the street cannot settle his own bills without fraud prevention and money laundering restrictions.

+1 on that.

Had similar issues when buying premium bonds for the grandkids..................as you so rightly say, it's mad. 

I had to leave HSBC for these reasons. I could not convince them I was not an international gangster, which is ironic given HSBC's reputation and track record. They were threatening to freeze my accounts. Needless to say, I'm not with them any more. I've always been in favour of anti fraud measures, including how much you can pay at a time. But it seems lately that regular punters are being punished for the sins of the criminals that (a) the banks don't catch, and (b) work for the banks. I have long held view (a) about HMRC. Can't see  this silliness getting any better any time soon.

Anything that is likely security related likely won't be communicated because it may make it easier for the real crooks.

I once tried to do an international bank transfer to a third party business in Spain and in the reference included my training coach's name.  Apparently that triggered something bad because the bank refused to do the transfer without the coach's full bank details, even though the transfer wasn't to him (unsurprisingly "sod off" was his response).  Good sense finally prevailed when I pointed out that I had done this multiple times before without issue.

But things can work the other way too.  In 1998 I bought a new BMW M3 on a debit card and apart from the approval process being slightly longer than normal it sailed through without problems!

... I wish I hadn't read this post as I am an official grumpy old man and this just totally gets my blood pressure up ...

I've had to endure over an hour's meeting with an "advisor" just to create a new current account;

I've been told I can't downgrade another account without speaking to an advisor ("compliance");

I've had to jump through hoops to pay bills (as the op did);

etc etc etc ...

What I want is a form to sign from the bank saying that I absolve them of all responsibilities, that I am actually an adult and take full responsibility for all actions I take.

the nanny state is getting worse but don't blame the government, blame the idiots in our society who won't take responsibility for their own stupid actions and lack of research and due diligence. The latest on this was on the news yesterday about charges for unauthorised overdrafts - ITS YOUR FAULT if you go to overdraft, not the banks, and it is made perfectly clear what the costs are - for goodness sake can nobody count any more!

... big breath, big breath, kick the dog, bank my head against the wall ... that's better now ...

Back to the point; yes I have come across these limits before too and changed my bank because of them. I have now got my credit card set up to automatically direct debit the balance from my current account at the statement date, saves trouble.

Allan

Graham Clarke posted:

Anything that is likely security related likely won't be communicated because it may make it easier for the real crooks.

I once tried to do an international bank transfer to a third party business in Spain and in the reference included my training coach's name.  Apparently that triggered something bad because the bank refused to do the transfer without the coach's full bank details, even though the transfer wasn't to him (unsurprisingly "sod off" was his response).  Good sense finally prevailed when I pointed out that I had done this multiple times before without issue.

But things can work the other way too.  In 1998 I bought a new BMW M3 on a debit card and apart from the approval process being slightly longer than normal it sailed through without problems!

I bought my BMW 320D (new) on my Debit Card.  Agreed, no problem.  But ... I did warn NatWest that the purchase was going to take place before the event!

Allan Milne posted:

Back to the point; yes I have come across these limits before too and changed my bank because of them. I have now got my credit card set up to automatically direct debit the balance from my current account at the statement date, saves trouble.

Allan

 

I have my Victor Meldrew moments as well.  I arranged full payment of my credit cards by Direct Debit back in 2006 when we went off to Australia for 10 weeks (our youngest daughter + hubby were working in Sydney for 2 years at the time).   I've left that arrangement in place - very convenient.   Just wish SWMBO was diligent about writing in our account book when she buys things using them, though (sigh).

The only reason I wanted to pay some off by Debit Card was the imminent arrival of the the NAP300DR, and SWMBO's insistence that I used the Barclaycard so that she could 'get the points'.

Reminds me - I'd better pay off the next £1999 tonight or tomorrow.

Unfortunately these limits are a result of internet banking, 'Faster Payments' (which doesn't give the banks enough time to use a computer 'security handshake' for many types of cross organisation payments), the rise in social engineering by fraudsters, changes to the law that a) makes the banks responsible for anything that they can't prove is the customer's direct fault and b) making the banks responsible for any money laundering carried out using their facilities (even if they were used legally!).

Put all these together and it's not surprising that the banks use the only recourse available to them to try to limit their legal liability.

Dungassin

It looks like you've been given some incorrect advice about their own procedures by Nat West and you've been inconvenienced and possibly embarrassed by that.  It might be worth raising a formal compliant with them.

A little while back when I was placing an order for my 552 I very deliberately visited the dealer to pay the deposit as 'chip & pin' is meant to be much more secure than giving your card details  over the phone.  I used a new Nat West credit card that the advisor at my local Nat West had sorted for me with a higher credit limit for this very purpose. Yet, when my dealer went to process the transaction it was refused.  I expected Nat West to immediately call the dealer and ask to talk to me to take me through the usual security checks, e.g. sending a code to my mobile. Or to immediately ring me to check the transaction.  Nothing happened. I then rang Nat West security. They put me on hold for almost 30 mins before the transaction was eventually authorised. Bl**dy annoying and inconvenient! So at the end of this call I said I wanted to complain and the agent said they would be in touch.  

The next episode in this was a much happier experience. I got a call from Nat West in the morning from their complaints  dept. I explained what had happened, said I appreciated that the bank's security measures are for my protection, but suggested what should have happened in this instance. The guy I spoke to agreed, was most apologetic and immediately offered me £30 compensation for the hassle I'd experienced. This left me feeling that my inconvenience had been genuinely appreciated by Nat West.  

Mike