Bankers!

a) Because they can get away with it
b) Because the Woolwich are not really a bank.

Regards

Mike

(Nerdy Associate of the Chartered Institute of Bankers. Sorry. )

On the Yellow Brick Road and Happy

David,

Recently I bought a 72 from a forum member (thanks again, Andy !).I transferred the money from my internetaccount to his acount, so the bank had no work from the transfer. Still the money took a good week to get there, even if it was a priority payment ! On top of this they charged me 15 euro and him 11 pound for "transferring costs".

Rob.

Yep, they do it on international TT (wire) transfers, too. I regularly make sales into various countries around the world and, depending on the corresponding banks, the payment can take up to 7 days to appear. This defeats the purpose of TT payment which is supposed to be instantaneous.On one occasion a customer sent a bankers draft by courier as it was the only way of gauranteeing payment on time!
Interestingly, when I had two accounts and wrote cheques to myself the payment would come off one account immediately, but would take 10 working days to appear in the other. The excuse given was that cheques from a (English)building society took this long to be cleared by the (Scottish) bank.
All of the banks appear to have some confusion over the correct relationship between customer and service provider......

Bankers!

A few years back I asked my local branch to arrange a telegraphic transfer overseas. They said that unfortunately they could not offer such a service! They did offer me a swift transfer service but then could only offer that it may take a couple of weeks for the transfer to be effected.

I changed banks.

Mike

Big thumbs up for FirstDirect here.

Transfers between their accounts are immediate, even if the target account belongs to another FirstDirect customer.
I bought my Lingo from a fellow forumite and FD customer, and the money was in his account by the time we were off the phone.

Even the service till balances update immediately - take out some cash, then get a balance print and lo and behold there is the transaction.


Steve.

I totally agree with Steve on First Direct. They are great for all these things!

Within the UK you can tranfer a payment two ways. The BACS system takes three working days and should generally incur no charges (unless your bank are truly evil, in which case I would recommend that you go to First Direct). Same day transfers can be sent via the CHAPS system, but will incur a charge of generally 15 to 20 pounds.

Luckily, there is one way to essentially achieve the same things as a CHAPS payment commission free. If you go to any branch of the bank where the beneficiary holds his or her account, you will be able to make a direct cash deposit using your cash card. The bank will make the withdrawal from your account via Switch and credit it immediately to their client. In principal, this can be done at any bank, but will definitely not incur charges if done at the beneficiary's institution.

From what I understand, the five day clearing goes back to when transfers could only be done by cheque, and the original cheque had to be returned to the payer's home branch. This system was replaced about five years ago, but the cash clearing system has not been changed. Basically, you are providing the UK cash clearing banks with four days free funding. In the language of the trading floor, it is a complete hose job.

As for international transfers, banks will cut you for for an unbelievable array of charges. The FX rates are typically atrocious, and you will face charges both from your bank in sending, the beneficiary's bank in crediting, and possibly an intermediary bank for cash clearing. Always be clear who is picking up the charges (it will be a field on the transfer form) and confirm that they haven't been collected twice.

All the best,
Will

I'm quite sure the title of this thread is misspelt. Surely it was supposed to start with the letter next to Q on your keyboards?

Well I'm sure they won't give two hoots, but I have now ceased any business I had with Barclays.

I'm pretty sure they're not that different to the other high street banks, but given the attitude of their customer service staff they can get stuffed.

Thanks for the recommendations for First Direct, I'll check them out.

Come the day of the glorious revolution brothers, High St banks now join Dell, Whirlpool, estate agents, builders, mobile phone companies and my local Parish council up against the wall.

[This message was edited by DavidY80 on Tue 16 March 2004 at 17:01.]

The Banks, Building Societies and other financial institutions are simply taking the piss, because the government doesn't have the balls to stand up to them and insist they speed up and cheapen the processes involved in money transfer.

It takes milliseconds to do it electronically and they steal your money and mine for 3-5 days, keep it in their own name and earn interest on it, then likely as not charge you for the privilege. It's the nearest thing to daylight robbery since Dick Turpin was a lad!

It took 5 working days (Mon 8th March to 15th March) to transfer £140 from my PayPal account to the linked chequing account at my bank. Transfers in the other direction typically take minutes. I wonder why??

David

W**kers

When I originally entitled this thread Bankers! I was showing some restraint which, in retrospect, I really needn't have.

The UK bannking industry really is proving itself to be a steaming pile of shite. Today I have been attempting to get the major high street banks to talk to me about their business banking facilities; my time would have been better spent banging my head against a brick wall - at least I would have understood why my head hurt so much.

What is wrong with these people? Can anyone recommend a bank staffed by humans please?

Note to self: Add Lloyds TSB to hit list!

I suspect that banks are unwilling to speed up the transfer process because they offer all these free current accounts and clear cheques and transfer money for generally nothing. This does cost them something so they need to make there money somewhere. That being siad they also make money on most current accounts as they don't give interest but can use the money to make loans eyc.

I would prefer to be charged for the services I used but have immediate money transfers and such like, realistic interest on all deposits, and cut the over heads of branchs, I do all my banking on line, even cheques are paid in by post (Nationwide credit my account, for interest purposes immediately, and then give me access to the cash within 1 or 2 days once cheque has 'cleared').

I don't think I would ever return to one the main banks, anybody looking to change I strongly recommend Nationwide.

Matthew

I guess it helps towards most banks record making profits last year, 10 billion for Barkleys I think.

Low and behold they should perhaps give something back to the customer, lower interest on mortagages for insatnce!

I use first Direct, in general they are very good, although other things like travel insureance from them is a bit of a rip off.

"I recommend Bank of Scotland for those wanting internet based business banking without people in."

That's ok then. We use BoS for the business - the manager at the Halifax (same group - HBOS) began telling me in words of one syllable about the internet based service until I told him what I do for a living and that until recently I developed the web-sites for one of their subsidiary companies.

One of my early jobs was working on BoS's Online Banking application. This was pre-Internet and you needed a leased line to connect to their private X.25 network and a smart card & reader for security. How times have changed.

Matthew

quote:

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I use first Direct, in general they are very good,

---

Part of HSBC, pip-squeaking profit makers.

Paul

I bank with Co-op, and they've never let me down. I doubt the rates are very competitive, but it has other benefits.