OT: Banking oddity

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Went to pay the rent on a church hall a group I'm treasurer for uses. I set up a current account just for this group with my own bank, Barclays. The rent is paid 12 weeks at a time and in advance. Have done this for a year or so by credit transfer.

It's quite involved with Barclays online to set up a new payee - involving their PINsentry device. But once done, saves that payee for future use. So you can make any further payments easily.

Went to pay the rent this time, and this stored payee had disappeared. The two others I'd set up for this account still there.

Tried to set it up again and got:-

************

20553 - The payee bank you've chosen doesn't accept Faster Payments. Alternatively, you could use cash or cheque. Or you could make a same-day CHAPS payment using the link below - there is a £25 charge for this.

************

Any clues as to what's happened?

[leenowell]

Faster payments is the "new" way of transferring money between banks. I assume the receiving bank doesn't accept payments this way. Which bank are you transferring money to?

[Andy Burns]

Check the sort code

[tim...]

faster payments came in at least three years ago

all banks will have been accepting them, or not, for that time

tim

[Robin]

Check if the payee has switched banks accounts.

If done as part of the current account switching service the banks undertake that payments made to the old account are diverted to the new one. But they can't do that if the new account isn't in the system.

[Andrew]

One of my stored payees disappeared too. When I complained they said they vanish if you haven't used it for at least a year.

This is a pain. I pay my annual accountancy fees this way but it could well be that more than 12 months elapse between payments. Grrr.

[Michael Chare]

I lost a direct debit by the water board like that, as for me a metered supply was much cheaper.

[Tim Streater]

Not that involved, really speaking.

Check you don't need to just scroll the window in which all the payees appear. I felt a bit of a charlie after realising that the payee actually was there, I just needed to scroll to see it.

[alan_m]

I've got the reverse problem. I currently bank with the Co-op Bank[1] and I have no way of deleting defunct payee accounts from my online account list so I have to be careful when paying some bills that I don't accidentally pick a payee, but with the defunct account number.

[1] I really not impressed with the Coop Bank this week. On Friday morning between 9 and 10:30am I paid out a lot of money by debit card (multiple transactions). Unfortunately for one of these transactions I didn't get a timely confirmation that the transaction had been successful. I decided to check the money had left my account. To date at 21:00 Monday none of the transactions from Friday is showing in my account!

[Harry Bloomfield]

Michael Chare laid this down on his screen :

Pay it monthly and spread the cost!

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Being a church, I'd assume they'd have the sense to inform all those who needed to know if they'd changed banks? But an email I've had from the lady I deal at the church with can't explain what has changed.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

This one has been used every 12 weeks.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Quite. ;-) Some must like number crunching.

[Andrew]

The whole point of a metered supply is that you never get an estimated bill if you send in the actual reading.

DD's are implicitly an estimated bill paid in regular chunks.

My water rates dropped from £350 to £120 a year when I had a meter installed because I live on my own.

QED using their telephone automatic payment system is the easiest way to do it, twice a year.

[Martin Brown]

The destination bank isn't TSB by any chance? Plenty of their online banking systems have been in the press recently for "not working".

[Chris Green]

Not necessarily, the DD can be variable and pay the exact amount due as read from the meter.

[tim...]

having a meter don't mean that you don't get an estimated bill

most people don't have user readable meters

tim

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I've done that and it is NatWest Chelsea.

I'll try making the payment again later today.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Which I have done. Payee has disappeared from my stored list, but have reinstated it and made the payment. So presumably just a glitch in the system?

[Tim Lamb]

In message , tim... writes

Ah! You have to tap the glass with the appropriate weight screwdriver handle:-)