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Legal, pensions and money

Online banking frustration

(22 Posts)
Grammaretto Sun 18-Sep-22 16:35:52

I have been trying to pay a bill online for the past half-hour.
Has tomorrow's bank holiday already started? I am not being allowed to transfer money from my account to another. Ever since my lovely local branch closed I have relied on doing all my banking online but it is so frustrating.
Even the helpline says it can't be used at present!
The alternative is to wait until Tuesday and bus into the city where the nearest branch now is. This will be a 3 hour round trip. How do others manage?

rosie1959 Sun 18-Sep-22 16:48:09

Bank holidays have no relevance to on line banking you can usually transfer at any time
Sometimes they are doing maintenance but you are usually advised this on logging in.
Perhaps try again later or tomorrow

MerylStreep Sun 18-Sep-22 16:56:46

Do you not have a number that you can call 24hrs?

Normandygirl Sun 18-Sep-22 17:01:00

I am having the same problem, the banks have announced that salaries paid in over the weekend may not be available until Tuesday.
No idea why the funeral has impacted online banking TBH.

rosie1959 Sun 18-Sep-22 17:06:45

If you paid a salary over the weekend or at any time it would not show up on the receiving account until the next banking day

Grammaretto Sun 18-Sep-22 17:16:44

I have tried the telephone helpline and am being told I must have made a mistake with typing in the account number. I haven't so it will need to be that round trip.

rosie1959 Sun 18-Sep-22 17:21:17

Grammaretto

I have tried the telephone helpline and am being told I must have made a mistake with typing in the account number. I haven't so it will need to be that round trip.

Usually I find if I have a problem getting something through I am doing something wrong.
Is your sort code correct
Our bank will check the information against the name on the account. Account names with symbols or brackets can also cause problems with some banks

MerylStreep Sun 18-Sep-22 17:27:52

Is the bill payable to an existing payee? If no, make them a payee. That should work ?

Missedout Sun 18-Sep-22 18:27:38

I can think of more possibilities:-
1. Are you trying to pay a sum larger than that set on your account? (It's not obvious but I have just come across this when making a larger payment - I had to use a card reader to raise my limit recently, I was surprised by how low it had been set.)

2. Are you paying from the correct account? I can't pay a payee from a savings account, only transfer money to my 'active' current account and pay out from that.

3. Its not just the payee's account number and sort code that you need to enter correctly, you also need a very close match to their name. My bank sometimes tells me its a close match and gives a corrected version to approve.

It's odd that you aren't getting any feedback on your banking app that tells you why you can't make a payment.

Could you perhaps use PayPal to make a payment?

Grammaretto Sun 18-Sep-22 18:41:17

Missedout I think you may have hit the nail on the head. The name has an unusual spelling and maybe should be capitalized or something. Mc and Mac may be confusing the system.
I have written and asked the recipient to check the info he gave me and we'll see.
Thanks to you and others for your suggestions.

Grammaretto Mon 19-Sep-22 09:57:37

It turns out he gave me incorrect bank details.
He apologized. One digit out.
Faith in online banking restored for now.
Thanks for all your support and knowledge .I truly appreciate it.

Baggs Mon 19-Sep-22 14:06:01

Glad it turned out alright, gram. I haven't been inside a bank for years and my account is still, technically, over 400 miles away. I do all banking online and have done since it was available from the banks I use.

Baggs Mon 19-Sep-22 14:07:32

Your story is interesting though and I'll remember to get back to the person I'm trying to send money to if a similar thing happens to me.

madeleine45 Mon 19-Sep-22 14:53:34

I changed banks when my local branch was closed, to keep a branch nearby. Whilst I do use online banking on occasion I much prefer to have the local actual branch available. I had someone try to take money from my account on christmas eve. I spent over 40 minutes trying to get through to the fraud number , worrying that further money could be being stolen and in the end, put the phone down and went to the branch. There the staff knew me, were very helpful, did all that was necessary and confirmed that it was a try on and that no further money had been taken. Also in the area I live in there are quite a lot of rural places that do not get a phone signal and you could not get online at all.

Katie59 Mon 19-Sep-22 17:30:31

I have to go through 4 levels of security to make a transaction and if I make a mistake twice I get locked out so I try to treble check the typing, that aside it works well.

LOUISA1523 Mon 19-Sep-22 23:52:03

madeleine45

I changed banks when my local branch was closed, to keep a branch nearby. Whilst I do use online banking on occasion I much prefer to have the local actual branch available. I had someone try to take money from my account on christmas eve. I spent over 40 minutes trying to get through to the fraud number , worrying that further money could be being stolen and in the end, put the phone down and went to the branch. There the staff knew me, were very helpful, did all that was necessary and confirmed that it was a try on and that no further money had been taken. Also in the area I live in there are quite a lot of rural places that do not get a phone signal and you could not get online at all.

Do you have the option to freeze your card/ account?

nadateturbe Tue 15-Nov-22 11:13:10

I tried for 35 mins to get through to Leeds yesterday, had to abandon it. now on 45 minutes. Time wasted, and stressful.

nadateturbe Tue 15-Nov-22 11:27:24

I've just been disconnected after 56 minutes. So I'm meant to start again. Guess who won't be getting my money after all.

Smileless2012 Tue 15-Nov-22 11:32:48

Thank goodness we don't do online banking.

nadateturbe Tue 15-Nov-22 11:40:49

Definitely frustrating online Smileless.
I will have to go into town to the bank now. It will take the same time that I have wasted and I will get to talk to a real person.

Floradora9 Tue 15-Nov-22 21:49:36

I love online banking I find it so easy to pay bills, move money around different accounts and keep an eye on the finances. You should be able to all you want online regardless of bank holidays but money might take longer to reach it's destination . RBS also have telephone banking if you are stuck .

nadateturbe Tue 15-Nov-22 22:08:40

It's very good, Floradora9, for all those reasons. But when you have a problem it's difficult. And getting in touch urgently is impossible.
I just got an email from Leeds, saying they were unable to uphold my complaint.
They won't have to tell me that again..