I recently opened an online current account with Santander (November 2010) and one of the key questions I asked before applying was, did Santander offer the Faster Payment Service. I was given an affirmative YES to this, and I found a page detailing the benefits of their online banking service on the website. I have two sons at University who regularly run out of cash, and I wanted assurance of FPS so that I was confident I could top up their accounts immediately in an emergency.
On a page on the Santander website, entitled “Guide to Online Banking”, under the heading “Managing Your Finances” was a list of benefits: They included:
Schedule bills
Standing orders – view, setup cancel and amend
Faster Payments Service
View and cancel Direct Debits
Having been reassured by this officially published information, I duly opened an online current account and immediately set about detailing my payees etc. Things like credit payments that needed to reach their destination on time. I set my wife up as a payee and transferred some money into her account as a test. Not a lot, under £20.
Imagine my mood when, three days later, the money had still not arrived. I phoned Santander Customer Services and spoke to a representative, to be told that the first payment to any payee was subjected to a security check and subsequently was put on an ordinary clearance system. This could take up to four days. I took this information at face value and so ensured that the credit card payees I set up were paid sufficiently in advance to ensure that the payment would be logged before I received any penalties.
Christmas passed and I went online to my account and set up payments to my credit cards to be paid out on January 1st. I sent these payment instructions up on around December 27th so that the payment was scheduled to arrive, so I thought on Jan 1st 2011. When on January 4th I checked