{"id":1093,"date":"2008-06-12T08:00:13","date_gmt":"2008-06-12T08:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2008\/06\/so-much-for-apacs-faster-payments-its-easier-to-write-a-cheque.htm"},"modified":"2011-04-04T23:08:26","modified_gmt":"2011-04-04T22:08:26","slug":"so-much-for-apacs-faster-payments-its-easier-to-write-a-cheque","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2008\/06\/so-much-for-apacs-faster-payments-its-easier-to-write-a-cheque.htm","title":{"rendered":"So much for APACS&#8217; Faster Payments&#8230; it&#8217;s easier to write a cheque"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In recent weeks, I&#8217;ve come to the conclusion that the UK banking system is in chaos. New technology is great &#8211; I just wish that the banks could get it working properly.<\/p>\n<p>On 27 May 2008, APACS, the UK payments association launched its new <a href=\"http:\/\/www.apacs.org.uk\/payments_industry\/faster_payments_service.html\">Faster Payments<\/a> service. Faster Payments &#8211; that sounds good &#8211; faster than what? Well, faster than <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bacs.co.uk\/BACS\/Consumers\/Bacs+Direct+Credit\/\">BACS Direct Credit<\/a>. As I understand it, the Bankers&#8217; Automated Clearing Services (BACS) system is 40 years old and dates back to times when the big clearing banks literally exchanged tapes with outgoing transfers batched up on day 1, sent between banks on day 2, and transferred in to the receiving bank on day 3. For a long time, that&#8217;s been the reason that transfers took 3 business days; however in the days of electronic transfers, what has really been happening is that the banks have sat on our money for a few days and earned some interest whilst we wait for it to be moved. When we need to move money quickly (for example, when buying a house), the banks use a system called <a href=\"http:\/\/www.apacs.org.uk\/payment_options\/chaps.html\">CHAPS<\/a> &#8211; and customers are charged for it.<\/p>\n<p>According to APACS:<\/p>\n<blockquote cite=\"http:\/\/www.apacs.org.uk\/payments_industry\/faster_payments_service.html\"><p>&#8220;The Faster Payments Service enables electronic payments, typically made via the Internet or phone, to be processed in hours rather than days.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>It sounds great. My bank is part of the scheme, so is my wife&#8217;s bank but the bank where we keep our savings (to get a better interest rate) isn&#8217;t so we&#8217;re stuck with BACS for a while longer. That&#8217;s not so bad, but then I tried to make a payment between two UK banks and the sort code was reported as belonging to as a bank in France. Err, &#8220;Non! Ce n&#8217;est pas correct&#8221;, thought I. So I called Bank A and they told me that I had the wrong sort code for Bank B. When I explained that the same page on the website showed an existing link to another account at Bank A with the same sort code they acknowledged that there was a problem and asked me to try again the next day.<\/p>\n<p>It worked the next day and I put it down to an isolated incident but then I tried to make a payment from my account (at Bank B) to my wife&#8217;s account at Bank C. Both banks are part of the Faster Payments scheme. And Bank B wouldn&#8217;t let me pay money to Bank C because they said I had the wrong sort code. When I explained that I didn&#8217;t and that I was reading the details from my wife&#8217;s bank card and statement they said there was nothing they could do about it as Faster Payments doesn&#8217;t let them override incorrect details and that I&#8217;d need to get my wife to call Bank C (why? what could they do about problems with Bank B&#8217;s systems?). I guess I could always write a cheque! So much for Faster Payments!<\/p>\n<p>The next day I was in town and, after making a purchase at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.apple.com\/uk\/retail\/miltonkeynes\/\">the Apple Store in Milton Keynes<\/a>, I needed some change to pay for car parking. One of their staff, &#8220;Bill&#8221;, who was clearly not employed for his social skills said that they could not help. So I went to the bank. This particular branch of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hsbc.co.uk\/\">HSBC<\/a> has no counter staff but does have a few people standing around next to a line of machines where people can interact with the bank&#8217;s computers and withdraw\/deposit funds. Very 21st century. Or it would be if it didn&#8217;t need so many staff to show people how to use the machines. One of those machines is supposed to issue coins in exchange for notes but it was not working. So I asked if the bank staff could change a \u00c2\u00a310 for some coins. No &#8211; the staff don&#8217;t have access to any money. After all, it&#8217;s only a branch of one of the UK&#8217;s largest banks&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>Thankfully the staff in the nearby <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gap.com\/\">Gap<\/a> store (where I didn&#8217;t buy anything &#8211; I just explained the situation and asked for help) were more than happy to open the till and change my tenner&#8230; then, as I passed the Apple Store, Bill asked if I had got my money and I said &#8220;Yes, thank you. No thanks to the Apple Store.&#8221;, to which he replied &#8220;woooooooooo!!!&#8221; (how very professional&#8230;).<\/p>\n<p>So, it seems that Faster Payments don&#8217;t work. And that my bank can&#8217;t change notes for coins because the machines have taken over. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.firstdirect.com\/\">First Direct<\/a> also wants me to switch to paperless billing but the statements I can download from their Internet banking service are in formats that are pretty useless for local storage (only <a href=\"http:\/\/www.americanexpress.co.uk\/\">American Express<\/a> seem to have a clue on how that should work &#8211; with 6 months of statements available for immediate download in PDF format and all others available from archive on request). Add to that the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2005\/10\/my-two-minutes-of-fame.htm\">excessive bank charges<\/a>, the fact that they seem to have totally lost their way on the customer service front (although <a href=\"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2007\/03\/call-centres-offshoring-poor-customer-service-and-how-to-save-some-money.htm\">at least their call centres are in the UK<\/a>) and that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2007\/07\/why-the-banks-just-dont-get-it.htm\">none of the banks seem to be able to get their heads around secure logon for their Internet banking sites<\/a> and it seems to me that the whole industry is a mess.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In recent weeks, I&#8217;ve come to the conclusion that the UK banking system is in chaos. New technology is great &#8211; I just wish that the banks could get it working properly. On 27 May 2008, APACS, the UK payments association launched its new Faster Payments service. Faster Payments &#8211; that sounds good &#8211; faster &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2008\/06\/so-much-for-apacs-faster-payments-its-easier-to-write-a-cheque.htm\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">So much for APACS&#8217; Faster Payments&#8230; it&#8217;s easier to write a cheque<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1093","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-inane-waffle"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>So much for APACS&#039; Faster Payments... it&#039;s easier to write a cheque - markwilson.it<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2008\/06\/so-much-for-apacs-faster-payments-its-easier-to-write-a-cheque.htm\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"So much for APACS&#039; Faster Payments... it&#039;s easier to write a cheque - markwilson.it\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In recent weeks, I&#8217;ve come to the conclusion that the UK banking system is in chaos. New technology is great &#8211; I just wish that the banks could get it working properly. On 27 May 2008, APACS, the UK payments association launched its new Faster Payments service. 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For those who are outside the UK (or even in the UK, but perhaps not well versed in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Waffle and randomness&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Waffle and randomness","link":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/topic\/inane-waffle"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":947,"url":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2007\/11\/25-million-people-caught-up-in-uk-government-data-security-fiasco.htm","url_meta":{"origin":1093,"position":1},"title":"25 million people caught up in UK Government data security fiasco","author":"Mark Wilson","date":"Tuesday 20 November 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm treading carefully here to avoid political comment but, for those who haven't seen tonight's news, a UK Government department has lost the personal details for 25 million people including names, dates of birth, national insurance\/child benefit numbers and bank details. On a CD. In the post. So, I'd like\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Security\"","block_context":{"text":"Security","link":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/tag\/security"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":742,"url":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2005\/03\/phishing-and-wider-issue-of-identity.htm","url_meta":{"origin":1093,"position":2},"title":"Phishing and the wider issue of identity theft","author":"Mark Wilson","date":"Tuesday 29 March 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Phishing worries me. In fact, identity theft in general is one of my major concerns (and is the reason I refuse to do any more business with Halifax Bank of Scotland, one of the UK's largest banks, who will not respond to letters or e-mails requesting that they remove my\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Security\"","block_context":{"text":"Security","link":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/tag\/security"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"http:\/\/www.tqlkg.com\/image-1875354-8132995","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9211,"url":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2025\/11\/the-day-i-forgot-my-wallet-and-it-didnt-matter.htm","url_meta":{"origin":1093,"position":3},"title":"The day I forgot my wallet \u2013 and it didn\u2019t matter","author":"Mark Wilson","date":"Wednesday 5 November 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday I left the house without my wallet. Once upon a time that would have been a disaster \u2013 but it didn\u2019t matter in the slightest. I had my iPhone. My Apple Wallet held my train tickets and my virtual payment cards, and everything just worked. At some point, I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Business&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Business","link":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/topic\/business"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/uploads\/iPhone-with-Barclays-Card-and-Ticket.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/uploads\/iPhone-with-Barclays-Card-and-Ticket.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/uploads\/iPhone-with-Barclays-Card-and-Ticket.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/uploads\/iPhone-with-Barclays-Card-and-Ticket.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/uploads\/iPhone-with-Barclays-Card-and-Ticket.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":659,"url":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2007\/01\/gigabit-ethernet-for-home-office.htm","url_meta":{"origin":1093,"position":4},"title":"Gigabit Ethernet for the home office","author":"Mark Wilson","date":"Thursday 11 January 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Until now, my home office network has been centred around my NetGear ProSafe DS108 10\/100Mbps Ethernet hub attached to various computers, a D-Link DWL2000-AP+ wireless access point, a Solwise SAR 110 ADSL router and a downstream Gigabyte 5-port 10\/100Mbps switch (because my Mac refused to place nicely with the hub).\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Networking hardware\"","block_context":{"text":"Networking hardware","link":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/tag\/networking-hardware"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.co.uk\/e\/ir?t=marsweblo-21&l=ur2&o=2","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5379,"url":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2014\/10\/dreaming-of-a-better-commute.htm","url_meta":{"origin":1093,"position":5},"title":"Dreaming of a better commute","author":"Mark Wilson","date":"Thursday 30 October 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Travelling in and out of London this week for the course I've been attending has reminded me why working from home (mostly) is a huge blessing. At least 4 hours' travel a day for a relatively simple 60-mile commute? No thank you! I did, however,\u00a0use two different routes with contrasting\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Waffle and randomness&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Waffle and randomness","link":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/topic\/inane-waffle"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1093","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1093"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1093\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2438,"href":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1093\/revisions\/2438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}