Same-day bank transfers planned

A faster banking system that will enable same-day bank transfers over the telephone or internet is due to be introduced from 27th May.

Standing order payments will also be made within a matter of hours, with the same-day policy applying 365 days a year and including bank holidays.

At the moment, payments take three days to complete, the same time needed for cheques.

The new faster payments service is being adopted by 13 banks and building societies which are phasing in the system.

From May 27th, participating banks are aiming to have 5% of internet and phone payments processed within 24 hours.

Standing orders will join the list from June 6th, and by the middle of the summer the Association of Payment Clearing Services (APACS) expects more than half of eligible payments to happen on the same day.

FASTER PAYMENTS SERVICE May 27th - 5% internet and phone payments June 6th - standing orders July - 50% phone internet and standing orders Source: APACS

"No loss of interest"

"The real benefit for us as customers is that we'll know where our money is at all times," Sandra Quinn from APACS told Working Lunch.

"Also, we'll be benefiting from the fact that there is no loss of interest. It will be in one account or another, so there will be no mysterious black hole," she said.

Banks should let their customers know when the faster payment service is working on their accounts.

However, anyone can check this on the APACS sort code checker, which will be available on their website from 27th May.

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