Another Whining Cater Allen Soliloquy

[jamesbrown]

Yeah. It's a non-Sterling payment. Both my problems with CA have involved non-Sterling.

CA insist there's no bank account supplied in field 70 of the pay instruction. My agent (reasonably enough, I reckon) wonders how the previous 8 payments worked fine when CA insist nothing has changed. That's the first mystery.

Here's the second mystery. I just had a call to say the payment has reached my account ("no one available to do it since last Thursday"). I go online, and there it is. But where is last month's payment? It was there an hour ago but now it's vanished.

They are, I am assured, looking into this one now.

Yeah, I've had the same thing, although I don't work with agencies. It's almost certainly the agency that's making the mistake. I'd get a copy of the wire transfer form and check it carefully. They are almost certainly putting YourCo's account number in the wrong "additional information" box; this information is not part of the routing information, but should be included in the additional information. I'm surprised your payments were still getting through recently, as I understood that RBS had tightened up their procedures around a year ago. All of this assumes that CA weren't feeding me a pack of lies w/r to RBS () but my client at the time was completing the wire form incorrectly. The CA process is horrible for international payments.

[LondonManc]

+1 for CA here. No fees, no problems (so far, after over five years).

[I just need to test it]

It's worth checking that your client/agent is putting the correct numbers in the correct boxes. I can't imagine it going wrong for UK payments (), but CA/Santander are not a clearing bank, so the overseas routing is a mess (via RBS) and they (RBS) will no longer accept a lenient interpretation of wire transfers even if they know who it's intended for (i.e. right information in the wrong boxes).

Yeah. It's a non-Sterling payment. Both my problems with CA have involved non-Sterling.

CA insist there's no bank account supplied in field 70 of the pay instruction. My agent (reasonably enough, I reckon) wonders how the previous 8 payments worked fine when CA insist nothing has changed. That's the first mystery.

Here's the second mystery. I just had a call to say the payment has reached my account ("no one available to do it since last Thursday"). I go online, and there it is. But where is last month's payment? It was there an hour ago but now it's vanished.

They are, I am assured, looking into this one now.

[Lightwave]

Santander have been fine for me, account used to be Abbey.
Haven't worked offshore since I've had this account though.

[jamesbrown]

It's worth checking that your client/agent is putting the correct numbers in the correct boxes. I can't imagine it going wrong for UK payments (), but CA/Santander are not a clearing bank, so the overseas routing is a mess (via RBS) and they (RBS) will no longer accept a lenient interpretation of wire transfers even if they know who it's intended for (i.e. right information in the wrong boxes).

[rl4engc]

+1 for Lloyds, think it's a fiver a month, never had any hassle. Can do expense/divi transfers from a mobile phone app etc. Text message on a Friday morning to check the most recent transactions (a.k.a have I been paid).

[oracleslave]

WHS

I've had no problems with them for the 15 years I've had my business account with them.

No problems for me either in my 12 years with them.

[MrMarkyMark]

WHS

I've had no problems with them for the 15 years I've had my business account with them.

+1, same here. I don't pay any fees, either.

Like all these things, customers have different experiences.

[OwlHoot]

For what it's worth, I've had no issues with CA since I opened my companies account with them 8 years ago.

WHS

I've had no problems with them for the 15 years I've had my business account with them.

[jmo21]

For what it's worth, I've had no issues with CA since I opened my companies account with them 8 years ago.

[SlipTheJab]

When I started I opened a business account with NatWest. I got 2 years free banking then a monthly fee that is so small I can't remember what it is. I've never had any problems and things are done immediately, such as transfers and payments.

+1 Same here. Initially I applied to CA who luckily rejected me!

[GlenW]

When I started I opened a business account with NatWest. I got 2 years free banking then a monthly fee that is so small I can't remember what it is. I've never had any problems and things are done immediately, such as transfers and payments.

[BrilloPad]

Ouch!

Why do people still go to CA? I went to Lloyds. Where I have my personal account. I get 18 months free banking. And so far, apart from issues getting the account setup, they have been perfect.

These days it is impossible to get new accounts setup. As we are all terrorists now.....

[I just need to test it]

Nine months into my contract and suddenly my invoice payments are getting bounced.

Initially I suspected foul play by my agency but they insisted that they were using the same framework payment instruction they'd set up nine months ago and that in fact CA were bouncing the payments.

CA insisted that nothing had changed in their processes and that the payments were bounced because the agency were not supplying a bank account in the payment instructions.

Sigh.

Then last week I had a phone call from CA. Another payment had arrived minus a bank account but as they knew it was meant for me they were prepared to honour it. The chap who rang me sounded like an uneducated oik, but that was ok given the reason for his call.

Having put the phone down he rang me straight back, but asking for a different customer. I explained he had the wrong number, he apologised and hung up. My phone immediately rang again. Same guy asking for the same customer who still wasn't me. He again apologised and hung up.

So it probably shouldn't come as a big surprise that the missing payment has not been credited to my account. I just rang them and it's still in the holding account and they're going to investigate. Christ.