Yet another Bank RipOff

LFCFan

I recently transferred the balance of one credit card to another and saw this morning that my main credit card has now been debited with the amount from the car I am cancelling. I then checked my old card online and the money is still on it. Thinking there was some sort of mistake I rang my credit card company only to be informed that it will be 2 weeks before the money comes off my old card. In the meantime I have to pay interest on both balances. In the 21st century with everything done electronically this is a f&^%ing disgrace. Their excuse was that it's coming from the UK. They must be getting it hand delivered by a bike courier at that rate.

ednwireland

i remember seeing a program on bbc which went to sweden(ithink) where the gov mandated that all banks should be able to provide bank transfers the same day seeing as these are now electronic . apparently it normally happens within one hour, just proves it can be done but the banks don't want to and it has to be mandated by gov. (just proof that our gov is only interested in making money for big business it cares not a jot about consumers or small business) - and their approval rating still goes up

Xennon

Was curious one day while in the bank and had time to spare...Am always wondering why the hell it takes 3 days to transfer money from your bank account to your credit card account...So I went up to the info desk and was tod this ' The computer systesm used in Cerdit Card accounts and bank accounts are incompatible and has to be done manually'
Now have you EVER heard such twaddle.
So I started thinking. OK when you pay your CC online the money is taken from your account immediatley. and 3 days later its in your CC account. So thats 3 days when the money is in 'limbo' Now if we took every ones online payment together Im sure at anyone day theres is money to be made on it in interest.
incompatible computer software me arse. what is it they use ??..ZX Spectrums????..

Dave W.

OfflerCrocGod

Xennon wrote:

incompatible computer software me arse. what is it they use ??..ZX Spectrums????..

Well since you asked AmigaOS....

jhegarty

Xennon wrote:

Was curious one day while in the bank and had time to spare...Am always wondering why the hell it takes 3 days to transfer money from your bank account to your credit card account...So I went up to the info desk and was tod this ' The computer systesm used in Cerdit Card accounts and bank accounts are incompatible and has to be done manually'
Now have you EVER heard such twaddle.
So I started thinking. OK when you pay your CC online the money is taken from your account immediatley. and 3 days later its in your CC account. So thats 3 days when the money is in 'limbo' Now if we took every ones online payment together Im sure at anyone day theres is money to be made on it in interest.
incompatible computer software me arse. what is it they use ??..ZX Spectrums????..

Dave W.

Look at the calendar on the wall... you have travelled back in time to 1985.....

Don’t worry, by 2005 we will have instant bank transfers and those flying car we were promised in the 1920s....

Third_Echelon

haven't they heard of middleware???

rondjon

Gentlemen, I'm presuming you're all not so naive as to think that it's because of technology that banks take 3 days to move money around? I certainly hope not!!!

Banks work on a process whereby each night they sweep any money that just might be hanging around into overnight higher interest accounts with larger institutions. They earn an "overnight" rate on this money, which is pure profit for them. In the morning, the money is returned, and all is right with the world.
These larger institutions (investment banks and the like) might need this money to cover overnight positions on whatever trading they may have done during the day. In that situation, they are willing to "pay" for the privelage of being able to cover their positions overnight.

So, by withdrawing your money instantly, and hanging on to it for 2 or 3 nights, the banks are making cash off your money - and as we've seen above, earning even more money on fees, interest and charges, if this happens to suit them.

jesus_thats_gre

Third_Echelon wrote:

haven't they heard of middleware???

Considering most of the systems used in a bank are pushing 30 years or it is conceivable that a middleware solution isnt viable at the momemt.. I am sure they will upgrade their mainframe systems to Windows Server 2003 sometime soon


Also, how is this a rip off?

rondjon

jesus_thats_gre wrote:

it is conceivable that a middleware solution isnt viable at the momemt..

Of course it is - there's banking institutions out there who now have no intention whatsoever in removing their mainframes because of the ability to have them interact with almost everything these days because of their investment in middleware.

snappieT

jesus_thats_gre wrote:

Considering most of the systems used in a bank are pushing 30 years or it is conceivable that a middleware solution isnt viable at the momemt.. I am sure they will upgrade their mainframe systems to Windows Server 2003 sometime soon

First things first, no bank is stupid enough to use a windows based mainframe. Not even AIB.

Most banks always have a reason not to upgrade yet. For example, a particular bank's PIN Keypads at the teller desk started to die because they weren't getting enough power (powered by PS2 port). Instead of fixing it on the spot with new USB keypads (and program them into the system), they said we'll wait until the Chip-And-Pin reprogram. They bought replacement power supplies instead (.8A 5V Female-PS2)

Now it's time to do the chip-and-pin, a roundabout method has once again been found (I don't know exactly what it is)

Also, banks spent ages getting all the cryptography to work in sync years ago, with an exact system. They're scared to begin changing this system - because bad things could happen. The Pinpad case happened when old OS/2 machines with high-power PS2 ports were replaced by x86 IBM's - it led to huge problems: you can't really blame them for not wanting to change anything else.

the_syco

Please remember that most banks' mainframe's can't be updated, as you can't really have downtime in a bank. Also, due to this, they can't update them easily. My only proof of this is that in the Y2K bug era, they got all the old programmers in to upgrade their software so it wouldn't be affected by the Y2K changeover. And that software was old...

Third_Echelon

jesus_thats_gre wrote:

Considering most of the systems used in a bank are pushing 30 years or it is conceivable that a middleware solution isnt viable at the momemt.. I am sure they will upgrade their mainframe systems to Windows Server 2003 sometime soon


Also, how is this a rip off?

Thats one of the main reasons of middleware... so old systems can communicate etc with other legacy systems... I'd very much doubt that any bank would move away from their current systems to a windows based system... their systems work, they are 'secure' and they do what they are supposed to....

Middleware is the answer, but as the other poster has stated, they use this time delay to make the cash on your money... thats why.

LFCFan

jesus_thats_gre wrote:

Also, how is this a rip off?

Because, in the situation I explained in my initial post, the money I 'transferred' onto the Credit Card I intend to keep is earning the bank interest, but at the same time the money hasn't actually been paid off my old credit card. In other words, they are charging me for money they have yet to pay to my old bank. At the same time my old bank sends out a new credit card bill, charging me interest on the balance that should have been paid off by the other bank. Get it?

rondjon

the_syco wrote:

Please remember that most banks' mainframe's can't be updated,

Oh but of course they can. Where do you think that IBM are making most of their money these days?

the_syco wrote:

as you can't really have downtime in a bank.

Wrong again, sorry. You can have downtime, and redundancy. Allowing for updates to be made whenever necessary.

jesus_thats_gre

snapscan1212p wrote:

First things first, no bank is stupid enough to use a windows based mainframe. Not even AIB.

I was completely taking the mick!!!!!!!