burned

[sparklyscotty]

Ugh. I just got badly burned by the difference between Account balance, and ACTUAL balance. I checked my balance at an ATM - fine, enough money to pay the direct debits due... only to be sent fines upon fines of refused direct debits because the account balance they showed me included uncleared checks!
Surely that is misleading???
-Angel-

 

[SuffolkDesigns]

Does that mean that if you pulled out all the available cash from the ATM the uncleared checks would have bounced ?

Don´t know if it is misleading but certainly sounds confusing.

We are registered and do most of our banking in Estonia (great tax advantages ) the banks there show the total amount, a reserverd amount (uncleared payments) and an available amount.

Much better system.

 

[Alpha]

Talk to your (ahem) bank/business manager.

If you had uncleared cheques they should not really charge you for insufficient funds.

Point it out to your manager that you should have fund available when the cheques clear (and its their fault that the banking process is so slow)

if you don't get any joy then tell them that you will be changing banks in the very near future.

 

[BMS]

Hi Sparklyscotty

Hate to rub salt into the wounds but maybe it would be prudent to carry out an ongoing bank recociliation.

Accounts software should give you an actual balance at any stage and so should manual system.

 

[sparklyscotty]

Hi there, and thanks for your replies. I have had a terrible time with this bank. I have to call my bank manager, as they won't deal with me in branch. Getting an accurate 'actual' balance is also very difficult becuase different checks take different amounts of time to clear. I went intot he branch and asked for an actual balance that doesn't include uncleared items yesterday and the teller didn't understand. She then said she wasn't qualified to deal with business accounts and the lady who was had no appointments available and I had to make an appointment to go back on Thursday!
The sooner I can switch banks the better!
-Angel-

 

[finstar]

Hi there sparklyscott, we had a problem with cheques in our business bank, a short explanation of the Business Banking Code to their counter assistant followed by a visit from their Area Manager soon got our cheque clearance times down to 2 days for ANY cheque.

The thing to point out to them is that if they vary terms and conditions of your account, you must be informed in writing within a certain period (forgive me for not having the exact amount of days to hand, it is either 14 or 30 though). They cannot decide on a individual cheque by cheque basis what will clear faster and what will be slower (unless they suspect you of money laundering that is!), and must give you a maximum period of time for cheques to clear, for instance 5 days, so that if you do your accounting around the maximum figure, you should be fine.

What prompted my complaint to the bank was the fact that a teller who processed one of my larger cheques had forgotten to do it, until the next day, so to cut a long story short the bank wanted to add another day onto clearance because of their error. When I first complained they tried to explain clearance to me, but quickly changed the subject when I let them know I am an ex-banking advisor and perfectly aware that even a clearance cycle of 5 days is over long. As mentioned above, I showed them in their copy of the Business Banking Code where they could not just extend my clearance times, asked them if I was suspected of fraud or money laundering (a great question, if they answer yes and I am a fraudster, then they go to jail also for tipping me off!), needless to say I withdrew the required monies that day, and now after speaking to the area manager (as mentioned above), cheque clearance times are 2 days, and have been for around 12 months.

If in doubt, rip somebody a shiny new one.

 

[sparklyscotty]

Finstar, that is great advice. Thanks. I will look up how long it takes cheques to clear and then hold them to that! I am shocked and appalled at BoS/ Halifax staff, but I reckon if they are all that clueless and don't care about customers, then they can't be treated very well by the company, so I usually feel sorry for them... After all, I get to walk away and go and do something I love. As long as I can pay my bills, I am happy!
-Angel-

 

[BKE Business Services Ltd]

Hi your bank should always give you two seperate balances on a business account a book balance (the balance with all cheques even uncleared ones) and a ledger balance if your business bank doesn't then complain profusely because they should