Data fields used for electronic 365 payments

coylemj

When you're making an electronic payment, the only data that's visible for the receiving account is the payee name and the last four digits of the a/c number.

In my case, that means that when I'm transferring money to my own accounts in other institutions, all I can see is my name and four digits which in most cases means nothing to me. The 'Description' field is never used yet when you setup a payee, the 'description' field is decribed as follows: This text will be visible to you and can be used to identify your list of payees

But the data is not at all used in this way. It's never displayed, even on my statement. The other day I transferred money to one of my building society accounts. On my 365online statement the transaction is listed as '365 Online' followed by my first name - it doesn't tell me where the money was transferred to since I have multiple payees registered for accounts I have in other institutions.

The 'description' field should be displayed in the dropdown list when you're transferring money and it should also be listed against the transaction in a statement, currently the description data is not used at all, even when you're being asked for your PIN to confirm the transfer thereby contradicting the definition of the field.

Bank of Ireland: Graham

Hi coylemj,

Thanks for your post. If you're using the Quick Transfer option the description field doesn't show up. There are a couple of other ways to make a transfer that will display the description field when making a payment;

1. Choose Money Transfer from the left-hand side menu and select the account that you wish to pay from and click Continue. Once you select the payee you want to transfer the money to the description will show up.

2. Choose Manage Accounts from the left-hand side menu and select the Payee you want to transfer to and click Pay. Then select the account you wish to pay from and click Continue, the description will be shown.

This can help to differentiate which account you're paying into when you make a transfer online. Unfortunately it doesn't show on your statement afterwards. If you need to find out which account a transfer was made to you can call Banking365 and a representative can check it out for you.

Another option would be to add your accounts with the other institutions again as new payees. This will allow you to enter a Payee Name that's easier to identify. For example, if one of your other accounts is for paying bills you could put "Bill acc" as the Payee Name. That way your statement's narrative will say "365 Online Bill acc". Only 8 characters from the Payee Name will be displayed, and this can only be done for non-Bank of Ireland accounts.

Hope this helps but if you need any more information please feel free to ask.

Thanks,
Graham

coylemj

Thanks, it must be relatively new cause I hadn't spotted the option to 'Pay' on the 'Manage Accounts/Manage Payees' screen, that will make life a lot easier for me.

jaggiebunnet

Bank of Ireland: Graham wrote: »

Hi coylemj,

Thanks for your post. If you're using the Quick Transfer option the description field doesn't show up. There are a couple of other ways to make a transfer that will display the description field when making a payment;

1. Choose Money Transfer from the left-hand side menu and select the account that you wish to pay from and click Continue. Once you select the payee you want to transfer the money to the description will show up.

2. Choose Manage Accounts from the left-hand side menu and select the Payee you want to transfer to and click Pay. Then select the account you wish to pay from and click Continue, the description will be shown.

This can help to differentiate which account you're paying into when you make a transfer online. Unfortunately it doesn't show on your statement afterwards. If you need to find out which account a transfer was made to you can call Banking365 and a representative can check it out for you.

Another option would be to add your accounts with the other institutions again as new payees. This will allow you to enter a Payee Name that's easier to identify. For example, if one of your other accounts is for paying bills you could put "Bill acc" as the Payee Name. That way your statement's narrative will say "365 Online Bill acc". Only 8 characters from the Payee Name will be displayed, and this can only be done for non-Bank of Ireland accounts.

Hope this helps but if you need any more information please feel free to ask.

Thanks,
Graham

This is a very long winded way of doing something that used to be much simpler. In any case it doesn't work for me as it never brings up the payee list just an empty drop down. Surely new functionality is meant to enhance a user's experience not make it worse - I know if the software I have to deliver did this I would be out on my ear fairly sharpish.

*Edit - just double checked and it does work for me now but it did not before. However that does not detract from it being a roundabout way of doing things. Might I ask what the point of the "Reference" field is if it is never used?

coylemj

jaggiebunnet wrote: »

Might I ask what the point of the "Reference" field is if it is never used?

The reference field is shown to the person receiving the money ('This text will be visible to the person or company you are paying') i.e. it will appear on their statement to show that the money came from you so it is visible but at the other end of the transaction.

My beef is with the way they have buried the 'Description' field, this is the reverse of 'Reference' i.e. it is used in your online and paper statements to show you where the money went.

When there was a major revamp of 365online a few months back, the quick dropdown list for electronic money transfer only showed the name of the payee which meant there was no way of distinguishing between multiple accounts with the same name e.g. your own a/c in EBS, pTSB, AIB etc.

They quickly tagged on the last four digits of the a/c number as a panic measure when in reality they should have used the 'Description' field and nothing else, that is what the field is supposed to be used for....

This text will be visible to you and can be used to identify your list of payees

What the bank doesn't seem to realise is that the 'Payee' field really needs to be set to the exact name of the a/c to which you are transferring, in case there is any confusion at the receiving end. The 'Description' field is supposed to give you more latitude in the naming of the recipient so that you can give it any name that means something to you e.g. 'My no. 2 building society a/c' but for some reason they don't choose to show you that field on any of the quick menus.

Transferring money out to an a/c of your own in another institution, all you see is your own name followed by the last four digits of the a/c when it would make far more sense to show the Description field.

Bank of Ireland rep., this is the point I was making in my first post. I find the quick dropdown option unusable because a whole lot of the payees looks the same, they just have my name with four digits so I have to use the long way around via the 'Manage Accounts/Manage Payees as suggested in your reply above. For the dropdown option to be usable in the way it was envisaged, you really should use the Description field instead.

Bank of Ireland: Graham

Hi jaggiebunnet,

jaggiebunnet wrote: »

Might I ask what the point of the "Reference" field is if it is never used?

As coylemj correctly pointed out, the reference is the narrative that will appear on the payee's account.

Graham

Bank of Ireland: Graham

Hi coylemj and jaggiebunnet,

Your feedback is important to us and I've made our development team aware of your suggestions. We're constantly exploring the options to improve the online facility and the development team will examine the prospects of including your suggestions in an upcoming release in the future.

Thanks,
Graham

mckildare

Luckily this thread existed so you are aware of the issue as brought up by the OP. I just did a check myself after realising I don't know which of my accounts I sent money to from looking at a statement. Here's an example :cool:

Account 1 (A Current Account showing info about Account 2)
Reference: Joe Account
Description: Joint Account


A Debit to Account 2 on the statement says "BLOGGS J"
A Credit from Account 2 on the statement says "Joint Acc"




Account 2 (A Joint Account showing info about Account 1)
Reference: Joint Acc
Description: Joe Current


A Debit to Account 1 on the statement says "BLOGGS J"
A Credit from Account 1 on the statement says "Joe Account"






The coloured names are correct as per the idea of a Reference

However in both accounts the Description is not used to tell me where I sent money to. If I have an account 3 (which I do!) then a Debit to either of these accounts appears the same i.e. BLOGGS J as opposed to Joe Current or Joint Account.


Hope this helps in understanding the issue. If you could pass it on to development team to try and sort it out it would be great. Thanks

Bank of Ireland: Linda

Hi mckildare,

I have passed your explanation on to our development team. If anything changes we will let you know here.

Thanks
Linda

mckildare

Thanks Linda,

Another idea that came to mind via my OH is to have the option to include a brief reason for the transfer e.g. "rent" or "birthday money" etc.

I don't know if this was suggested before!

MC

Bank of Ireland: Tara

Hi mckildare,

Thanks for your feedback.

There is a reference field available when adding a payee. This is where you would input your message to the payee, which will display on their statement.

The reference can only be changed by deleting the payee and setting it up again with a new reference.

We have passed on your suggestion to our Development Team, for the option to amend the reference without having to delete and set up the payee details again.

Thanks again,
Tara

mckildare

Hi Tara,

I was more suggesting an additional text box beside the amount to show why I have transferred that amount. It is something we do quite regularly so as you said, deleting and adding a payee each time is not a reasonable option. For the quick transfer it would be as simple as this...

From Account To Account Amount Reason Continue ->


Adding this to a statement then is another matter I guess. It would have to be part of the Transaction Details unless the layout was remodelled.


Thanks!

Bank of Ireland: Tara

Hi mckildare,

I've clarified your suggestion for the Development Team.

Thanks again,
Tara

dmurphy100

I second the request to make the 'reference' field editable for every payment, and not a fixed field that must be entered as the time up setting up a payee, a ridiculous scenario. This field must be editable so that different names, numbers or combinations can be placed at each payment.

Bank of Ireland: Pat

Hi dmurphy100,

Thanks for posting. We will also be passing on your feedback to our 365Online team.

Thanks
Pat

Tore

Hi all,
I see this thread opened over a year ago. BOI development team was made aware of some good suggestions on how to improve the customer experience by changing the way the reference & description fields currently work, but at the present date no changes have been made. Is it possible for BOI online users, as it is for all the other banks customers, to edit these fields without having to delete and re-activate the same payee? Could you please kindly give an update? thanks

Tow

Hi BOI,

While you at it, what is the current estimated date for your systems to be fully SEPA compliant?

I got my first SEPA DD last week and the only information available on the Banking 365 site it the Date, Narrative and Amount.

The Narrative constants of just "ELECTRIC IREL SEPA DD".

Where are the Creditor Name and Address fields and where are the Debtor End to End ID, Mandate ID, Signature Date, Purpose and Remittance Information etc fields?
Also, Where are the options to block SEPA DD and automatically request a refunds?

Bank of Ireland: Sean

Hi Tore,

Unfortunately this option is still not available.  We will pass your comments on to our web development team and as soon as we have an update we will be posting on Boards.

Thanks for taking the time to post.

Seán

Bank of Ireland: Sean

Tow wrote: »

Hi BOI,

While you at it, what is the current estimated date for your systems to be fully SEPA compliant?

I got my first SEPA DD last week and the only information available on the Banking 365 site it the Date, Narrative and Amount.

The Narrative constants of just "ELECTRIC IREL SEPA DD".

Where are the Creditor Name and Address fields and where are the Debtor End to End ID, Mandate ID, Signature Date, Purpose and Remittance Information etc fields?
Also, Where are the options to block SEPA DD and automatically request a refunds?

Hi Tow,

The 1st of February 2014 is the deadline for all Banks to be SEPA ready, the 365 online website will be updated accordingly by then.  

For more information regarding SEPA please see here.   

Thanks for posting.

Seán