Clearing my creditcard - delays

king_of_inismac

Hi,

I'm trying to book some flights, so need to clear my creditcard asap (flights are expensive).

Having talked to a BOI representative on the phone, she tells me if I lodge the money now (4pm on Thursday), my creditcard will be cleared by Saturday morning.

Can you explain why this is the case? Why isn't it cleared this evening?

Before you say this is standard procedure, can you explain why it isn't possible technically to clear my card by tomorrow? Where does my money "go" in the interim?

Bank of Ireland: Pat

Hi king of inismac,

Thanks for your query. We've had a similar question previously.

Bank of Ireland: Graham wrote: »

We apply credit card lodgements to accounts on the next working day as per the Payment Services Regulation. The lodgements are processed and credited to the credit card account overnight. However, for the benefit of our customers, they're value dated (i.e. the account gets the benefit of the payment) as per the date of the lodgement. As such, a lodgement received before the relevant cut-off time on Monday will appear on the credit card account on Tuesday. For interest and other purposes, it will be value dated as the day that it was lodged, i.e. Monday.

As today's cut-off time (3:30pm) has already passed, any payments made will be processed over night tomorrow night and the funds will be available to spend on Saturday. In the mean time your funds would be awaiting processing.

Thanks
Pat

king_of_inismac

Pat,

Firstly, thank you for replying so quickly.

I guess my question (as someone with an IT/Engineering background) is why the cut-off is 3.30pm?

Stheno

king_of_inismac wrote: »

Pat,

Firstly, thank you for replying so quickly.

I guess my question (as someone with an IT/Engineering background) is why the cut-off is 3.30pm?

Probably the way the batch job is coded, i.e. it will only process transactions that have occured prior to the cut off time.

king_of_inismac

I understand that's the way it's coded

I just don't understand why it couldn't be 11:30pm, rather than 3.30pm.

Stheno

king_of_inismac wrote: »

I understand that's the way it's coded

I just don't understand why it couldn't be 11:30pm, rather than 3.30pm.

I agree with you, most likely it's a legacy issue from years ago that has never been looked at since.

Even if it changed to be e.g. 17:30 as the cut off that would make sense as the banks shut no later than five any given day.

Bank of Ireland: Graham

Hi king of inismac,

Our cut-off times are in place for technical reasons. They were implemented last year to facilitate faster timeframes for processing transactions for our customers.

Thanks,
Graham

king_of_inismac

Thanks for the reply Graham.

I'm probably just not "getting it", but as a software developer myself I don't understand your answer.

I can transfer money instantly between my current account and my demand-deposit account. However, if I want to pay my credit card bill after 3.30pm today, it won't be processed until Monday?

I think I'd actually understand it better if it was a legacy issue, but I don't understand how this set-up helps the customer. As an electronic transfer, why does it take so long?!