Readers' Queries

Send us your views

A READER is "mystified and frustrated" by how long it takes for an electronic money transfer to be processed by our banks.

"These transfers are made by computer and as soon as the sender clicks the send button, the money leaves his/her account but it takes three working days before the recipient receives it," he says. "This seriously affects me. I am a small businessman with a much dis-improved situation in the last year or so and the last thing I need is an aggravated cash-flow problem generated by the banks."

He says that on a Wednesday earlier this month a client paid him by electronic transfer. "On Friday it was not available to me. I tried an ATM on Saturday and it still was not there. However, this morning, Monday, at 7.15am, well before the banks opened for business, it was there."

He cannot understand why the money was not available, say, from close of business on Friday given that from then until opening time on Monday there could not have been any human intervention in the issue and can think of no explanation other than that "the banks are holding their customers' money in an account that gains them interest as, if they do this to enough of their clients, the profits must be substantial".

He says it means that "the small guy like me has to go into the red - thus increasing the bank's profit - or borrow for such essentials as groceries".

We contacted an industry source who says the banks use the electronic funds transfer system because it is cheap. She said that while it can take a long time for the money to go through all the processes needed to move from one account to an account in a different bank and the three working days line is the industry standard, it should work faster.

If our reader's bank received instructions on the money transfer by 11.30am on Thursday, then staff in the bank should have intervened to ensure it hit his account on the Friday morning. With no human intervention, an automated process kicked in and the money was credited to his account at 00.01am on Monday. An alternative and faster electronic money transfer system exists. It is called Swift and allows same-day bank transfers but banks don't like it as it costs them too much.

A READER'Ssister-in-law was mystified by the price of a can of Heineken on the train to Dublin recently. She found a can, on sale in Tesco for €1.84, selling for €5.65 in the Irish Rail dining car.

Our reader says this price was "after the Government had cut the taxes on alcohol, which translated in pub prices to a 10 to 15 cent a pint drop. I wonder have they passed on the tax cut in duties. Either way, what a rip off."

Irish Rail says it has given Rail Gourmet the licence to operate on trains and it sets prices. Most Rail Gourmet products have fallen in price in the last year and, if you're unhappy with the prices, you can chose not to buy and tell Rail Gourmet why, says Irish Rail.

Blog

irishtimes.com /blogs/pricewatch

E-mail

pricewatch@irishtimes.com

Mail

Pricewatch, The Irish Times Building, Tara Street, Dublin 2