Faster Payments

The Faster Payments Service allows you to make electronic payments in sterling in a matter of hours rather than days, through our Telephone Banking and Internet Banking Services.

Please note: payments are not guaranteed to be processed through the Faster Payments scheme (FPS). Payments can only be sent through FPS if they fall within the scheme limit and the receiving bank is part of the scheme.

When will my payment go faster?

Internet and Telephone Banking payments are processed faster when:

• sufficient funds are available in your account
• the sort code of the recipient's bank is a member of the Faster Payment Scheme. The UK Payments Administration provides a sort code checker tool
• the payment amount is within the faster payment scheme limits
• correct recipient's account details are entered.

What are the scheme transaction limits for Faster Payments?

This information is available on the  UK Payments Administration website.

How are payments processed?

Faster Payments can be sent if:

• the receiving account accepts Faster Payments and
• the payment value is lower than the limit set at the time. 

If we can't send funds by Faster Payments, they will be paid by Bacs instead, normally within 3 working days.  In most cases Faster Payments are received immediately, although it is not possible to guarantee this timescale.

Maximum value limits are set for a variety of reasons.  The limits depend on each bank or building society and may be changed over time.  The limit may differ for each type of payment.

In Summary

Most standing orders and bill payments from your Halifax and Bank of Scotland bank accounts can be processed through the Faster Payments Service. As a result, payments may arrive in the receiving account on the same day they left your account. However, as other banks process their payments differently we can't guarantee when this money will be credited to the recipients account. (You don't need to do anything to send your standing orders or bill payments faster; we do this automatically). Where the receiving bank does not offer this service, the payment could still take up to three bank working days to arrive.

Immediate Faster Payments will show on your statement as 'Faster Payment' plus the name of the recipient.

You are able to make an Immediate Faster Payment 24 hours a day, 7 days a week simply by selecting today's date as the payment date.

There is no fee for this service.

Please Note. Some accounts may have special conditions. For example, special conditions could include:

• accounts which only allow one credit each month or
• accounts which only allow credits up to a certain value each month.

If you currently have an external standing order set up or a future-dated bill payment, to an account that has special conditions, you may wish to check that receiving payments earlier will not affect the account conditions.

To find out more about Faster Payments, please read our frequently asked questions.