Re:I just lost my wallet on the way home from work
by Symbiote on Tuesday October 15, 2019 @07:12PM
(#21265076)
The old system (BACS) has been electronic since 1983, or possibly even 1968 when it was introduced. (Wikipedia is unclear, it seems transactions were recorded on magnetic tape for the first 15 years, before using phone lines.) It slowly replaces the paper based system: cheques.
The 2-3 days got the old system will have been a limitation of batch based computer processing from that time, and maybe moving the magnetic tapes around.
Re:I just lost my wallet on the way home from work
by Reason077 on Tuesday October 15, 2019 @05:39PM
(#21264157)
I'm curious about this. I've always banked with NatWest so I'm only really familiar with their cards, but my bank account number is definitely not printed on the card (the sort code is).
Do some other UK banks really print the account numbers on their cards? Or is there some way to send a Faster payment to a debit card number?
Re:I just lost my wallet on the way home from work
by marksomnian on Tuesday October 15, 2019 @09:01PM
(#21265971)
I'm with Starling Bank, and along with the usual Mastercard numbers (card number, expiry, CVV etc.) it has the account number... though not the sort code, strangely. I guess you could look it up if you wanted to, but you'd need to know this 8-digit number with no label was the account number. Weird.
Re:I just lost my wallet on the way home from work
by tom_ on Tuesday October 15, 2019 @06:16PM
(#21264547)
My personal Barclays debit card has sort code and account number. My RBS business debit card has sort code and company name only.
Re:I just lost my wallet on the way home from work
by deadbunny on Wednesday October 16, 2019 @05:23AM
(#21268524)
I think Natwest is the outlier in this case. I've always had my account number and sort code on all my cards with other banks (Barclays, Lloyds, Halifax).
Edit: Maybe also Monzo, no account number on that one.
Re:I just lost my wallet on the way home from work
by Skye on Tuesday October 15, 2019 @06:33PM
(#21264722)
In my case, I have two card from one bank has sort code and account number.
I also have one card from a different bank has none of that.
That would also mean someone can send you money if your card is blocked or cancelled. Account number and sort code don't change when you get a new card.
Also, "Faster Payments" is the name of the normal system to transfer money between accounts in the UK. It doesn't cost the sender anything other than the money they send. It's called "faster" because the old system was a lot slower (because it was based on paper I think?).