Are BACS, CHAPS and Faster Payments the Same as Bank Transfers?

Are they the same thing?

The short answer is: yes!

There are three types of bank transfers in the UK: BACS, CHAPS, and Faster Payments. They simply have different processing times. Here's what you need to know:

Faster Payments

Faster Payments is the UK's payment service for immediate payments. This is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. As long as the receiving bank or building society uses Faster Payments too, the payment will arrive almost immediately (though sometimes, it can take up to 2 hours).

BACS

BACS stands for Bankers Automated Clearing Services, and is the standard payment type in the commercial world. A BACS can be a direct debit or direct credit.

A BACS payment takes three business days to clear. The BACS process begins with the payment file being submitted to the BACS system, prior to a cut-off time.

On the second day, the file is processed by the bank. On the third day, the payment is credited to the recipient’s bank account.

A BACS transfer, also known as BACS direct credit, normally arrives very early in the morning on the third day by about 7am.

BACS transfers only send Monday to Friday; even though it is an electronic payment system, it takes non-working days off.

CHAPS

These are payments to UK accounts that are guaranteed to arrive on the day you make them, as long as you set up the payment before a cut off time: usually 3.30pm. If you set up the payment after the cut-off time, on a weekend or on a public holiday, these are usually sent on the next working day.

Transfers via Coconut

For the benefit of those of you have a business account with us, transfers sent from your Coconut account are Faster Payments.