Bank Account

I recently got a new debit card, and I was trying to change the info on my online donations to the new card. I put in my account number and routing number, but it won't let me check the box at the bottom. Any ideas?

The account number may not be the same as the number on the card. If you have checks, look at the bottom line. Otherwise, I'd suggest looking at your statement.

Just to be clear - the bank account for online donations can be either a checking account or a savings account. No other bank accounts are acceptable at this time. Credit cards and debit cards issued for transactions against a checking or savings account will not be accepted. Only the checking or savings account number can be entered into the account number text box.

The account number for online donations would have been the actual checking or savings account number, not the debit card number. Even though you received a new debit card, the underlying account number normally would not have changed.

my wife has a current account (UK) and is making a electronic donation for the first time. She has completed all sections correctly and then received a error message that donation could not be completed at this time and try again.She has tried again and gets same message. Has anyone has this error message and if so how do you sort it out

Has she had the confirmation email regarding the Direct Debit having been accepted? The instructions state that it takes 10 days for this action to be completed. In my own experience, it took 8 business days to receive the confirmation email after entering my bank account details.

I know of several members in my own ward, who have successfully made donations after following the instructions.

Also when putting the bank details in settings and clicking save still received the same message Currently unable to add an account.Please try again later, So does that mean the Church has not even received my wife's account details. I personally did not have any problems.

I would double check that she is using a current account, as trying to use savings or debit card details won’t work in the UK. It is always possible, especially at the weekend, there might be server issues.

My wife is using her current account and as a Stake Clerk I made sure that she is following the correct procedure in fact in our ward I and one other person has been successful. My bishop and many others in the Stake have been unsuccessful. By Bishop himself has tried 19 times since online donations started and he is an financial expert and I have dealt with computer finance. It is my belief that it is a software problem and should be investigated my tech

In that case I would contact the European HQ of the Church and inform them of the issues you are observing. If they don’t know, they can’t fix it!

Unfortunately this has been done and the only answer we get is "Oh we have hundreds of calls regarding this problem and members should keep on trying, not a very satisfactory answer. Rather I would be saying sorry there is a problem and we are trying to sort it . All we want is clarity which is not what members are getting just like lockdown in the uk. Surely a senior member in charge of this system with his team, not letting a sisterbrother on the end of the phone dealing with it

Unfortunately, all you have here is user-to-user support. Your better bet is to go back to Area Office and work your way past the front line service missionaries.

I have to no avail-so we shall wait for many more months until this matter is resolved-it just means that the church will be in the short term will be missing many millions of £'s.

There are other methods to make donations other than the online method until the issue is resolved.

jdlessley wrote:There are other methods to make donations other than the online method until the issue is resolved.

Please tell us what other methods there are?
Bare in mind that the UK has only just gone to online donations and our options are very limited. We have yet to start sacrament meetings, as unlike the US, lockdown rules have been a lot tougher and also in force for a longer time.

michaeljeffreyjones wrote:I have to no avail-so we shall wait for many more months until this matter is resolved-it just means that the church will be in the short term will be missing many millions of £'s.

The other alternative is to report it to your bishop to talk to the stake president and on up the line of priesthood authority.

Biggles wrote:

jdlessley wrote:There are other methods to make donations other than the online method until the issue is resolved.

Please tell us what other methods there are?

Paper slip, normally a Tithes and Other Offerings slip, in an envelope with a check or cash handed to a member of the bishopric or mailed to the bishop is one. What method was used before the online donation method was rolled out? Were there not other methods available in addition to the paper slip in a donation envelope being used? Have those methods been terminated?

Biggles wrote:Bare in mind that the UK has only just gone to online donations and our options are very limited. We have yet to start sacrament meetings, as unlike the US, lockdown rules have been a lot tougher and also in force for a longer time.

I am aware of that. My response may have appeared to be curt and insensitive but that was not my intention and I apologize if it appeared that way. My intent was to dispel the notion that the online donation method is the singular method to make donations. I was also thinking of those in times past who had to save their tithes and offerings for years before having the privilege to present them.

No offence was taken.
However in the UK there are very strict social distancing rules. This means that even if a a donation is given to a bishopric member, the donation can’t be processed as it requires two bishopric members to authorise the batch in MLS!

In my area I have gone 15 weeks without church now. And I fully expect it will be at least three or four more months before we will be able to meet together again. At first, as a ministering brother I could not even take the sacrament to any of the single sisters. There are areas where that is still true. My heart aches for them. They are struggling to be faithful.

These are extraordinary times.

After about a month, some of the bishoprics in our stake have sent two of their members to the meetinghouse and processed donations. They have been able to do it in compliance with local social distancing rules, with face coverings, six feet apart, but still in the same room following the two-person principle as best they can under the circumstances.

I know when they do it because I am the stake technology specialist. They call because they do not know how to retrieve their forgotten passwords. They call because the administrative computers do not seem to be running properly. There recently has been a large Sophos security update. There have been Windows updates. Computers that have not been turned on in over a month need to be coaxed through those changes, virus scans, and other internal housekeeping. On top of the pandemic frustrations, while the always slow computers choke through these untimely changes, patience is in short supply.

There was a time and place in my life when there were no processes in place where I could pay tithing. So I regularly wrote a check, placed it in an envelope with others, and kept them safe until I was able to present them to a member of the bishopric. Even a person who pays tithing once a year at tithing settlement is still a full tithe payer.

It sounds as if the UK is going through some of the sames pains we went through in the U.S. as online donations began a number of years ago. All I can suggest is that the instructions be carefully followed. Sometimes it is the bank or the bank account that is the problem. Some banks use different clearinghouse numbers for electronic transfers than they do for regular checks. Sometimes the bank has to authorize the first transfer. At some banks, certain accounts will allow transfers and other accounts will not. This is all part of the learning process.

An overloaded server will certainly cause challenges. If there are bugs in the system, I am certain the area office is working them as quickly as they are able.

Communicate where possible. Continue to let your clerk (and through him the area office) know when things do not work. Check with the bank if indications are that a transfer problem may be at their receiving end of the request. Patiently ask for help. Expect that it may still take some time before the process works smoothly.

And as painful as it is for me to say, after some serious unsuccessful attempts, this is a case where there is some advantage to beginning afresh, with a newly restarted computer or laptop, slowly working through the website with exactness, perhaps at a time in the early morning hours when the server can pay its full attention to you and your request.

In the meantime, keep that envelope handy.

lajackson wrote:There was a time and place in my life when there were no processes in place where I could pay tithing. So I regularly wrote a check, placed it in an envelope with others, and kept them safe until I was able to present them to a member of the bishopric.

Which works well if you're the type that keeps a running balance in your check register. It doesn't work so well if you are the type that monitors the account balance with an app. In that situation, you'd need some other trick to hide the money from yourself.

russellhltn wrote:It doesn't work so well if you are the type that monitors the account balance with an app.

Accounting 101. Never write a check without recording it somewhere. That can be a paper register (which I no longer use), or in a separate (not bank) app or a spreadsheet (which I use).

Use your bank app to verify, confirm, and balance your bank account regularly, at least monthly. But never use your bank app to track your immediate account balance. That is the same as saying I have checks, therefore I have money.

Or transfer the money to your savings account and park it there until you pay your tithing.

lajackson wrote:Accounting 101. Never write a check without recording it somewhere. That can be a paper register (which I no longer use), or in a separate (not bank) app or a spreadsheet (which I use).

I don't disagree, but I don't think that's common in the younger generations who have always had free easy access to their account balance.

russellhltn wrote:I don't think that's common in the younger generations who have always had free easy access to their account balance.

I agree. And then they complain about overdraft charges and/or bounced checks. I am not sure which is worse, but both are completely avoidable. As Exhibit A, I present several of my children.

Which is why I would actually prefer the transfer to another (savings) account method over the envelope method. And at the rate we are going, the envelope will contain stale dated checks that will have to be replaced anyway by the time we get back to Church, sadly.

As a practical thing, there's always sending the check with a note to the Bishop's house. At least in the US, that's the old standard before computers when in-person wasn't possible.

russellhltn wrote:

lajackson wrote:Accounting 101. Never write a check without recording it somewhere. That can be a paper register (which I no longer use), or in a separate (not bank) app or a spreadsheet (which I use).

I don't disagree, but I don't think that's common in the younger generations who have always had free easy access to their account balance.

I don't think it's common in the younger generation to write checks, in general. From what I've heard, it's less common in the UK, and might not even be possible anymore – see this article.

russellhltn wrote:As a practical thing, there's always sending the check with a note to the Bishop's house. At least in the US, that's the old standard before computers when in-person wasn't possible.

The bishop wouldn't be able to process the donations in the UK, as that requires two people, and it's currently a criminal offense in the UK to meet indoors with anyone who's not a member of your household.

I am receiving help for rent. I am told that the account number is wrong and the routing number is wrong by another online payment site. How do I correctly identify the routing and checking numbers from the check to an online source of payment?

willesk2 wrote: Fri Aug 30, 2024 9:55 pm I am receiving help for rent. I am told that the account number is wrong and the routing number is wrong by another online payment site. How do I correctly identify the routing and checking numbers from the check to an online source of payment?

Checks from the church must be deposited in the bank as a check and cannot be converted to a ACH payment by typing the information. Many places try to convert the check to a ACH payment and it won't work.

You'll likely have to mail it in with instructions that it must be deposited physically and not electronically.