Standing order is just an instruction to your bank to make regular payments - this term is used across the entire anglosphere + several other ex-colonies of ours (and for some reason, Japan).
The actual method of what a standing order is fulfilled by, in some countries is regulated but here, you can indeed have the bank just schedule a faster payment.
They’ve been paid at weekends for the six years I’ve been with Starling.
As @Recchan says it’s just a scheduled faster payment. There’s no real reason it can’t be done at weekends. Just as there’s no good reason they need notice to update or cancel one.
There is a real reason - some of these standing orders will have existed for decades - customers might even expect that they won’t pay at weekends.
That’s not a problem for Monzo or Starling, obviously.
Not sure on that one - my RBS standing orders on payday have been received on the other end with a reference of “faster payment”
Clumbsily worded - yes most banks do not use the actual BACS Standing Order system any more, however the functionality still adheres to the format of the system, i.e. not making payments at weekends.
Again, every legacy bank does this and it is not for no reason.
I’m getting a call from the Natwest complaints team today 
I’ve set up the same standing order on the website instead of the app and that’s fine and has the right reference.
EDIT: So they admitted fault but also admitted the response I initially got from their chatbot thing was not helpful which was good. They credited my account with the amount that has now went missing and gave me compensation as well.
The app is pretty good. Probably the best traditional bank app. The only issues i have found are
-No notifications for incoming money.
-When someone sends you money it only shows you the reference so you’ve no idea who sent it, unless you ‘create pdf’ and that then tells you.
-I have set up my DD’s a week ago and none show yet
-Capital letters for no reason.
Other than that i see no difference to a fintech app. No spaces but i don’t use them anyway.
That’d be the deal-breaker for me, though 
I suppose it’s considered more important that you know when money has left, but yeah would be annoying if you recieve lots of payments.
I got a surprising message from NatWest that because their records show I’m not a UK citizen I will need to upload photos of passport and residency status or they will close my account.
I logged a feedback asking if this was legitimate and why it’s needed and all they responded was essentially “this is our process and the process is being followed correctly so we do not agree to your complaint”.
But I wasn’t really making a complaint, I was just asking for more information.
@Shivers77 found same as yourself. My dds came up once they were due day before to advise there on account. Also wish they had more logos. Found my approvals for when doing online payments easier.
Dam that seems so weird? Why make notifications for outgoing and not incoming too?? Seems odd
I think I’ll have to agree. No incoming payments notifications are a dealbreaker to me as well, and the fact the bank card looks like a kids toy
As I’ve used Starling for years I’ve found the NatWest app to be a massive downgrade. There’s no way I could use it as my main account.
I’ll use it for the regular saver but that’s it.
That’s interesting as I’d say in terms of fintech the NatWest Group are one of the closest. Sure it doesn’t do incoming payment notifications but interested to hear what else it can’t do.
@Shivers77 lists several issues above but the list is endless. It’s just a much nicer experience using the Starling app without any of the limitations you get with the NatWest app.
As I said I could go on as the list is endless that’s why I find it very interesting that people say this is the same as a fintech bank. It really isn’t 
Thanks for clarifying. It’s interesting because I’ve always considered NatWest to be “close to Fintech” for quite a while but now I think about it more, actually HSBC for me any way is closer.
I don’t think any “legacy” bank yet has truly come up with a fintech-same feature set but the two above are probably the closest.
Natwest’s whole handling of DDs is a major weakpoint for them. I’ve just had a complaint settled to the tune of £165 because they failed to uphold the Direct Debit guarantee and stop a payment when I asked them to.
For anyone who doesn’t know, while the DD guarantee technically does facilitate them being able to technically request information; the FCA mandate firms stopping payments if you notify them in advance
Starling had informed me once about some CPA (continuous payment authorities) and I made them aware actually that I wasn’t asking them to cancel them, I was instructing them to not allow another payment via them. There’s 0 ability for the bank to refuse your ability to instruct them to not make payments.
What you’re saying is of course true - the problem with DDs is that the payment is already in process a long time before it’s actually payable but the DD Guarantee goes further and specifically states:
You can cancel a Direct Debit at any time by simply contacting your bank or building society.
Most banks action these requests by cancelling the underlying DD, stopping any payment requests if they are far enough in advance to do so and recalling any payments on the day of payment if it’s too late for that (net effect being the payment occurs and is then reversed later the same day). Natwest Group, for whatever reason, don’t do that last part - they warn this is the case and advise you to contact them to recall, which I did. I was told to contact again on the day of payment, which again I did (but you can already see how cumbersome this is now).
Unfortunately the message I sent on the day of payment during office hours wasn’t picked up until too late. They then tried to fob me off with indemnity claims (not applicable) and offers to send me to their credit card team who’d sort out a refund (cool, except it was a Virgin Money credit card that had been double-paid, not a Natwest one).
I’m satisfied with the outcome but moving forward I won’t be using Natwest Group for DDs except for a couple of savings account deposits each month to satisfy the Reward Account criteria.