Unpaid DD - any way to fix this?

sghughes42 · 20 September 2017 at 9:21PM

I've got a Halifax Clarity card for which I have a direct debit set up with my Barclays current account. I normally pay the balance off directly as soon as we spend on it to keep the interest down but this time I decided it leave it to go on the direct debit as the amount owing was the princely sum of 14p.

Unfortunately, Barclays had other ideas and without making any attempt to contact me returned the direct debit, leading to Halifax charging me £12 and of course the blip on my credit file resulting from a missing payment.

Are they allowed to do that? Surely the point of a direct debit is I'm telling them to make any payments requested and in this case I had a credit balance to pay this several thousand times over. I've also had a letter from Halifax telling me the direct debit has been cancelled - I've certainly not done this and there is no reason why Barclays would have done so - surely they would have had to let me know first anyway?

Doesn't seem right that despite having a DD set up and more then enough funds to pay it I get hit with a fee with no warning?

[Deleted User] · 20 September 2017 at 9:28PM

How long had the DD been inactive for? They are cancelled after 13 months.

sghughes42 · 20 September 2017 at 9:31PM

Interesting. I wasn't aware of that. Should they still not make you aware it is going to be cancelled?

That is probably the reason though - I think this is probably the first time it has been used on this account. Thinking about it though, surely Halifax would have known they'd not used the DD in over 13 months so it would be unlikely to be active still - should they not have prompted me rather than trying to take a payment they would have known would be unlikely to be honoured?

WillyWonga · 20 September 2017 at 9:55PM

If you pay within the statement period then it won't be classed as a late payment on your credit file.

For eg. My direct debit date is 15th of month and my statement is produced on the 21st of month. As long as the payment is recorded on my account by the 20th I will get a late payment fee but won't go reported to credit reference agencies as was paid in the statement period.

Hope this helps and you are in time.

sghughes42 · 20 September 2017 at 10:16PM

Unfortunately I didn't find out about this unpaid DD until I got my next Halifax statement so while I paid it as soon as I found out I will be too late.

Surely there must be something I can do about this - Halifax were showing I had a DD set up to take the payment so they were in effect saying I didn't need to do anything. Neither Halifax nor Barclays told me the DD wasn't successful at the time so no chance to pay in time.

MABLE · 21 September 2017 at 7:02AM

sghughes42 wrote: »

Unfortunately I didn't find out about this unpaid DD until I got my next Halifax statement so while I paid it as soon as I found out I will be too late.

Surely there must be something I can do about this - Halifax were showing I had a DD set up to take the payment so they were in effect saying I didn't need to do anything. Neither Halifax nor Barclays told me the DD wasn't successful at the time so no chance to pay in time.

With a Tesco credit card if the balance is less than £1.00 they write off the debt. Its a pity HX do not adopt the same practice.

HHarry · 21 September 2017 at 7:19AM

I had the same issue with M&S, due to a DD that had expired after 13 months.
I too only realised when I received the following months statement.

I made a complaint, as the wording of the statement suggested that the DD would be taken, and received a refund of the £12 late payment fee (but not the interest) and an assurance that no late payment marker would be recorded.

[Deleted User] · 21 September 2017 at 7:57AM

sghughes42 wrote: »

Surely there must be something I can do about this - Halifax were showing I had a DD set up to take the payment so they were in effect saying I didn't need to do anything. Neither Halifax nor Barclays told me the DD wasn't successful at the time so no chance to pay in time.

Raise a complaint with them. I'd expect them to resolve it in your favour.

Unpaid DD - any way to fix this?

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