Direct Debit Fees

jillYjillb

Hi

long story short, I set up a separate account to my main one to pay my ESB bills while renting for college. Recently i moved back home and the landlord usually closes the ESB account and taked outstanding bill out of deposit.
This time they returned full deposit and no bill was sent on.

The other day we got a letter from the landlord, with a letter stating "direct debit returned unpaid". I was furious but want to resolve as quick as possible as bill is escalating.

But my question is, can i send a cheque or pay by laser or something to ESB? because if i lodge the money into the bank account, i'll have to pay of the bank fees first, which will be about €50.

Also will the bank come after me for these fees? As i no longer use the account i don't care if they close it.

thanks

hurricanewyn

You can pay the ESB seperately - if you have the bill you can ring them wit your account number and pay over the phone with your laser. Don't forget to tell them you've moved out so that they don't keep charging you.
As for the charges - the bank may keep on adding charges for being overdrawn. If you ring customer services, and explain that you'd moved out and didn't realise the charges were being applied, they may waive some of them - especially if you normally pay everything else ok. At the least they'll probably stop the charges being piled on, giving you a chance to repay. Offer them €10 a month maybe. If you don't use the account, they'll pobably be glad to get the money back, even if it's slowly.
If you ignore it, they can register your details with the Irish Credit Bureau and it'll mauke it hard for you to get a credit card/loan/mortgage (this is a worst case scenario, but it can happen)