50% rise in monthly d/d???

[Deleted User]

Magentasue wrote: »

I think the whole point of DD is that they can force an increase.

They can, but if you ring them up and ask them to reduce the DD amount, they will do that.

Magentasue

Van1971 wrote: »

They can, but if you ring them up and ask them to reduce the DD amount, they will do that.

In my experience, suppliers are willing to reduce a DD if you can put a sensible case forward.

I still dispute your "They can't force you to increase your DD, give them a call and say no thanks." If you want to pay by DD, they have the right to set it at an amount they think is appropriate - not what you want to pay.

A lot of people want the DD reduced to what they can afford, even if it will put them into debt. If that's what you want, ringing them and telling them, no thanks, won't get you very far.

mardatha

But what I cant understand is why anybody puts up with this ?!! Ok so you get a discount, on paper, but if your hundreds of ££s in credit and yet they still want more money --whats the point !! Can you get that credit back in cash ? What if you say ok we had enough, we want to pay cash or S/O. How easy is it to get your money back ? This is a mad system !!!

KimYeovil

Mardatha, YOU may be in a position to cough up seven, eight or nine hundred pounds within seven days to pay a quarterly bill during winter but many people are not so flush and would prefer to spread the payments over twelve months.

Magentasue

mardatha wrote: »

But what I cant understand is why anybody puts up with this ?!! Ok so you get a discount, on paper, but if your hundreds of ££s in credit and yet they still want more money --whats the point !! Can you get that credit back in cash ? What if you say ok we had enough, we want to pay cash or S/O. How easy is it to get your money back ? This is a mad system !!!

You need to be hundreds in credit so that you can pay less in the winter - that builds up over the summer into a credit.

Suppliers are asking for more money because prices have gone up - so that credit balance isn't going to last as long as it would have done last year.

It's very easy to get the credit back in my experience. A couple of times, I've switched with a credit balance and got it back without asking. Earlier this year, I'd got a large credit balance built up when we moved house and negotiated a partial refund.

It's not a perfect system but it's always worked for me. Trouble is, a lot of people want the DD to be what they can afford. Reasonable enough but you have to bring your usage in line with your budget rather than expect your supplier let you go into debt to keep your payments low.

mardatha

I just put the money aside every week. Then when the bill comes in, I pay it. What;s hard about that ? I HATE direct debits with a passion. It just doesnt make sense to me that so many people are stressed to hell trying to afford huge monthly payments - its like they dont have any option but in fact they do

Magentasue

mardatha wrote: »

I just put the money aside every week. Then when the bill comes in, I pay it. What;s hard about that ?

Yes, we used to do that. I use DD for the discount - seems silly not to take advantage of it.

Charis

There was a bit about this on Radio four last week. Several energy companies operate a system where customers are always in credit, often to the tune of hundreds of pounds. Multiply by the number of customers times current interest and guess who gains the most from this system? One customer emailed in to say her direct debits had just been raised from £700+ to well over a thousand a month. My friend reckoned her address might be Windsor castle.

janie63

Had a bill come in last Saturday saying that Npower were going to increse our DD for gas form £60 a month to £132 a month!

I took a meter reading and rang them........they said that they would re-calculate our bill and send me another.

REceived that yesterday and they wnated to increase DD to £112 a month!

JUst rang them and agreed to pay £76 a month for 6 months......

Yay! my bill's gone down by £54 a month.;o)

Sooo the moral of the tale is-CHALLENGE them! It's your money-don't just let them take it!

1carminestocky

Energy companies will normally agree to reduce the DD if you ring them and put your case forward. This IMO is entirely due to the fact that, in most cases, they are 'trying it on' with these DD increases....