WARNING! - Post Office CC Direct Debit Mandate

akirkby · 20 December 2008 at 5:52PM

All,

I've just completed a Direct Debit Mandate form for a Post Office Credit Card. The DD Mandate is headed up as being for Bank of Ireland.

The form looks like a standard Direct Debit Mandate - with one exception. A box on the right hand side of the page that is headed up "FOR BANK OF IRELAND OFFICIAL USE ONLY - This is not part of the instruction to your Bank or Building Society". Ok, so, this sounds like this part is not for you to complete and is somthing the Bank use??? NO... if you read further, it is a series of 5 tick boxes labelled up 2.5%, 10%, 20%, 50% & 100%. This is where you indicate how much of your monthly balance you would like to pay. But didn't the box say "FOR BANK OF IRELAND OFFICIAL USE ONLY"???? To make matters even worse, there is a statement - "If the instruction is complete and no box is filled, the 2.5% option will apply":eek:

Is this just badly designed documentation from Bank of Ireland or a cleverly designed way for them to make money by only collecting the minimum payment by Direct Debit....?

I wonder how many people have sent back this form, dutifully not completing the sections that are marked for the banks official use, only to find they are then charged interest on the account?

ajb69 · 21 December 2008 at 8:22AM

Hi there,

I can see why you're upset, but it's really just bad design ( and enforced bad design - as I *think* it's required by the direct debit standard - although it could just be the PO/BoI being lazy).

Think of it this way:

* most of the direct debit form is actually an "instructuction to your bank or building society" - so the form is passed to them by the BoI, either by post or electronically, and your bank then sets up the direct debit on your nominated account.

* but some of the information is only for the Post Office - it's often an internal reference number, but in this case it's how much you want to pay in each DD.

Now this last bit of stuff isn't something your bank needs
to know, so it's marked "for xxx official use only"- so it is clear to your bank that they can ignore it. That doesn't mean you shouldn't fill it in; just that it can be ignored by the bank.

But I agree it is confusing - I reckon it should be split into two sections:

* "stuff we need you to fill in"
* our own internal "for official use only" boxes.

d

TighterThanTwoCoatsOfPain · 21 December 2008 at 9:54AM

i would imagine the DD forms are a standard layout so OCR machines at the receiving bank can read them...

If anyone else has a DD form then can they confirm the "internal use only" box is in exactly the same place as this one?

Bad design, defo
Sinister attempt to collect more cash, unlikely.

You can change the % by calling them if you want. Its good that they set you a default rather than risk you not paying an amount at all.