Not paying by diect debit

grafton222

How can you stop companies charging for not paying by direct debit?
Any Ideas Please, Some charge £3 per month. i.e. Telewest.
Thanks. grafton222

Turning_into_scrooge

This is something that hacks me off too especially when you pay via internet banking which cannot surely cost them more money to process than a DD.

grumbler

grafton222 wrote:

How can you stop companies charging for not paying by direct debit?

What's a problem with DD?

Turning_into_scrooge wrote:

This is something that hacks me off too especially when you pay via internet banking which cannot surely cost them more money to process than a DD.

You may pay or you may not ... DD is more convenient a reliable method for them. Fewer problems with cash flow, no red bills etc ...

margaretclare

For me, paying by DD is the 'best thing slnce sliced bread'.

We have a joint account which we both tip into, and all our household payments go out by DD.

I was recently in hospital for some pretty severe hip surgery. People around me in the ward were stressing about 'how they couldn't get out to draw their pension and pay their bills' etc. I was able to lie back and relax, secure in the knowledge that every darned thing was going out as scheduled and on time, the same date every month, and we were getting a rebate on every bill just because of paying by DD! I didn't have to go anywhere or do anything.

I think there is an advantage for the payer, and the payee. Both can budget, know what's coming in and when. It gives security.

Aunty Margaret

Turning_into_scrooge

grumbler wrote:

What's a problem with DD? You may pay or you may not ... DD is more convenient a reliable method for them. Fewer problems with cash flow, no red bills etc ...

I absolutely agree but when it comes to my sons mobile phone bill, trust me it is far far better to pay through internet banking than have a direct debit as i don't always get to see the bill first, that way i don't end up with a bounced DD

Elaine_Wilson

grumbler wrote:

What's a problem with DD? ... DD is more convenient a reliable method for them. Fewer problems with cash flow, no red bills etc ...

You've answered your own question. It is more convenient for them but you lose control.

I've been taking a payment holiday from my mortgage and in November authorised the mortgage company to start taking payments again, starting in December. Now, January is a frantic month at work so I didn't check my statements. The only bill I had to pay was a credit card and I just looked at the balance when I made the internet payment.

I didn't notice that neither the December nor the January payment hadn't been made. Just over a week ago I received my January bank statement and I saw the returned direct debit.

I then spent over 45 minutes on the help lines to try to sort this out. I'm still waiting for someone to ring back (which was to be in a day or two).

I fully expect to have to spend some considerable time to sort out who is at fault here. Where is this "easy, no worries" method of payment?

Sorry, turned into a rant but this isn't the first time I've had to waste hours correcting mistakes with DDs.

bookworm1363

You can't stop charging them, sadly.

BUT I would still rather not use DD, as the charge by T/west or others is minimal compared to the charges imposed by the banks if you are unfortunate enough to go over your limit.

I pay everybody I can by Standing Order. This way, I am in control of how much to pay and when. Direct Debits are there only for the convenience of THEM, not you! They don't care if you have enough money on your account, or if you have more pressing bills, they will take as much as THEY want, when THEY want, and you have given them permission to do so.

If you want to get back in control of your finances, the first thing to do is to take that control away from them. QED

xxx
ML

grumbler

Elaine_Wilson wrote:

You've answered your own question. It is more convenient for them but you lose control.

bookworm1363 wrote:

I pay everybody I can by Standing Order. This way, I am in control of how much to pay and when. Direct Debits are there only for the convenience of THEM, not you!

No, it is very convenient for me too, particularly if payments vary from month to month and I cannot use Standing Order. I should admit though, that I have overdraft limit high enough not to warry about charges for being overdrawn accidentally.

mrbadexample

I have been arguing about this with Telewest for months. :mad: At the moment, I am deducting £3.00 from every payment I make. I won't pay them by direct debit as they have previously messed up my bills (i.e. failed to cancel previous address when I moved, so were billing twice), so I don't trust them. The answer is to make noise. Complain like hell - they will credit your account with goodwill gestures if you are vociferous enough. They'll still apply the charge to your account though. They probably have a note added to my account stating "Caution: customer from hell."