Cancelled D/D but Bank still paid and charges applied!!

Shiku_2

Hi guys I need some advice regarding the following matter.....

I bank with the Natwest and this has happened to me on two seperate occasions, the second of which happened today!!

I telephoned Natwest on Monday to find out if I had any direct debits going out this week to which they replied no. I was quite sure that I had something going out as one of my creditors was adamant I set up a direct debit so I telephoned them again on Teuesday to confirm any D/D's, again they said no.... but, lo and behold..... what do you know, there's a D/D which has left my account today!! Although no charges have been added to my accounbt today I am wating for these to go on as I did not have enough funds and this has taken me over my O/D limit!!!! Please can you advise me if Natwest are in the wrong or not, as I think they are.....as mentioned before this has happend before, and they applied around £100 in charges onto my account and argued that a direct debit was an agreement between me and the company concerned and not my bank!! I took the case to the FOS, but Natwest refunded me any charges before this progressed...... Can anyone please advise me on this latest hiccup that I put down to Natwest?

Many Thanks

Ilovejackbauer

Even if they had told you a dd was going out on Tuesday you would have been to late to cancel it. DD's go into transit a few days prior to it being taken from your account so it would still have bounced. You normally need approx 5 days to cancel a dd

Shiku_2

Ilovejackbauer wrote: »

Even if they had told you a dd was going out on Tuesday you would have been to late to cancel it. DD's go into transit a few days prior to it being taken from your account so it would still have bounced. You normally need approx 5 days to cancel a dd[/quot

Thanks for your response, Natwest have told me they need 4 working days notice thmeselves, and the Direct Debit Garuntee states you can cancel a Direct Debit with your Bank/Building Society at any time in writing.... So even if i was to take a letter to my local branch on a Thursday afternoon and request them to cancel the D/D, they wopuld have to according to the Direct Debit Garuntee Scheme, which all major banks operate...... even so, my point is that I was advised by Natwest that no D/D's were leaving my account.....

Blue_Fairy_3

Ok, you must know for sure if you set up a direct debit or not, as a company can't do it unless you've signed the form for them to do it.

If you just rang up a branch, they would look at your account BUT a brand new DD might not be showing up on the system yet. They would only know to look further into it if you told them a new DD was being set up.

Are you quite sure it is a direct debit this company has set up on your account? Did you give them your card details? If you did, it's NOT a DD - you've basically given them permission to take money out of your account as they please, and the bank are right - there's nothing they can do about it and it's between you and the company.

The bank may have made a mistake of course, but you should give some notice to cancel a DD. I would find out if it definatly is a DD - go into the branch and ask for a list of DD's on your account. Then you may be able to claim back the charges if it is their error.

Have you thought of doing online banking? You obviously have the internet as you're on here; you would be able to keep an eye on your account yourself, which will make this sort of thing less likely to happen. You can also cancel DD's etc. yourself on online banking, should you need to

HTH, Bluefairy

Shiku_2

Thanks for that useful info Bluefairy.... it is definitley a D/D, I would have thought that a bank should be able to tell whether u have any D/D's going out of your account regardless of whether this is a new D/D....

Ilovejackbauer

Also, sometimes (and I have found this with my own bank account) when I dd is in transit it disappears ie if you look at pending payments it doesn't show and it also does not show on your statement.

Blue_Fairy_3

I work in a bank, and on our system, if a DD has only just been set up and not yet been paid, it does not immediatly show on the person's account details. You have to dig around a bit to find it on a different system.
Also, prior to what many people think we cannot see into the future - a company taking a DD can theoretically take the money when they want, not just on a set date, (or not take it at all). So the bank can only tell when it's due based on past information (ie. by looking at what day it went last month.)

So, if a brand new DD is set up but the payee has not yet 'asked' the bank for any money, the bank doesn't know when, or even if, they are going to do so. So was this was a new DD on your account? If so, I think that explains it - even if the staff member saw that this DD was set up, they would have no idea that the company was planning to take money that week.

Hope that makes sense and is not too confusing!

edit: I don't quite understand your thread title, as reading your OP again, it seems you didn't actually request the bank to cancel any DDs. You just asked them if there were any going out. The moral of the story is, make sure you don't set up any DDs you can't afford to pay!

natweststaffmember

shiku, you have asked this before, and I am sure somewhere I have answered it.

dzug1

[QUOTE=Shiku;20366621even_so,_my_point_is_that_I_was_advised_by_Natwest_that_no_D/D's_were_leaving_my_account.....[/quote]

When you asked (on Monday and Tuesday) there were no direct debits leaving your account - ie no one had asked for any money at that stage.

On Friday (well probably on Thursday actually) someone asked for money - there's no way the bank could have known earlier in the week that that was going to happen. Direct Debits are for variable dates, not fixed ones.

Shiku_2

edit: I don't quite understand your thread title, as reading your OP again, it seems you didn't actually request the bank to cancel any DDs. You just asked them if there were any going out. The moral of the story is, make sure you don't set up any DDs you can't afford to pay![/QUOTE]

You're right....sorry for mis-leading thread title!!!

Natwest Staffmember, i have asked previous questions regarding D/D's but not this, as soon as I found out regarding this charge, I posted this thread..... though thanks if your previous answer also answered this question....

Thanks for all your responses guys, clarification is much appreciated, I understand banks do not know if/when a new D/D is due to leave my account, and that a D/D is an agreement between myself and the company, and Natwest are third party in this, however, i still maintain Natwest should have made this information clear in the two phone calls I made to them so I could arrange for enough funds to go into my account in time. Instaed they told me that there was definitely nothing leaving my account as far as D/D's or Standing Orders go....

natweststaffmember

Shiku wrote: »

edit: I don't quite understand your thread title, as reading your OP again, it seems you didn't actually request the bank to cancel any DDs. You just asked them if there were any going out. The moral of the story is, make sure you don't set up any DDs you can't afford to pay!

You're right....sorry for mis-leading thread title!!!

Natwest Staffmember, i have asked previous questions regarding D/D's but not this, as soon as I found out regarding this charge, I posted this thread..... though thanks if your previous answer also answered this question....

Thanks for all your responses guys, clarification is much appreciated, I understand banks do not know if/when a new D/D is due to leave my account, and that a D/D is an agreement between myself and the company, and Natwest are third party in this, however, i still maintain Natwest should have made this information clear in the two phone calls I made to them so I could arrange for enough funds to go into my account in time. Instaed they told me that there was definitely nothing leaving my account as far as D/D's or Standing Orders go....[/QUOTE]

to clarify was it the first time the DD was going out? If not then the only thing the MOS at natwest could do was to guess based on previous occasions.