Should I cancel my direct debit?

WLITC

Okay, I need a bit of advice. I transfered the balance of my Barclaycard to my MNBA Virgin Carda few days ago, however it looks like the balance transfer won't clear the Barclaycard until about Monday/Tuesday next week. Barclaycard are meant to be taking this months payment of £146 on 13th March. Obviously the balance will be zero before the 13th so I phoned them today to try and cancel the direct debit. However she said that the system would be applying to take the money on the 8th (I guess they have to 'apply' a few days before the date) and she said when she was trying to canel the direct debit the system wouldnt allow her to do it. I explained that I'd paid in money to clear the balance and once it came through I would have zero balance and if they took £146 then they would own me. She said that they would happily return it too my bank account and to phone after the 13th to request that. Gee, I'm so glad there willing to give me MY money back! :mad:

I'd really prefer not to give it to the suckers in the first place and I was thinking of cancelling the direct debit at my bank, so that when they tried to collect it, it would be refused. Is this a good idea? I don't want to get a 'blackmark' with Barclaycard, or have them charge me a fee for non payment. If at the time I don't actually owe anything, can they still penalise me, or mark it as unpaid??

BTW, does the whole they can't cancel the DD sound a little suspect. She claims the system would apply for the payment on the 8th, well thats next Wednesday, so how come it can't be cancelled now if the system is not applying for it until next Wed? I'd read that it was too late to cancel a DD if its less than 5 days before its due because its in the system by that point .. the talk of the system applying for it on the 8th would back up the whole 5 days thing, however, today was 10 days before the payment was due so how come I can't cancel? Could they be bullsh*ing about not being able to cancel it to discourage people from cancelling their DD and therefore possibly not paying???

JasonW_2

Nah I wouldnt do that at all! You will likely get hit with a charge as a 'missed payment' with barclaycard - though you should get this refunded, but it *might* go down on your credit report as 1 month in arrears also. Plus, the bank could charge you for returning or refusing direct debit. So basically, its not worth the hassle. You could try barclaycard again though, as if the payment is due 'before the 13th' and they apply on the 8th then thats just as it sounds, they request it on the 8th, they shouldnt need to reuest a request if you get me?

JW

grumbler

JasonW wrote:

Nah I wouldnt do that at all! You will likely get hit with a charge as a 'missed payment' with barclaycard

I wouldn't do that too. The only correction is that the charge in question is £20 for 'returned payment'.

WLITC

Thank you both, I spoke to Barclaycard again today and was told the same thing, its too late to cancel, however she did say that if payment was received before the 13th then they wouldn't take the direct debit as any payment over the minimum automatically cancels out the DD that month. I said surely you mean before the 8th because the DD would be 'in the system' before then, but she claimed no, the 13th. Anyway, whatever the dates, hopefully if the BT clears on Monday it shouldn't take the payment.