Recurring Payments Warning! discussion

savagej · 25 February 2012 at 8:51PM

Cheers Hurdler, I have edited and added to some of my posts to show the conclusion I reached which was it can be cancelled before hand as long as you do it on time. Which if I have understood the legislation correctly may not be what the bank would say if you called up and told them you wanted it cancelled. I think they would refer you back to the company who you have the agreement with. I am sure meer53 will know what they say at the moment and is likely to find out more about it given our debate.

It was the fact my motor insurance is due up next month and I paid by card last year, I cannot recall which card and I have no intention of staying with the same insurer so I wanted to make sure they do not auto-renew my policy and take the money without my consent.

Now I know what to do. I am going to call two banks tomorrow and ask each to make sure the insurer does not take anymore money under a CPA and will post back with what they say. Don't want to say which banks it is yet.

meer53 · 25 February 2012 at 9:00PM

savagej wrote: »

Cheers Hurdler, I have edited and added to some of my posts to show the conclusion I reached which was it can be cancelled before hand as long as you do it on time. Which if I have understood the legislation correctly may not be what the bank would say if you called up and told them you wanted it cancelled. I think they would refer you back to the company who you have the agreement with. I am sure meer53 will know what they say at the moment and is likely to find out more about it given our debate.

It was the fact my motor insurance is due up next month and I paid by card last year, I cannot recall which card and I have no intention of staying with the same insurer so I wanted to make sure they do not auto-renew my policy and take the money without my consent.

Now I know what to do. I am going to call two banks tomorrow and ask each to make sure the insurer does not take anymore money under a CPA and will post back with what they say. Don't want to say which banks it is yet.

If you were a customer where i work and you called to request this, i would advise you to let your insurer know that you don't want to renew (possibly waiting for your renewal notice first to see what their instructions are) and to then monitor your account for any debits from them. It's then a simple procedure for a dispute to be actioned if they DO debit you, but the transaction HAS to debit first.

We CANNOT stop the debit from coming through. There is no part of the payments system to prevent this. Even stopping a card doesn't stop it, you must have read all the other threads about this ?

If you think about it logically, your request would mean that your bank would have to monitor your account daily for a specific transaction and that's simply not possible.

savagej · 25 February 2012 at 9:12PM

Yeah, it does not seem like an easy task at all as as you point out this is both a widespead and longstanding issue. Again though the FSA / payment regulations say it can be cancelled and it specifically states the company you have the agreement with does not have to know or agree. So from that it would seem the case the banks need to put something in place to look out for these, if it really is that big a problem.

I would have thought what was written in the FSA booklet were mandatory rules imposed on banks to follow, and if the 2009 Act is law then it cannot be superceded by anything as you cannot remove someones statutory rights you can only strengthen them.

meer53 · 25 February 2012 at 9:16PM

It will be interesting to hear what your banks say about your car insurance payment. It's not complicated really, as long as you've cancelled before the debit appears, you will be refunded.

ajgoodun · 26 February 2012 at 11:47AM

My partner had a very difficult time cancelling from Experian Credit Experts, they offer a free period, but they consistently make it very hard to cancel, only through a telephone number and admittedly a forgotten password on occasions, or more often a person unwilling to help, even hanging up on one occasion.
So beware, it is impossible to stop the payments, from your own Bank Account, therefore, when joining any `Free Trial` make sure you find out how to Cancel and write down all relevant info.

headache5678 · 26 February 2012 at 4:42PM

I had been under the impression, perhaps wrongly, that Recurring Payments (CPAs) could only be applied to a credit card not a debit card account. Have I misunderstand, or have the regulations changed ?

dprice1164 · 27 February 2012 at 10:31AM

savagej wrote: »

You need to tell the bank you withdrew consent not the company who are taking the money, the bank is then required to immediately reverse the transaction. If they tell you this is not the case I can give you exact details to quote of the legislation under which they must refund your money.

You are absoloutely correct. I contacted HSBC who started a complaint and credited my account. Thanks for the info.:T

dprice1164 · 27 February 2012 at 10:42AM

headache5678 wrote: »

I had been under the impression, perhaps wrongly, that Recurring Payments (CPAs) could only be applied to a credit card not a debit card account. Have I misunderstand, or have the regulations changed ?

My disputed Recurring Payment was from my HSBC Visa Debit card (current account) so it could be either.

Hurdler · 27 February 2012 at 11:20AM

yeah - it's my understanding that a recurring payment can be made from either. The key is that it is an automatic recurring payment - I dare say the companies don't care WHERE the money comes from, just as long as they can pull it every month!