direct debit problem

daas_2

Sorry, first post not sure where to put it.
My pension company have transferred their direct debit collections to a management company. I used to pay on 1st of the month. The new company insists that the payment must be made on 29th of the month.

This means that on the first month of this new system they intend to take two payments - one at the beginning + one at the end. My question is can they force me to accept a change in payment date?

I am concerned that in years to come it will be forgotten that I am actually paying in advance !

Regards to all

dunstonh

My question is can they force me to accept a change in payment date?

Yes they can,

I am concerned that in years to come it will be forgotten that I am actually paying in advance !

You arent paying in advance. When it starts, you are just paying 3 days earlier than before and therefore your money is being invested 3 days earlier.

wotsthat

My question is can they force me to accept a change in payment date?

No they can't.

Presumably you are the customer and it's your money leaving the account?

All my direct debits are set up for the day after I get paid - I can't think of any companies that wouldn't let you choose your direct debit day. Direct debits help companies because they lower costs and make for a more certain monthly cash flow.

Ask them if they'd prefer you to pay by cheque instead.

EdInvestor

All my direct debits are set up for the day after I get paid

Just a thought, but given the pleasure the banks seem to take in bouncing DDs and then charging you for it, wouldn't it be more sensible to stagger them throigh the month, or at least give a bit more leeway for the salary payment to come in?

After all, the banks are hardly known for their efficiency in procressing payment transfers either.

As far as the OP's query goes, IMHO this is cheeky behaviour by the pension company and I would tell them it's not acceptable.

---lee---

wotsthat wrote:

I can't think of any companies that wouldn't let you choose your direct debit day.

Two that I can't change are TV License and Council Tax. They can only come out on the 5th. TV License does let you choose from a handful of dates though.

---lee---

OP, I remember some wording about this in my mortgage agreement. It was words to the effect of the payment has to be settled by the monthly anniversary of the completion date but for customer convenience they allow you to make this payment any time of the month by direct debit without penalty.

I would imagine that your pension plan has similar wording.

Mikeyorks

Most significant businesses submit their DD applications to BACS on a 5 (working) day cycle. (e.g. 5th / 12th / 19th & 26th - if any of the dates fall on a weekend, they have to go on the next working day) It helps to balance the (BACS) workload and is partially geared to keep DDs away from the busy end of month period when the financial systems are busy putting salaries into individual accounts.

It is likely the new management company don't have a '29th' slot - and may be amenable to something around the early part of the month? Although the tone of your post suggests they're simply ......... not amenable?

dunstonh

Quite a lot of providers are now insisting on limited direct debit dates. This tends to be the low profit margin products such as stakeholder pensions and regular contribution ISAs. The banks have been encouraging companies not to use 30th, 31st and 1st as collection dates.

Milarky

Off topic, but I changed my DD date from 1st to 15th (mid month) when it struck me that markets seem to rise (and have reasons to rise) at the end/beginning of the month. Is there any 'hard' evidence (eg in published articles) I wonder to back my hunch that regular pension (et al) premiums are concentrated around this time and thus lead to slightly inferior (ie higher) prices to pay?