Bank takng money

topcat0000

For the last wo years I have had a standing order of £340 a month going out on the 28th of each month to pay my rent and bills.

Early August I went online and changed this to the 1st of each month and I got conformation that I the next payment would go out on the 1st September.

However, the payment went out on the 28th August AND 1st September.

As it happens the person the money goes to is travelling for 3 months and rarely checks emails or otherwise he would give it back. I callled Alliance and Leicester and they said they cant really do anything?!?!?!?

I have now written a strongly worded letter suggesing they give me £340 as a taken of good will...... given i am now struggling to buy food etc sure ly that fair?

Anyone know the likely outcome of this>

Thanks!

Cara79

Hi there

I think I know where the confusion has arisen.

Basically a payment was due for August which was taken on the 28th of August. You changed the date to the 1st and the next available date is 1st Sept.

The reason it has been taken twice is because 28th August payment is for august's payment and 1st September payment is for September. Presumably the August payment is in arrears and the September one would be in advance.

Otherwise, you wouldn't have technically paid anything for august.

I hope i've got this understanding correct. If this is not the case, then this is the view that the bank will have. You will have had to make a payment in august so they took it as previously then September onwards would be from the 1st of the month.

I hate to say it, but I don't think you would get your money back. I'm basing this on a direct debit experience I had, but would imagine Standing Order would be the same.

sorry
Cara

kuohu

Edit: Post removed, was talking total rubbish. Sorry!

Cara79

kuohu wrote:

But in practical terms it sounds like you need to cancel the next month's payment and arrange an overdraft to cover any cash flow problems until next payday. Resume payments on the 1st Nov.

Don't cancel next month's payment. In september only one payment will be taken - that on the 1st September. You have changed the payment date, so they wont also take a payment on 28th Sept.

Don't cancel it otherwise you wont have made a payment for September.

kuohu

Cara79 wrote:

Don't cancel next month's payment. In september only one payment will be taken - that on the 1st September. You have changed the payment date, so they wont also take a payment on 28th Sept.

Don't cancel it otherwise you wont have made a payment for September.

Yep okay my advice may have been incorrect and there isn't enough information to determine what the situation is.

If, as you suggest, the OP is switching from paying in arrears to paying in advance then no of course they must not cancel next month's payment.

Alternatively (and this was the way I interpreted it at first) maybe the OP is just putting back the payment date a few days, perhaps to help cash flow. So the monthly payment is still made in arrears, and the payment at the end of September (albeit now put back to the start of October) has already been paid. Hence why I said cancel next month's payment.

The OP hasn't made any reference to the terms of the rent being changed from arrears to advance, but that could indeed be the case. I know I pay my rent in advance. But sadly if this *is* the case then the Op needs to find £340, not just have a temporary £340 OD till the next payday. Not good.

Either way, cheers for pulling me up on that Cara.

YorkshireBoy

kuohu wrote:

Unfortunately it was your mistake...

I'm not sure how you can be so certain of this.

The OP stated they logged on in "early August" - lets assume this was the 5th. Surely it's reasonable that if they made a request to change the SO date from the 28th to the 1st, then the August 28th payment would not have been made.

However, and I mean no disrespect to the OP, if another SO was set up instead of the original being changed, then this may explain things.

At the end of the day though, when you log out of your A&L secure area you are presented with an 'activity summary' which details all the tasks you have performed during that session...

Activity summary
Before logging out review your activity summary below. If you have a query about any of the details displayed contact our Helpdesk on 0845 300 2562 for assistance...

Question to the OP...did you check this on leaving the site?

The customer can only see a summary for that session's actions, although I would assume that A&L will archive this and append it to your previous activity summaries. Probably best to ring the number above and ask them to look at/send you a copy of the activity summary for that "early August" session.

kuohu

Yep I've edited my first reply, sorry I was wrong.

Cara79

kuohu wrote:

Yep okay my advice may have been incorrect and there isn't enough information to determine what the situation is.

If, as you suggest, the OP is switching from paying in arrears to paying in advance then no of course they must not cancel next month's payment.

Alternatively (and this was the way I interpreted it at first) maybe the OP is just putting back the payment date a few days, perhaps to help cash flow. So the monthly payment is still made in arrears, and the payment at the end of September (albeit now put back to the start of October) has already been paid. Hence why I said cancel next month's payment.

The OP hasn't made any reference to the terms of the rent being changed from arrears to advance, but that could indeed be the case. I know I pay my rent in advance. But sadly if this *is* the case then the Op needs to find £340, not just have a temporary £340 OD till the next payday. Not good.

Either way, cheers for pulling me up on that Cara.

Sorry! I suppose I just read it one way. I guess the OP will have to come back and clarify.

poppy_f1

Cara79 wrote:

Hi there

I think I know where the confusion has arisen.

Basically a payment was due for August which was taken on the 28th of August. You changed the date to the 1st and the next available date is 1st Sept.

The reason it has been taken twice is because 28th August payment is for august's payment and 1st September payment is for September. Presumably the August payment is in arrears and the September one would be in advance.

Otherwise, you wouldn't have technically paid anything for august.

I hope i've got this understanding correct. If this is not the case, then this is the view that the bank will have. You will have had to make a payment in august so they took it as previously then September onwards would be from the 1st of the month.

I hate to say it, but I don't think you would get your money back. I'm basing this on a direct debit experience I had, but would imagine Standing Order would be the same.

sorry
Cara

this happened to me albeit for my car insurance and this was the explanation i got

Xbigman

The explanation given above is essentially correct. If you change a payment date from 28th to 1st then it will be taken as meaning the 28th of sept payment will be taken on the 1st of september. This is not really the ops fault as they just didn't realise. Will they get their money back from the bank; no. They need to cancel the standing order so no 1st of October payment is made and set it back up in early October for payment on the 1st of the month, that payment would be 1st of November. This will bring everything back right, in effect they paid the 1st of Oct payment on 1st of Sept. If they have complained to the bank then call the bank and withdraw the complaint as it will just complicate things.
Regards



X

masonic

YorkshireBoy wrote:

The customer can only see a summary for that session's actions

You can view a complete history of your activity by selecting 'Activity Summary' from the 'Other Services' section of online banking.

That should clarify the situation, although the explanation given above seems to make perfect sense.