Returned Direct Debit Fees

peedoff123456

Does anybody have any information of how the figure of a returned direct debit fee is thought of ?

I have today received a £12 fee from my home insurance company because they had to send me a letter through the post ???????

Even if the staff member wrote the letter by hand personally it couldnt have taken more than 15 minutes.
Presuming the person earns £10 per hour (which i doubt very much) it only costs £2.50

The maybe 35p for the stamp (second class)

maybe 30p for the envelope

and 10p for the ink

????? where on earth do they get £12 from ?????

Do they not have some sort of obligation to provide us with the details of how they came to thie "reasonable" charge ??

Are we entitled to find out details under the freedom of information act ??

If anyone knows anything relating to this, please get in touch

Thanks

iceicebaby

I don't know but I think the Office of Fair Trading have deemed £12 to be a fair amount so thats probably where the amount has come from. Credit Cards charge £12 for a missed DD too, it seems to be the industry standard amount, if that helps?