Halifax DD System - Bunkers!

chattychappy

opinions4u wrote: »

This does open up a handy loophole to get in to credit before you go on holiday, thus avoiding interest for withdrawing cash overseas.

Yep. But there is still a risk that a balance could be frozen, put into a suspense account etc. That's not to say they should do that, but that's not to say they wouldn't.

Small risk, perhaps. But for the sake of a small amount of interest I wouldn't bother.

YorkshireBoy

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

What does it say in your DDI confirmation letter?

To answer my own question, I've just checked my Halifax card's DDI letter and it says...

"The Direct Debit will be collected every month even if you send us an additional payment"

Venusflytrap

chattychappy wrote: »

But there is still a risk that a balance could be frozen, put into a suspense account etc. That's not to say they should do that, but that's not to say they wouldn't.

But isn't this more likely when the account was deliberately put in credit? Say for instance where a balance is zero but a credit is still put on it?

In my case the bank just didn't amend the DD amount to accommodate the manual payment i'd made which is why I now have a credit. The Halifax agent I spoke with alluded to the fact that the account would be in credit and nothing need be done. I was the one who requested the refund.

chattychappy

Venusflytrap wrote: »

But isn't this more likely when the account was deliberately put in credit? Say for instance where a balance is zero but a credit is still put on it?

I would have thought so, and I expect the amount of money involved is a factor too. But:

1) You are still making a payment knowing the account will be put into credit as you have been told a DD will be taken. Whether technically you are breaching the T+Cs would depend on the exact wording.

2) I'm not sure if the fraud prevention/anti-money laundering prevention systems are so sophisticated as to recognise the difference. A credit balance is a credit balance. And CCs are not regulated as deposit takers.

Most of my transactions are foreign because I travel alot - sometimes for 3 or 4 months at a time. I have a limited number of cards which are loading free so I don't want to risk them getting blocked which tends to happen from time-to-time anyway. After a couple of years of trouble free transactions, Last December, Santander blocked my Zero card. Phoned them up - unblocked, suitably reassured, then blocked again. For about 3 weeks, every transaction seemed to provoke the card being blocked. The agents always told me it was an irregular spending pattern and I hadn't told them where I was. But that was nonsense. Same old supermarket, same old train station. Told them where I was, didn't stop the blockings. But been OK since (despite not telling them where I'm going)!

Venusflytrap wrote: »

The Halifax agent I spoke with alluded to the fact that the account would be in credit and nothing need be done.

So this is my point: whatever staff tell you on the phone, when it comes to anti-fraud/AML measures, they can't really tell you much about what has or what will happen. They just don't really know and I don't think the systems are that great.

Clarity interest rates are not punitive. I would rather pay a few days interest than risk provoking some hyperactive IT system into stopping the account and incurring horrible loadings on another card.

Venusflytrap

chattychappy wrote: »

I would have thought so, and I expect the amount of money involved is a factor too. But:

1) You are still making a payment knowing the account will be put into credit as you have been told a DD will be taken. Whether technically you are breaching the T+Cs would depend on the exact wording.

The wording on DD payments is as Yorkshireboy wrote. Though my DD instruction doesn't say that the full statement amount will be taken irrespective of manual payments, only that a DD will be taken. One may therefore argue that this DD should proactively take into account any manual payments made before the payment due date.

Clarity interest rates are not punitive. I would rather pay a few days interest than risk provoking some hyperactive IT system into stopping the account and incurring horrible loadings on another card.

Indeed they aren't, but I would rather not pay up to 30 days of interest (on cash withdrawn before statement date) if I can avoid it. My APR is 17.9% which is a bit steep me think.

Think I will try to time my foreign cash withdrawals after my statement date so that I can pay back immediately I return home or just take forex from here.

dzug1

Venusflytrap wrote: »

One may therefore argue that this DD should proactively take into account any manual payments made before the payment due date. .

Well the DD guarantee require n days notice to be given of any variation in the amount taken. Your statement will have said how much is to be taken. They haven't given you any notice of a different amount, therefore they would be breaking DD rules if they took an amount other than that in the statement.

I don't know what the Clarity statements say - but my CC statements says the DD will be taken regardless of any other payments that may have been made.

ALIBOBSY

I think this depends on the card supplier, many if not most that I have had over the years with a direct debit set up, can and do adjust for any payments made upto about 5 days ish prior to the direct debit date (as once requested they can't adjust the amount).

Some card suppliers don't adjust, which seems silly as it costs them time and money to do refunds. It isn't even very clear from the T & C's in most cases, just learnt from experience.

ali x

Venusflytrap

ALIBOBSY wrote: »

I think this depends on the card supplier, many if not most that I have had over the years with a direct debit set up, can and do adjust for any payments made upto about 5 days ish prior to the direct debit date (as once requested they can't adjust the amount).

Some card suppliers don't adjust, which seems silly as it costs them time and money to do refunds. It isn't even very clear from the T & C's in most cases, just learnt from experience.

Also my thinking that the DD could be amended x days before it is taken, esp. as my CC balance reflected the amount less the manual payments up to 30 days before the DD was taken!

No matter, I now know and will try to time my foreign cash advances more conveniently (for me).

MoneyWasting_Expert

I notice with Barclaycard once that statement balance comes through, that is what you will pay by DD even if you have payments already pending.

Venusflytrap

MoneyWasting_Expert wrote: »

I notice with Barclaycard once that statement balance comes through, that is what you will pay by DD even if you have payments already pending.

I understand how this makes operational sense to the banks but not the customer - no surprise there.

From now on I need to remember that so long as I make manual payments before my statement date, I should be able to avoid up to 30 days interest on cash advances.

Thanks to All for very useful contributions.