In credit by £500!

Nara

We used to pay all our utilities bills per quarter but decided that instead of getting big bills one month we would go to direct debits and spread the payments.

However, BT keep putting our direct debits up and down because some months we make more calls then others and it never seems to work out right.

After getting a BT bill today stating that our DD would be going up again much to my horror, I decided to check our gas & electric as we pay a monthly DD for this too.

We are in credit by £525 lol. So our next bill is 20th of Jan which I'm guessing should be the highest one of the year but to be honest I am much more savvy with usage nowdays since joining this site and I have a feeling the bill will not be anywhere near this amount !! Esp now I am back at work more hours so using less electric and gas.

I'm starting to wonder if we should be switching everything back to paying quarterly bills rather then DD.

What do most people do? Spread the costs with DD or just pay bills as you get them?>

retiredalso

I'm starting to wonder if we should be switching everything back to paying quarterly bills rather then DD.

That will get your credit down, you will pay more as you don't get a DD discount.

I am in credit as well by about £300 and will still be in credit in April so should get it back then. It will help to pay for my holiday.

I'd rather be in credit than have to pay the extra if I was in debit.

Nara

Yeah thats what we thought when we changed to DD's and the fact you pay the same all year round to cover the more expensive winter months. So maybe wait until April then to ask for a refund of whats left in the account so it can build up again over the summer?

wr1ght

we pay quarterly id rather any extra money was in my bank account than theirs

sweetilemon

That is quite a lot, if you are continuously overpaying you can ask for your DDs to decrease and the lump sum refunded. Just try to take into account winters extra usage. Make sure your bill is an accurate bill not estimate!

new2012

we pay quarterly id rather any extra money was in my bank account than theirs

I did some calculations on paying by DD and paying quarterly when I got the bill.

For the sake of simplicity I will use the same amount of gas and electricity every month and consume £1200 worth of it every year and pay £300 per quarter when I get the bill.

If I deposit £100 per month in a bank account at 3% interest, in 3 months time I will get 75p interest then withdraw the £300 and pay the bill.

Repeat for the next 3 quarters so at the end of the year I will have £3 left in my account.

If I pay by DD I will pay the electricity and gas company £1200 in a year. However when I get the first quarterly bill the supplier will only take £276 (£300 less 8%) so I will have a credit of £24.

Repeat for the next 3 quarters and at the end of the year I will have a credit of £96.

A difference of £93.

And you would rather have the money in your bank than in theirs?

I would rather have the £93.

Cardew

I take it you mean BG not BT?

There really is no point at looking at you credit balance until you get a bill. This is because your DD payments are credited monthly, but your bills debited quarterly.

For instance say I paid £120 a month DD, I could look at my account today and it could be showing a credit balance of £400 because my last 3 x £120 have been credited, but tomorrow a bill for, say £450 could be debited and I will be £50 in debit.

The direct debit discount is way more than any interest you are likely to lose on having a credit balance. In any case if the DD level is set correctly over the year you should be in neither credit or debit.

For OP - Being well in credit at this time of year is what you would expect - you will have your two largest bills on Jan 20 and April 20.