Direct debits (personal) in different names

simonmcnair

Hi,
I'm having an issue with direct debits and wondered if you could help clear up the confusion for me.

My wife and I want to set up reciprocal direct debits to our individual accounts so either of us can, in an emergency, transfer funds (pull) from each account so that we don't go over drawn.

The banks will not allow us to set up direct debits as the account names at each end are different (B McNair versus T McNair).

My issues with this are as follows:

1.) This is not made clear on the websites or literature of any of the institutions I deal with, neither is it on the FAQ's
2.) This does not align with the understanding that is widespread in the media, such as British gas/Severn Trent water/Orange/Vodafone being able to take money out of my account. Their names clearly do not match mine yet they can take an arbitrary sum from my account yet I can't do the same.
3.) Why can't I do this (provided the direct debit has been signed by the account holder authorising the funds to be taken) ?

Does anyone understand why this is so ? Please don't say "It's due to legislation" a specific reference would be gratefully received.

grumbler

simonmcnair wrote: »

My wife and I want to set up reciprocal direct debits to our individual accounts so either of us can, in an emergency, transfer funds (pull) from each account so that we don't go over drawn.

The banks will not allow us to set up direct debits as the account names at each end are different (B McNair versus T McNair).

My issues with this are as follows:

1.) This is not made clear on the websites or literature of any of the institutions I deal with, neither is it on the FAQ's

Because what you want is very unusual and uncommon. Very few banks allow such DDs and usually for 'pulling' money to savings accounts only.

2.) This does not align with the understanding that is widespread in the media, such as British gas/Severn Trent water/Orange/Vodafone being able to take money out of my account. Their names clearly do not match mine yet they can take an arbitrary sum from my account yet I can't do the same.

You give a company a permission to set a DD on your account. With your wife it's different as there is no a regular procedure for this. As she sets a DD on her own, it's understandable that she can pull money only from her own accounts.

3.) Why can't I do this (provided the direct debit has been signed by the account holder authorising the funds to be taken) ?

How and when was it signed?

Does anyone understand why this is so ? Please don't say "It's due to legislation" a specific reference would be gratefully received.

Banks have no obligations to offer this service. You can use only the services they offer. It's like coming to a local shop and demanding some special sort of bread that they never sell, then demanding explanation why they don't sell it.

And, finally, an obvious question: what's wrong with a common 'push' (Faster payment)?

dr_adidas01

simonmcnair wrote: »

Hi,
I'm having an issue with direct debits and wondered if you could help clear up the confusion for me.

My wife and I want to set up reciprocal direct debits to our individual accounts so either of us can, in an emergency, transfer funds (pull) from each account so that we don't go over drawn.

The banks will not allow us to set up direct debits as the account names at each end are different (B McNair versus T McNair).

My issues with this are as follows:

1.) This is not made clear on the websites or literature of any of the institutions I deal with, neither is it on the FAQ's
2.) This does not align with the understanding that is widespread in the media, such as British gas/Severn Trent water/Orange/Vodafone being able to take money out of my account. Their names clearly do not match mine yet they can take an arbitrary sum from my account yet I can't do the same.
3.) Why can't I do this (provided the direct debit has been signed by the account holder authorising the funds to be taken) ?

Does anyone understand why this is so ? Please don't say "It's due to legislation" a specific reference would be gratefully received.

An individual can't set up direct debits to transfer from one account to another.

Only organisations can set up direct debits EG, Orange, British gas and other such organisations.

You could however set up standing orders to the accounts in question. That way in an emergency you can send money to each others accounts as the need arises.

grumbler

dr_adidas01 wrote: »

An individual can't set up direct debits to transfer from one account to another.

However, some banks do this on request for their customers.

You could however set up standing orders to the accounts in question. That way in an emergency you can send money to each others accounts as the need arises.

Why standing orders? They are for regular payments, not for emergencies.

Buzby

As others have posted, it is the exception to be able to set up a DD as if you were a 'service supplier' - I could do this with Egg Banking (and it appears I can still do this with the replacement service from Yorkshire BS). However, none of my other banking accounts will do this.

From what you say, you want a debit triggered by a low balance threshold. However, even I cannot do this. As it would require one account to tell another there are low funds to request a debit. By date, yes - but on a balance that is supposedly confidential? I won't happen!

pqrdef

simonmcnair wrote: »

Hi,
The banks will not allow us to set up direct debits as the account names at each end are different (B McNair versus T McNair).

Why do so many people say "banks" and avoid letting on which bank they're talking about?

British Gas/Vodafone etc are registered with BACS as DD Originators. They submit their payment claims direct to BACS in batches. It's not something their bank does for them.

Smaller firms can use BACS Bureau services rather than running their own software.

Even smaller firms avoid registering by just punting their collections to a third-party collection firm, but it costs, and takes about a week.

A few banks and building societies will act as proxy Originators on behalf of personal customers to collect regular monthly payments into savings accounts.

A very few, notably Tesco, provide a manual user interface to collect one-off payments. In Tesco's case it's a bit redundant because they also collect one-off payments by debit card - though in my experience it takes ages for debit card payments to clear before you can withdraw the money, whereas DDs only take 2 days.

One reason they only take DD payments from an account in your own name is because otherwise the DD regulations require them to give advance notice to the paying account-holder for each irregular collection. Most Originators glibly assume that their customer is the paying account-holder, though this is hardly robust and accidents happen too often.

Without notice, the set-up would be wide open to abuse. In spite of the signed mandate, your wife would still be able to say that you took a payment without her permission, and her bank would have to refund her the money.

grumbler

pqrdef wrote: »

Why do so many people say "banks" and avoid letting on which bank they're talking about?

I guess it's Santander.
It's the only current account where I've seen an option to

Pull money in from an external account. This service allows you to make occasional deposits from a bank account (including external accounts) into your Santander account.
The service is only available if you have nominated a bank account from which to pull the money. To obtain a form to nominate an account, please call our Telephone Banking Service...