A little help please guys

marchy02

Hey everyone could use your help my niece is having some problems with her bank charging her fees. The problem started when she set up a direct debit and was late with a payment the thing is she is only 17 and a friend who worked for a bank told me she must be 18 before she can set up a direct debit? Does anyone know if this is true or can you give me any guidance how we can go about getting compensation?

thanks
marchy

marchy02

Hey everyone just wanted to see if any one has any ideas?

jonathon

now i wouldnt swear on this but i would say it is ok for a 17 year old to set up a dd otherwise it would be difficult for them to pay car insurance monthly or anything that needed to be payed monthly. also if thay cant do it i dont think the bank would let them.

nickmack

marchy02 wrote: »

Hey everyone could use your help my niece is having some problems with her bank charging her fees. The problem started when she set up a direct debit and was late with a payment the thing is she is only 17 and a friend who worked for a bank told me she must be 18 before she can set up a direct debit? Does anyone know if this is true or can you give me any guidance how we can go about getting compensation?

As far as I know, Direct Debit agreements have to be signed confirming you are 18 years or older. I would ask the bank why they have accepted the instruction.

If it gets to the stage where you need to reclaim the charges and the bank refuses to do this, look at the Reclaim Help forum for information.

moj1966

I can only go on what was said to myself, my 15 year old daughter was convinced she was going to go overdrawn, so I went into the bank to pay money in, to hopefully stop any charges.
I asked if she would be charged if the account went over drawn and I was informed they can only apply charges to account when the account holder is over 16.
My daughter is fifteen and has a direct debit set up to her dads account as she has a contract phone which had to be taken out by a adult.

jonathon

this is from the british bankers association web site. now the way i read this is if you have a current account where dd are available then there is no age limit.

Direct debits
A direct debit is an authority you give to companies which enables them to claim money from your bank account to pay bills or repay loans. Although there is usually no age restriction, you are unlikely to use this service if you are under 18. It is usually only available to you if you have a current account.