Direct Debit - taking money late

bluwind

Hi all,
I have various direct debits set up to come out of my bank within the first 5 days of the month.
I don't touch anything in my bank until the 14th of the month knowing that all my bills have been taken by direct debit and what is left is mine.
my home insurance is due out on the 4th of each month, on the 1st of august Nationwide (who I also bank with) sent me a letter saying my premiums have gone up; not a problem its only a couple of pounds extra and I knew I had more than enough to cover it. The letter didn't mention taking the money later than usual or anything like that. so on the 14th I withdrew the remaining cash from my bank. But then on the 16 Nationwide withdrew by direct debit the new premiums which cause the payment to bounce in my bank and incur a charge of £15.
Are they allowed to take payments so late after there due date without informing you that they plan to do that?

Hazzanet

Twisted_Cherry

I find I have some direct debits that are taken later than they should. For instance if it falls on a weekend, instead of being taken on the next working day the Monday, it can often be taken two days later, Sky especially does this to me!

I would speak to Nationwide, explain the situation and see if they will as a good will gesture reverse the £15 fee!

bluwind

Oh Hazzanet, which code of conduct is that in so I can take that into the bank with me?
and thank you

Hazzanet

From "The Service Users Guide and Rules to the Direct Debit Scheme"... I doubt it's freely available tho.

(It's rule 4.2 - "Time Scales")

bluwind

my appoligise I have gotten the dates a little wrong, I don't know if this is worse on there part or better, The direct debit was due on the 4th august, they didn't try to take a payment, they instead sent me a letter dated the 6th august saying the premiums have gone up and they will take the payment "on or after the 04/08/2013",

Hazzanet

bluwind wrote: »

my appoligise I have gotten the dates a little wrong, I don't know if this is worse on there part or better, The direct debit was due on the 4th august, they didn't try to take a payment, they instead sent me a letter dated the 6th august saying the premiums have gone up and they will take the payment "on or after the 04/08/2013",

If they collected on the 16th, then they haven't given you valid advance notice of collection.

While in theory you could claim the amount back via the DD guarantee as there wasn't valid advance notice, it's not going to get you anywhere with the insurance company (they may invalidate the insurance).

I'd go back to the insurance company with what I've given you via PM and ask that they reimburse the £15 charge because it's an error on their part.

bluwind

thanks again Hazzanet, I will do. The insurance company is fully paid up with there missed payment and I think I may be lucky in that my Bank are also who I have insurance with so I will take their correspondence and the information you have given me and ask that they refund the Fee.
Thank you again

alanq

(Without having the benefit of access to the document Hazzanet refers to)
The insurance company wrote that it would take the payment "on or after" a date and it did just that. If it had specified a particular date and missed it I would would agree that it had broken the agreement.

As matters stand I see no issue other than a bank customer failing to keep their own record of funds expected to come in and go out. There have been a number of posts here with folks being caught out because debit card transactions have not been deducted promptly and false assumptions being made that all the money in an account is available to spend. Apart from these "surprises" if we don't keep a record of what we spend and check it against statements how can we be sure that erroneous or fraudulent transactions are not appearing?

oldfella

I would have thought this falls under the DD guarantee - its not sufficient to claim they took it after a given date, if they took it 2 weeks later.

take the paperwork to the bank and ask them to refund the charge because of the breach to the guarantee

bengal-stripe

bluwind wrote: »

The direct debit was due on the 4th august, they didn't try to take a payment, they instead sent me a letter dated the 6th august saying the premiums have gone up and they will take the payment "on or after the 04/08/2013",

If the amount of a DD changes, or the DD is a variable one and changes from month to month, the company will have to give you at least 10 days notice. It appears that is the case here: they wrote to you on the 6th about the new amount (to be taken 10 days later) but failed to amend the date. (They cannot advise you on the 6th about a DD to be taken on the 4th.)

It obviously is a clerical error of your insurance, compounded by you not checking your account.Go back to the insurance and point out their error.