Help - Excessive Agency Charges for Rent

TheGobSmithe

Hi,

I am looking for some advice before i pay these charges.

I signed up with Keylet housing agency Cardiff in October and pay my rent as in contract on the 1st of every month. However being a student, in January you dont get your loan until 13th. I called up Keylet early December thinking they would just allow me to change my direct debit date as they specialize in student housing so i therefore ASSUMED they fully understood when students received their money.

However Keylet would not let me change the date and instead said, i would incur a £25 'bounce' charge, for the direct debit bouncing and £15 each week until i paid the rent.

I tried to explain to them that there would be no 'bouncing' of the money because i would simply cancel the direct debit, i advised them of this and did cancel the direct debit.

They are still trying to charge me £25 bouncing fee, is this right!?!?

agrinnall

Possibly yes, because they may still have tried to collect by DD and it will have failed. How and when did you cancel the DD?

amiehall

You need to manage your money to pay your rent on time! Whether you need to get an overdraft to cover a short-term cashflow issue like this, or just save up some money from summer work/previous loan payments to cover yourself.

I would plan out my payments for the rest of the year and make sure I had enough cash set aside to pay my rent.

If they didn't agree to a late January rental payment when you signed the contract, I don't see why you would think you would be exempt from this fee. It's not that much money all things considered. Hopefully it can be a lesson for you to learn to manage your cashflow to cover the WHOLE term.

nimbo

you will have signed a contract with them, and it will have detailed the charges if you missed a payment date...

If you don't pay any other bill on time you will incur charges (even if cancel the direct debit, and there is no 'bounced' payment - just a late one)...

Also it may be an idea to take the personal details off the first post, no one needs to know your full name, and it may just come back to bite you in the bottom.