Barclaycard - payment BEFORE due date?

GingerBob_3

I'm a big user of Barclaycard - always over £1000 pm.

I hadn't noticed this before, but on their emails advising about statement availability they say:

If you already pay by Direct Debit, just remember that the next payment to your card account will be made on or before the payment due date (my emphasis).

Now correct me if I'm wrong, but shouldn't that be after the payment due date?

How could you manage your finances effectively if they came along and took payment before the due date?

Anyway, it's never happened yet, and if it ever did, it would be the first, and last, time it did.

eskbanker

It varies from one provider to another but I'm sure I've seen threads on here complaining about one (maybe NatWest?) taking payment by DD quite a while ahead of the actual due date. I think from their perspective, they're positioning the due date as the last day on which payment can be made so can see why they'd specify 'on or before'.

Just done a quick check on the two cards I use - Tesco due date is the 4th of each month and they collect the DDs on the 29th, Santander collect one day ahead of due date....

Edit: yes, it was NatWest I was thinking of! https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5018002

InsideInsurance

Are you confusing due date (ie when payment must be made by) with collection date (ie the date the DD will be taken)?

I dont pay my BC with DD but on my other accounts where I do I have the two dates stated with the DD to be taken on or after the Collection date and the Collection date being on or before the Due Date

GingerBob_3

InsideInsurance wrote: »

Are you confusing due date (ie when payment must be made by) with collection date (ie the date the DD will be taken)?

I dont pay my BC with DD but on my other accounts where I do I have the two dates stated with the DD to be taken on or after the Collection date and the Collection date being on or before the Due Date

Em... not sure. But I wouldn't expect the direct debit to be taken before the due date anyway. Say due date was a Sunday, I would expect the direct debit to be taken on the Monday, not the preceding Friday. In other words, I would always expect collection date to be on or after due date.

InsideInsurance

GingerBob wrote: »

Em... not sure. But I wouldn't expect the direct debit to be taken before the due date anyway. Say due date was a Sunday, I would expect the direct debit to be taken on the Monday, not the preceding Friday. In other words, I would always expect collection date to be on or after due date.

Then it would be a late payment. The Due Date doesnt change just because of the mechanism of payment so if you dont have a DD you still have a Due Date and its your responsibility that cleared funds are in the account by that date and so if the Due Date is on a Sunday you have to make sure the payment is in the account by the Friday.

With a DD you additionally have a Collection Date as this is when they will take the money to ensure its in their account by the Due Date and thus not a late payment. As such it is before the Due Date to allow the processing. The DD will be taken on or after the collection date so if the collection date is a Sunday then it rolls forward onto the Monday

Hooloovoo

"Due date" is a misleading term.

Payment is "due" immediately after the statement is produced. The card provider allows a window from the statement date up to a date by which the payment must be made.

It should be "due" date and "payment by" date.

It's like an invoice. Payment is due from the moment the invoice is produced, but a window is generally allowed for you to make the payment, before it becomes over-due.

Ish_Mus

Hi Folkes, occasional browser, first time poster but anyway...

Pre charges and advance debits like this, and variable utilities, always bugged me. If they charge the ammount accrued 4(or so) days before the "due date," the total isn't the same as the total on the actual date, unless one does not use the card/ phone/ electric whatever between the dates. So the days between charge date and due date is added to the following month's amount.
So I guess they constantly charge the wrong amount early, for fear of missing the due date (or maybe worse, allow late payers and whack on heavy late charges?)
Myself, I'd rather pay early to avoid uncunfortable calls/ emails etc if I misjudge incomings and outgoing on my current account.

Oh, last bug- if they can check online immediately if you have credit on a card before approving a purchase, why not transfer money just as quick, and stick to actual due dates? - I guess it's a banking scam...

Just my cynical tuppence worth...

Krash420

If you're pay day is the 25th of every month, would you be happy that just because the 25th is a weekend, or in the case of Christmas, a bank holiday, that it's made on the next working day instead? (Which in the case of Christmas, could easily be on the 29th, if the 25th is a Thursday).

I believe the answer to that will be no, you'd want them to pay before that day, which is what in reality happens.

In the same sense, you have to pay the bill by the Xth, but if Xth is on a weekend, they tend to take it on the preceding working day, which could be 2-3 days before hand.

Course some companies may just have fixed days for direct debits which is different from the date that the balance is due. If for whatever reason, you don't want them to take it before hand, then you have the option to cancel your direct debits, and manually transfer as and when needed.

Course this also has the risk that you forget and end up being charged interest.

sazaccount

Hi,

I called MBNA 2 days ago to ask this question I had always paid my C Card by transfer and not DD and got confused on when the DD would be taken as if it was on the due date they normally have a business day to clear which means it would be a late payment.

the lady on the phone says the dd is called around 5 days before the due date so it can be taken from the account and processed before the payment due date on the card so no late payment.

Just make sure the funds are there a couple of days before its due to go out and ull be fine :rotfl:

xx

chattychappy

Hooloovoo wrote: »

"Due date" is a misleading term.

Payment is "due" immediately after the statement is produced. The card provider allows a window from the statement date up to a date by which the payment must be made.

It should be "due" date and "payment by" date.

It's like an invoice. Payment is due from the moment the invoice is produced, but a window is generally allowed for you to make the payment, before it becomes over-due.

Er.... I think that's nonsense. Payment isn't "due" immediately after the statement is produced any more than it is "due" when the transaction hits the account. You have a debt, true. But it isn't due yet. As for invoices - if you offer credit terms, then payment is due according to those terms. The invoice merely reflects the supply of goods/services (a taxable supply in the case of a VAT invoice). Payment might even be "due" in advance.

If I turn up at a bus stop at 09:00 carrying my bus pass and the timetable says the bus will arrive at 09:10, when is the bus due? 09:10....

eskbanker

Agreed! Personally I don't think there's any confusion about the term 'due date' - in common parlance this is the date by which payment is due, not the date from which payment is due! I don't see any evidence that anyone on this thread (or anywhere else) has felt misled by this generally accepted terminology....