Moving Direct Debits to end of month - which bay is best?

donkem

Hi, hoping you good people can help me with something I'm probably over-complicating:

With getting paid weekly and having an account which charges for overdraft use by the day it makes sense for me to move my Direct Debits to the end of the month so I spend as little time as possible in my overdraft per month.

Is there a standard preferred day to pick when doing this? The last day of each month would be ideal, but with weekends and some months having less days than others I wondered if the 28th would be simpler than the 31st? Will going for the 28th help me get all my DD to agree to the same day (feels simpler for me to keep track if they do that).

I also wondered if there was a standard practice most banks pursue when a DD falls on the weekend? Do they tend to take it on the Friday or the Monday, or does it vary?

Thanks.

grumbler

Firstly, I don't think that all companies allow moving their DD.
Secondly, moving doesn't solve the underlying problem - balancing on the edge of the overdraft. Cut your expenses until you get permanently into black and stop getting overdrawn unless it's a real emergency. Then it won't matter at what day of the month or a week your DDs get taken.

donkem

Thanks for your response, I do agree with what you've written and am working towards that (albeit belatedly), I'm just hoping to save a little each month with this measure while I progress into a position where things aren't so very finely balanced.

mgdavid

surely once a DD mandate is issued by you, the receiving organisation can take money whenever they decide, it's not within your control.

McKneff

Even if you ask the companies to change the date, they will be quite happy to bring it forward in the month but not backwards towards the end of the month.

donkem

Thanks for the input.

I figured that different companies would have different approaches, and some might be more helpful than others. Was just going to ask nicely (after working out what I wanted to ask for) and hope some companies would be helpful and shift the day they take their DD. Sounds like I was being naive, and I'm in for a bit of wasted time, but seems worth having a go if some unlikely success can help me save a little.

Or am I missing something - does asking have a downside?

agrinnall

I don't see that asking will be a problem, and the 28th is probably the best option, but even if all the companies agree that's no guarantee that the money will actually come out on the 28th - the date is really just the earliest date that it will be requested, it could easily come out a few days later (or if it's Scottish Power, they may never get round to taking it, 4 months and counting without a DD coming out so far!), and it's rumoured that a few companies may even take money early, although I think you could then use the DD guarantee to get it replaced.