confused over whose direct debits

Ballard

mgdavid wrote: »

so to imply that it's all banks, as you did in post #24, is quite misleading. As your experience is not of retail banking it was hardly useful information either. Still, we got there in the end...

Similarly, to have it stated that no direct debits mandates ever go anywhere near a bank (as Earthboy did) is also completely wrong. I did, however, have the good grace to admit that the case of my bank might be unusual once I'd thought about it.

No poster here has deliberately misinformed anyone. I 'corrected' Earthboy but only when I thought about it did it occur to me that perhaps not all banks receive the paper version so I posted a correction. I'm incredibly sorry for all of the hurt and confusion that I've clearly caused you.

Ballard

Aquamania wrote: »

(my highlighting)

No back pedaling here, then ... :cool:

The tenses are a bit mixed and I can understand why that would cause confusion. The London office is closing in a few weeks so we are no longer active. I still technically work for them but only in that I'm serving my notice.

EarthBoy

Ballard wrote: »

Similarly, to have it stated that no direct debits mandates ever go anywhere near a bank (as Earthboy did) is also completely wrong.

It wasn't wrong. You admitted yourself in post 24 that you don't receive the direct debit mandate, i.e. the original form. All you receive is a print out with the details on:

Ballard wrote: »

It's not the actual form that the customer completes but it does contain all of the information nonetheless.

[Deleted User]

Why not get a list of DDs from the bank, with reference numbers, then match the reference numbers to your individual accounts and paperwork with each supplier?

Ballard

EarthBoy wrote: »

It wasn't wrong. You admitted yourself in post 24 that you don't receive the direct debit mandate, i.e. the original form. All you receive is a print out with the details on:

Let's get this right. My initial suggestion was that the OP could get the bank to look at the paperwork which would have all of the necessary details on. You replied that no paperwork ever goes near any bank. Whether it's the original signed version or a printout is surely of no consequence. The OP merely wants confirmation of the originators which the printout gives.

I incorrectly stated that banks do get the paperwork going on my experience of it. As soon as I realised that this bank might not be typical I held my hands up.

At no point did I say that the original signed copy goes to the bank. In fact, Having checked I can see that I do have some signed versions. Almost all are printed but that could be more to do with the fact that the majority of dds are setup online nowadays.

gingercordial

OP, you can work all this out even if the bank are being unhelpful and even if others reckon they should be able to give you more. If you don't feel like pushing it with the bank straight away (I know divorce is stressful and tiring!) then try this.

Ask your bank for whatever they can give you, even if that's just a list of payment references with last date drawn and last amount.

Make a second list of every company you can think of that might be paid by direct debit from this account. Council tax, water, electricity, gas, credit cards, landline, broadband, mobiles and so on. You know who you personally have accounts/cards with, and what utilities you have.

Start matching them up - so if you know that your council tax bill is £100 a month on the 1st then find the DD on the list that was last drawn for £100 on the 1st. Tick that one off both lists. If you know Credit Card A has the reference ending 0001 then tick off the DD that has that reference. Repeat.

If you end up with any on the list from the bank that you have not ticked off, ask yourself if you recognise the amount/frequency and if that rings any bells with you, ie one that you forgot off the list you made - you might realise you forgot the water bill and that must be that one.

If there are any left that you really can't identify, go to the bank and demand they investigate and provide further details. At least that should only be a couple.

assis104s

Many thanks Gingercordial and everyone who has posted. I have asked them about the DD's I'm not sure about and they can only provide how much is being taken out and how many times. They can't provide the names of the companies for those DD's with just reference numbers.

They say that they have no control over how the direct debits are set up and despite looking at the direct debits site which states that I can ask for a printed version of the original doc, they do not have any of these to hand.

I'm with Smile, part of the Cooperative bank.