Aqua DD returned

Tragen

So, I changed the DD for my aqua CC last month.

The only thing I have bought is some flowers for 9.99 on 1st February. My direct debit comes out on the 30th of the month, for the full amount.

On 23rd Feb, I changed the direct debit to a new current account, which had funds in (well over the 9.99).

Today I had an automated call from aqua to call them, so I did. They tell me that my account is in arrears. Looking at the statement in the aqua portal, it says on the 29th feb "Payment received" for the 9.99, then immediately below it, "payment reversed" for 9.99. They said I needed to call my bank to find out why it was reversed and that a mark would be put on my credit file and nothing I can do about it!

The bank (co-op), tell me that it was reversed because the DD wasnt 7 days old.

First of all, is what the co-op said true?

Secondly, the "old" account the DD was set to was switched to TSB, and the DD is showing within TSB as still active. Did Aqua have a responsibility to collect from the old DD if the new one failed, given that there is this supposed 7 day new DD rule?

I completely understand that ultimately it's my responsibility to maintain the account, but I feel that Aqua should have made it clear to me that the DD would not work - they clearly thought it would as they tried to collect from it before the 7 days were up.

[Deleted User]

Generally, if I recall correctly, 10 working days notice needs to given to the customer before a DD is collected. If the new DD wasn't set up then, or not in force when the previous statement was produced (which advises of the DD amount and date), then I would expect it to fail.

If you contact aqua, pay the arrears and grovel a bit, they may refund the late payment fee. Do it quickly enough and you may avoid the missed payment being recorded at the CRAs.

Tragen

They've already agreed to waive the late payment fee, he then said it "should" not appear on my credit file, it was when he used that word I asked him if he were certain, then he put me on hold and then told me it would definitely be put on my credit file.

The DD is showing within my new current account, and even shows that the last amount collected was 9.99 on the 29th of February. But when I look at my transactions for the new account, it's no where to be seen, co-op say that returned DD's dont show? That seems odd to me!

If Aqua had told me/notified me that I'd need to make a manual payment then I would have done so straight away. But when I changed it within the Aqua Portal, it just accepted the new details and that was that. If Aqua knew about the 7/10 days needed for new DD's then surely they wouldnt have (attempted to) have taken payment from it? Which leads me to think they should have a) told me I needed to pay by other means and b) not have taken the DD for that month.

Anthorn

What Aqua shares with Vanquis is that when a DD is imminent but the DD is changed they bounce the DD and return the payment. What they expect is that when a DD is changed, manual payments are done until the new DD is noted on the monthly statement. But if the payment is due within 2 days there is not enough time to manually pay on time.

The moral of the story is don't make changes to a DD when it's imminent. Leave enough time to make a manual payment and don't forget to continue manual payments until you see confirmation on the monthly statement.

Tragen

I made a manual payment of 9.99 today over the phone and after paying he seemed quite keen for me to cancel the DD, telling me that they will take 9.99 at the end of the month even though my balance is now zero. This didn't sound right to me so I explicitly told him not to cancel the direct debit. Even if he was right I'd rather have credit balance of 9.99 than go through this hassle again!

Also, every time I now try to log in to Aqua, I get a non-descript error. This has only happened since I got off the phone! *dons tin foil hat*