EGG mortgage; late direct-debit payment.

cashflow

I use a direct debit for my EGG mortgage - deductions are made on the 30th of each month. Recently two cheques which I had deposited into my bank account were only cleared on the 31st. I contacted EGG on the 31st, to ask them to now reclaim the money. "Not possible, and any new direct debit date would take several days to process anyway".

Then I received a letter from EGG to say that they would try to collect the payment 'within the next 10 working days'. They also informed me that the conduct of my account 'is recorded with the credit reference agencies and any adverse information will affect your ability to obtain credit in the future' Please accept this letter as notice that we intend to register such information after 30 days...' ( I have never been late to pay any debit previously! They could have verified that fact with any of the credit reference agencies!). The mortgage was eventually deducted 9 working days after the original attempt. So, I wrote to EGG to ask why it takes up to 10 working days reclaim the money. Their answer, in part, states, 'In answer to your question, we allow 10 days before attempting a Direct Debit retry for several reasons. The first being that sufficient time is allowed to ensure funds are available for collection second time round. Other factors include allowing enough time for us to notify you of the failed Direct Debit in the form of a letter and the final point is setting up a new Direct Debit instruction with your bank as we are unable to represent the payment on the original Direct Debit instruction. Please obtain a copy of your credit file from the details below should you have any concerns as to whether your failed Direct Debit has had an adverse affect.' ( No thanks for that bit! )

Now, it's my responsibility to ensure that funds are available, and this is the electronic banking age - so I don't think that 10 working days can be justified before a second attempt is made to reclaim funds! In addition to EGG's administration fee of £15, the actual delay in deducting the funds has cost me just over £100 - to be added to my mortgage. ) Can any reader tell me if this 10 day delay in reclaiming is the standard in the mortgage industry or not, please.