Direct Debits taken day early

Z_O_L

gt94sss2 wrote: »

As others have said, the direct debits will have been taken on the 15th.

Some banks start processing the direct debits 'early' so on the evening of the 14th but that is after they consider that banking day closed.

This is due to the way those banks IT systems works - not the firms who the DDs were with.

With those banks you will probably also find that a direct debit due to go out on a Monday has been taken from your available balance on the Saturday or Sunday - but dated the Monday.

Some banks claim that this helps their customers budget/avoid going accidentally overdrawn but some customers don't like it.

Other banks like HSBC only start processing transactions dated the 15th on the 15th itself..

Hi, you mention available balance, what about both balances? If it was just my available balance I wouldn't have worried. It was just the fact that all the balances were deducted from. I guess you're saying they date it Monday, take it Monday, but lower your available balance Friday? I can understand that. I suppose for me it was more, dated it Thursday, seemed to take it Wednesday evening. Nothing available and nothing left in the bank Wednesday.


Also this "banking day" thing. Is this still the case now that we have online banking? I can send money back and forwards anytime of day or night and it all seems to show up instantly. If I pay my credit card at midnight it doesn't show up instantly. If I transfer online between 2 current accounts at the same bank it seems to be instant. So why do banks take the opinion that "its 5pm, the days closed nothing else can happen"?

meer53

You're making this way more complicated than it actually is. The DD's show as pending the night before they're due, you aren't overdrawn the night before. You would only be overdrawn if there was no money to cover them the next day and you didn't pay in to prevent them being returned. All banks work this way.

Z_O_L

meer53 wrote: »

You're making this way more complicated than it actually is. The DD's show as pending the night before they're due, you aren't overdrawn the night before. You would only be overdrawn if there was no money to cover them the next day and you didn't pay in to prevent them being returned. All banks work this way.

Well to be fair there seems to be some slightly different answers on here to a subject that's quite confusing. If you're telling me that just because at 10pm my bank is empty and showing DD's early, it doesn't mean it's really empty, its just pending, then that doesn't sound right. If my account says its empty then regardless what time of day it is I'm assuming its empty. Not pending but completed. The bank told me if my current balance was negative I would be fined. The bank took the DD'S early and did reduce both my available and current balance before midnight. I don't think this was pending, they just did it early because it was only a few hours before and they probably have a procedure in place that allows customers time to bring their account back into credit. I'm sure this is probably the case but I will double check with them. Maybe they'll tell me it was pending, but I didn't think the current balance was affected by pending items (only the available balance). Otherwise what's the point in having both an available and current balance if they're both affected by pending items.

Shakin_Steve

Get a life, ZOL, you're starting to sound like a broken record. You asked, people answered, it's really not that important.

Z_O_L

"Get a life" strong playground words from you there Steve said through the safety of the internet of course. Meer commented giving his opinion. It didn't make sense because current balances aren't affected by pending transactions. I responded to it. It's not me sounding like a "broken record" it's me responding to a different comment by a different person. If you've got a problem with that then don't read the thread and don't comment. You obviously have no interest in this thread but feel the need to read and post anyway. Sounds like it's not me who needs to "get a life"

Shakin_Steve

Just make sure you've got enough money in to cover your payments, the you won't have to worry about going overdrawn for two hours.:rotfl:

Shakin_Steve

Oh.....and did you notice I got a couple of thanks for that post

Z_O_L

Shakin_Steve wrote: »

Just make sure you've got enough money in to cover your payments, the you won't have to worry about going overdrawn for two hours.:rotfl:

I shouldn't have to do that though should I. As funny as going overdrawn for 2 hours might be to you if the payments aren't due to go out then they either shouldn't be going out or shouldn't be charging me. According to some of the helpful people on here I shouldn't be overdrawn and therefore shouldn't be charged. This is good news and I'm glad they helped. I of course will check it with my bank. Lots of people have given slightly different opinions and answers, which has meant a lot of questions by me. I did say after page 1 that I was happy enough to write to the bank and clarify things which really should have been the end of the thread. But more people gave their slightly different opinions (some similar some different) which meant the thread went on and appeared repetitive. Your post contradicted other information and technically wasn't correct. I questioned you to see if you understood what I was saying and that obviously annoyed you to the point at which you felt the need to be deliberately rude and insulting to a new member. As said before I'll write to the bank and confirm these early DD's wont affect me, regardless of what I do with my account on the 14th of the month. Hopefully that will be the end of it!

Ballard

It has been explained to you how the system works and that because your statement shows the date as 15th that that's the day that your account was debited. There's no need for you to keep posting how worried you are that you've been charged as there's absolutely no evidence that charges have been incurred.

Banks have a lot of processing to do overnight and it appears that your bank start that process before midnight. This will give them a few hours leeway in case something goes wrong. It's far better for a banks system to post a few forward valued entries rather than have their system incomplete or down completely during the morning. Just ask NatWest customers!

I suggest that you calm down, contact your bank and post the resultant response back here when you get a moment.

The fact that GingerBob hasn't posted on this thread telling you to write to the CEO before closing your account suggests that even they don't feel that you've anything to be concerned about.

debtorwithaquestion

Definitely one for the Ombudsman...






;-)