Direct Debits taken day early

Mikeyorks

Z_O_L wrote: »

I'm sure this is probably the case but I will double check with them.

Why? It's been happening for years .......... it's simply you've just noticed it.

They start their overnight Batch processes early to get through all their processing and ensure your account is always available to Login to. But to do that they have to kick off with 'tomorrows' process date. So it's just an accident of timing that you noticed a 'tomorrow' transaction showing a bit early. It clearly has the 'tomorrow' date - so why worry.

So you'll struggle even more with the fact that any transaction you do at the weekend ......... shows the Monday (or next working day) date ? For the similar reason that they don't do active batch processing during the weekend - so show the next accounting date. So a Faster Payment inward - on a Saturday - will appear to have been paid in on a Monday. Similarly a payment out.

The 'tomorrow' date you can sometimes see late at night (it's not just DDs) is purely because of the processing starting early. It's nothing to do, as suggested earlier in the thread, with the DD originators.

meer53

Z_O_L wrote: »

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.

You don't need to check with them. It's how it works, they aren't going to change the system just for you. Pending transactions show the night before, it would be better if you checked your balance in the morning instead of late at night then you know what has debited and what your balance is. Set up text messaging on your account, i get a text each morning at about 7am which shows my balance. And keep a buffer in your account in case you forget a payment so you don't get overdrawn. Keep a note of what you spend on contactless though as they can catch you out.