Are there any £1 Direct Debits?

mt99

Danske Bank UK charity account - automated credits are 5p per item

http://www.danskebank.co.uk/SiteCollectionDocuments/Business/Accounts/fsc-explained-business-accounts.pdf

mt99

Bank of Scotland charge 15p per direct debit in, but this is for a normal business account - charities my get a discount I suppose.

mt99

In summary, I THINK this is what a charity would pay for a £1 DD (increased to £1.20 by tax relief?):

Dogs Trust 8p
HSBC (2010) 14p (less for a charity?)
Danske bank UK (Charity account) 5p
BOS 15p (less for a charity account?)

Looks like maybe the charity will still get all of your £1 plus maybe a bit more, provided that you have done the donation ticking gift aid box

EachPenny

Ashen wrote: »

I like how EachPenny has now gone to the argument 'you should use commercial organisations to keep the £1', in the same thread that he also asterisks out the name of the key commercial organisation that does this, and asks people not to keep mentioning them.

At post #38 and more explicitly in post #42.

What is wrong with suggesting people do something, but separately pointing out that there is no need to keep referring to the organisation involved by name, especially when another poster had already made the same suggestion and recieved the more succinct post #12 in response?

We all rely on sources of low cost DD's to support multiple interest bearing current accounts. When the plug is pulled on then we will all suffer.

Some people will only be happy after they've forced the charities to impose higher minimum donations and when the namechecked company gets fed up with appearing high on search results for the wrong reason.

A little bit of responsibility and common sense doesn't hurt anybody.

YorkshireBoy

mt99 wrote: »

(increased to £1.20 by tax relief?

£1.25 (if you paid 20% tax on £1.25 you'd be left with £1).

mt99

You are right, of course

epm-84

EachPenny wrote: »

Arguments about the precise cost of each transaction, speculation about bulk discounts, gift aid additions... all of it is unimportant if there is a better way to donate £1 to charity than by a £1 direct debit.

I think you've forgotten your analogy was a £1 direct debit to a charity is the same as ignoring charity shop rules on donations and dumping a bag of crap on their doorstep while they are closed. Charities don't say you can give them a £1/month direct debits while they do say not to dump a bag of crap on their doorstep (not in those words though!)

You haven't said what the better way of donating £1 every month could be. If you go in to a shop and give them £12 in cash once a year then they don't get the tax relief and the volunteers will probably still have to record that as a £12 donation and pay it in to a bank.

EachPenny

epm-84 wrote: »

I think you've forgotten your analogy was a £1 direct debit to a charity is the same as ignoring charity shop rules on donations and dumping a bag of crap on their doorstep while they are closed. Charities don't say you can give them a £1/month direct debits while they do say not to dump a bag of crap on their doorstep (not in those words though!)

No, I've not forgotten but since there is a determination not to get the point there seemed little value in continuing the discussion. But as you've raised it again I'll give it one last go.

Not all charities specify the type of items you can donate, and some shops might not have signs which clearly request people do not leave bags outside them (or bring bags of crap in). Using your logic if there is no sign specifically saying "only donate quality saleable items during opening hours" then it would be ok to leave whatever crap you want night or day.

People who have respect and use their common sense don't need a sign to tell them not to dump crap on charity shop doorsteps.

In a different context what you are describing might be called 'victim blaming'. Unless they clearly say 'no' then they are fair game. How about asking yourself if it is really what they want, rather than assuming it is ok because nobody said 'no'.

And if £1 DD's really are so profitable and welcome, then why do many charities have higher minimum donations? Do you think that is because their processing costs are higher than £1, or do you think it is greed on the part of the charity?

epm-84 wrote: »

You haven't said what the better way of donating £1 every month could be. If you go in to a shop and give them £12 in cash once a year then they don't get the tax relief and the volunteers will probably still have to record that as a £12 donation and pay it in to a bank.

I think you could use your considerable expertise to work out a way of doing it. To start with the gift aid scheme is not restricted to regular monthly donations by DD. :think:

epm-84

EachPenny wrote: »

some shops might not have signs which clearly request people do not leave bags outside them (or bring bags of crap in).

But some do e.g. Oxfam, Barnados, Children's Adventure Farm shop. So if it's a good analogy there will be some charities who say they are unable to accept £1 direct debits. If you can't find a charity which says they won't accept £1 direct debits then it's a poor analogy.

Using your logic if there is no sign specifically saying "only donate quality saleable items during opening hours" then it would be ok to leave whatever crap you want night or day.

Unless the shop has a 24 hour security guard then it would be impossible to prevent someone doing that, whether or not they request it. It is VERY simple to specify a minimum amount on an online form to set up a direct debit and to not allow it to be submitted if the minimum amount isn't met.

In a different context what you are describing might be called 'victim blaming'. Unless they clearly say 'no' then they are fair game. How about asking yourself if it is really what they want, rather than assuming it is ok because nobody said 'no'.

You've really sunk to a new low suggesting something like that! Any charity can refuse to process a direct debit if they wish to, you can only request to set up a direct debit not to force the charity to take the money.

And if £1 DD's really are so profitable and welcome, then why do many charities have higher minimum donations? Do you think that is because their processing costs are higher than £1, or do you think it is greed on the part of the charity?

Cancer Research UK, as one charity, ask if you like to make a donation for £2 a month, £5 a month or an amount of your own choice. By your flawed logic they might make a loss if someone opted to donate £3 a month because it's not one of the suggested amounts.

Like I said before I have worked with a charity and I can tell you (as a fact) that if they suggest £2 and £5 they think low earners would donate less than £2 a month and high earners would donate less than £5 a month, so suggest £2 and £5 because they think it would encourage people to donate a bit more without forcing them to donate that much if they can't donate that much or if they can afford to donate a bit more.

You seem to be very good at expressing an opinion you have as a fact and dismissing any responses from people who give you the real facts.

Going back to the original post, if someone is interested in setting up a direct debit to a charity to meet the conditions of a current account, one of the first questions that should be asked is what type of charity do they want to help, opposed to which charities accept the lowest donations.

Ashen

EachPenny wrote: »

And if £1 DD's really are so profitable and welcome, then why do many charities have higher minimum donations? Do you think that is because their processing costs are higher than £1, or do you think it is greed on the part of the charity?

The latter - with the rather huge caveat that I wouldn't choose to characterise a business decision by a charity over a suitable minimum amount to choose in order to maximise their overall income from people that donate the minimum amount as "greed". Given your use of such an emotive word, I'm not sure that's the direction you were aiming for though...

As I've previously said to you, a business decision to maximise overall income by a charity setting a £2 minimum donation does not mean the costs are anything near £1 or £2 for those charities that do allow a £1 DD.