Savings accounts accepting DD's 27 October 2017 at 11:29AM edited 21 November 2019 at 1:10PM in Savings & Investments 986 replies 207.2K views

Doc_N

vixen1500 wrote: »

Just wondering how/what you mean by this?

You can run a credit balance with Amazon if you choose to and just top it up via the website with whatever amount you choose.

It's a useful way of utilising 5% Amex cashback deals if you spend a fair bit with Amazon, and it's useful occasionally when you want to keep a credit card alive with a small payment.

Also useful for this in that it's a quick and simple way to put a few pounds on a card you don't normally use.

spottybutterfly

Currently playing the "find new D.D's game". Online the Post Office seemed simple, so now just need to wait to see what happens in the post.

Set up a new credit card, so thats the two I need for M&S saver. Just debating if its worth setting up a Birmingham Midshires or Scottish Widows account incase i need it in the future (If paypal pull their DD facility).

spare_one

ColdIron wrote: »

Perfectly good plan for those who can do it, I have four DDs covered by CC. It would be worth looking at 0% purchase offers using the minimum payment to save having to make several purchases a month

The thing about using CC's for Direct Debits is that if you don't stay on top of things, you could easily make a mistake costing you money. (Its also a real pain in the neck.) What most people would want is a DD which you can set up and forget about.

Herbalus

spare_one wrote: »

The thing about using CC's for Direct Debits is that if you don't stay on top of things, you could easily make a mistake costing you money. (Its also a real pain in the neck.) What most people would want is a DD which you can set up and forget about.

I would agree, but look at where we are. There's no accounts open to new customers that will allow multiple DDs, and very few accounts that offer single DDs.

If you find a method to make a recurring purchase on a credit card (for example I have a recurring payment with Apple for 79p per month), or can manually top up an online account/wine store/gift card you own on one day per month when you move your funds around, you can also set up a standing order for this pre-agreed amount to the account it debits. More hassle than Tesco, but when you need 249,384,390 etc DDs you have little choice.

ColdIron's point about 0% cards is true also. I've just opened one and will pay DD £40 per month, which means I can carry a balance on it (or buy something large) until I reach about £1.7k (then the minimum becomes more than £40 and I'll change the DD amount and corresponding standing order to the account it debits) and I'm sorted with a DD for 2 years +.

Doc_N

spare_one wrote: »

The thing about using CC's for Direct Debits is that if you don't stay on top of things, you could easily make a mistake costing you money. (Its also a real pain in the neck.) What most people would want is a DD which you can set up and forget about.

Agreed, though using the Amazon top-up method's pretty simple - a Gmail calendar reminder once a month followed by quick credits to the Amazon account.

£5 per card should be enough, but it does depend how much you spend with Amazon. Simple answer for this household - far too much!

polymaff

A lesson to be drawn.

Unless they'll be a real pain to maintain, open and hold all sorts of accounts.

You never know when one of their "heritage" features may come in handy.

ColdIron

spare_one wrote: »

The thing about using CC's for Direct Debits is that if you don't stay on top of things, you could easily make a mistake costing you money. (Its also a real pain in the neck.) What most people would want is a DD which you can set up and forget about.

It can be a problem, the trick is to spread recurring bills across cards. Three of mine always have purchases during a month (phone, e-fag juice, food etc). For the fourth I got a 0% purchase card (Tesco ironically) and put an expensive dental bill on it and make minimum £25 payments. That's 30 months of hassle free DDs. I admit I wouldn't like to juggle discretionary spending across all four, just a matter of organisation so you can set it up and forget about it

matty_art

I've opened a Birmingham Midshires but they want a cheque payment from my nominated account to allow me to open it. I don't have cheque books for Lloyds or BOS. Another annoyance, I suppose I could always request a cheque book but I'd rather not have one given the security risk that brings, not to mention wasting a load of paper...

blindman

matty_art wrote: »

I've opened a Birmingham Midshires but they want a cheque payment from my nominated account to allow me to open it. I don't have cheque books for Lloyds or BOS. Another annoyance, I suppose I could always request a cheque book but I'd rather not have one given the security risk that brings, not to mention wasting a load of paper...

Do you have any other bank accounts that have cheque books?

Nominate that one-send the cheque then change back to Lloyds once the account is open.

matty_art

blindman wrote: »

Do you have any other bank accounts that have cheque books?

Nominate that one-send the cheque then change back to Lloyds once the account is open.

Ah will that work? Wasn't sure if they'd just want another cheque when I change nominated account.