Can I cancel a direct debit with the bank?

okidoodle

I've just sorted a balance transfer for an M&S credit card which leaves something like £4.70 on the card. I didn't do the whole figure because of rounding, but anyway, that's that. My intention was that it gets paid off with my next bill and balance is then 0. Or so I thought.
Last week before I decided to get the CCs sorted once and for all I changed my direct debit payments to be £200 or minimum payment, whichever is higher, because until I started reading up I thought this would be for the best. I rang M&S after I did the balance transfer to change the payment back to the minimum payment only so that it would just pay off what was left on the card (if it's under a fiver it pays the whole thing automatically). The woman on the phone said I could only make one payment change per month, so I asked if there was less than £200 on the account would it just take what was owed. She said no, they would take £200 and the account would go into credit.
So now it seems I will end up with £195 odd of credit on this card, which if I have to spend it will be a dangerous situation (basically want to stash that card in the freezer for emergencies). If I had the whole balance paid off before my next payment date, could I cancel the direct debit with my bank? Would they even try to take it if I owed no money? I don't understand how they can direct debit more than is owed. Some advice on this would be great so I don't either end up paying M&S money for nothing or end up getting charged for stupid stuff. Ta!

[Deleted User]

Yes but be aware of trailing interest.

Also they can credit the money back to you should the card go in credit - you don't have to spend it.

agrinnall

I don't have a M&S card so don't know their T&Cs but I would be very surprised if they put your account into credit (itself normally a breach of T&Cs) by taking more than is owed. Clearly they are able to alter the amount taken (£200 or minimum repayment, whichever is greater) so I would expect their system to request only the outstanding balance if that's less than £200.

okidoodle

What's trailing interest?

Willing2Learn

Trailing interest, also called residual interest, is when the card company charges for interest accrued between the statement date and the date you paid your balance.

Edit: Here is an article about it.
The ABCs of credit card residual interest

okidoodle

I was wary of that, but if you call up and get your balance or go online rather than go by what the statement says do they not calculate it daily? I would have thought they wouldn't be able to tell you your balance was one thing, you pay it off on that day and then they still say "Oh by the way there's £3.57 that we didn't tell you about"?

[Deleted User]

No as it's calculated (and in turn paid for) on the production of the statement