direct debit indemnity claim back

dranzer01

Hi,

I did a deep clean of my bank statements and saw that i had two direct debits on my account coming out of my account every month for (one was for around one year, the other was for around two years).

Exactly how does the direct debit indemnity claim work?

I contacted my bank and you have to fill out a form (dont know why they just cant do it over the phone).

I have read that banks are obliged to give you your/THE money bank under the protection which should be immediately?

jonnygee2

I have read that banks are obliged to give you your/THE money bank under the protection which should be immediately?

Yes you can get an immediate refund when an error has been made or the direct debit was for something you didnt owe.

But what were these direct debits for? Why do you think that you don't owe these two companies money?

Even if you get a refund, this gets recovered from the merchant, and if they believe you still owe them the money they can chase you down for it. So it's important you first establish with the companies why a refund is due.

colsten

The DD guarantee is described here: https://www.directdebit.co.uk/DirectDebitExplained/pages/directdebitguarantee.aspx

Your biggest challenge will be to provide reasons for why you did not ask much earlier for those DDs to be stopped. The bank should give you an immediate refund but they may ask for the money back from you if the retailer(s) can convince them that you were charged correctly.

Have you now cancelled both the DDs?

JuicyJesus

What colsten says.

If you have actually had access to a product (even if you haven't used it) then just wishing you'd cancelled it earlier doesn't fall under the DDI scheme. Hell, even if you'd not had access it wouldn't come under the indemnity scheme. The scheme is for errors in processing.

dranzer01

colsten wrote: »

The DD guarantee is described here: https://www.directdebit.co.uk/DirectDebitExplained/pages/directdebitguarantee.aspx

Your biggest challenge will be to provide reasons for why you did not ask much earlier for those DDs to be stopped. The bank should give you an immediate refund but they may ask for the money back from you if the retailer(s) can convince them that you were charged correctly.

Have you now cancelled both the DDs?

Thanks, this wasnt about erros or anything like that. These are direct debits in which I DID NOT set up myself. I didnt know as clearly i had money going in and out, which could constitute as large sums. It was only on Monday, bank holiday, where I looked over my statements for the last 2 years and saw a DD of around 330 a month for around 1 year and another of 80 a month for around 2 years...

I have cancelled both, and then I called my bank, where they made a note on their system and then he said I need to fill out a 'dispute form' and send it to them... I found that pretty archaic as Im sure other banks would just refund the money THERE AND THEN...

Then again it isnt a high street bank...

eskbanker

You phoned up a bank and said that about £6K worth of DD payments over a two year period were erroneous, and expected them to refund that on the basis of that phone call?

Perhaps you don't see just how extraordinary that is, but the vast majority of DD guarantee claims will relate to a single payment being the wrong amount or the wrong date, so it's hardly surprising that they'll want a decent explanation of how this frankly bizarre situation arose.

Yes, the terms of the DD guarantee do require an immediate refund but only from a starting point of validating that a claim is reasonable and legitimate, otherwise we could all (ab)use the scheme as a temporary form of instant credit....

Ergates

dranzer01 wrote: »

I have read that banks are obliged to give you your/THE money bank under the protection which should be immediately?

The direct debit guarantee states that a bank should give an "full and immediate" refund if a mistake is made.

*However* the guarantee doesn't specify by what methods a bank must accept a claim. i.e. Whilst many will accept a claim made over the phone, there is no rule that says they have to do so, and it's permissible for them to ask you to fill in a form first if that's how they want to process things. Obviously they have to make it easy to do so - they can't hide behind an obfuscated claim process.

dranzer01

low and behold, i contacted the bank to find out the update and gave them information on what i was told to do. He informed me i dont know why i was told to print off a dispute form, I could have sent across an e-mail which is actioned within 48 hours and the monies refunded immediately...

This isnt the first time this bank has told me different things when it comes to certain situations I have faced. Hopefully this will be sorted by tomorrow.

soulsaver

See posting history. Poss trying to shaft s/his landlord or car HP/lease imo.

colsten

dranzer01 wrote: »

Hopefully this will be sorted by tomorrow.

Be under no illusion - this matter will not be sorted by tomorrow.

Whilst you might get a quick refund from the bank, they will not close the matter until they have recovered the money from the payees. If the payees disagree, your account may well be debited again. Ref what you have read in the link I posted for you "If you receive a refund you are not entitled to, you must pay it back when the organisation asks you to"

You might also face action from the payees.

colsten

dranzer01 wrote: »

These are direct debits in which I DID NOT set up myself.

You don't set up DDs yourself. Your authorise a payee to draw money from your account, and they set up a DD with your bank.

dranzer01 wrote: »

saw a DD of around 330 a month for around 1 year and another of 80 a month for around 2 years

You did not miss these amounts of money each month, for months on end?:eek: