Direct debit payments on switch completion date.

clivep

We had regular £1 DDs drawing on our Halifax a/cs on 5th of each month going to Birmingham Midshires and Post Office savings a/cs. The Halifax a/cs were then switched to Santander using CASS on 5th June.

The Halifax a/cs showed the DDs having been drawn on 5th before the balances were transferred to the Santander a/cs.

I was therefore surprised to see that the Santander a/cs were then showing a further £1 taken by BM on 6th under the DD reference for the regular deposit. Looking into the BM a/cs shows the £1 deposits credited on 4th and 5th... in each case the day before they were taken from the current a/cs. We also each received in the post 2 copies of letters dated 4th from BM acknowledging changes to the linked a/cs/regular payment. However, looking at the BM a/cs online showed that although the linked a/cs had been changed to Santander, no regular payment was actually set up and the earliest date for funding by direct debit is 17th June.

I'm guessing that this is down to some glitch in CASS whereby the DD payment instructions had been forwarded to Santander without being aware that they were still being acted upon by Halifax.

The issue is not worth pursuing for us as the result was insignificant but it serves as a warning that it's not a good idea to have a switch completion date that coincides with DD payments going out.

mwarby

Direct debit is a pull system not a push one (ie the company receiving has to ask for it). When you switch accounts the new bank should contact the originator for each DD and ask them to update, this normally occurs early on in switch. It sounds to me like the originator has mistakenly requested the payment twice, rather than an error on the banks part

phillw

mwarby wrote: »

Direct debit is a pull system not a push one (ie the company receiving has to ask for it). When you switch accounts the new bank should contact the originator for each DD and ask them to update, this normally occurs early on in switch. It sounds to me like the originator has mistakenly requested the payment twice, rather than an error on the banks part

With 7 day switching and DD being presented 5 days before the money is supposed to go out, I suspect the update caused BM to present another direct debit to the new bank.

I would leave a 7 day gap before and after any DD to be safe on a switch. After is especially good if you have an AA credit card, they give you the date the payment is due by and show a payment being made on that date on your credit card account but they only present the DD on that date. So the money doesn't go out of your account for another 5 days & if you try to change the DD within that time they'll charge you for a missed payment. If you complain they say the statements says "on or after". It will never ever be on, always after.

pinkdalek

The issue is with the originator and not the bank.
However the bank you are switching too will have a switching guarantee so if any error is made on their part during the switch they will sort out.