Bank switch (CASS) weirdness (dead DD keeps being recreated in new bank) 22 July at 7:31AM edited 22 July at 7:32AM in Budgeting & Bank Accounts 5 replies 198 views

withaspritz

Morning!

I've used the CASS a few times now, with very few hitches, so was surprised when my current switch seemingly has a problem. The ultimate question is, I'm not sure who I go to to get it rectified - is it HSBC, Natwest, Starling Bank, or BACS/"the CASS people"?  Read on for more background!

Previously used Natwest as my main bank, but about 2 years ago decided to switch my salary into Starling bank and slowly move manually the DDs across by creating new ones in the Starling account, and leaving old ones until they no longer apply in the Natwest one.  Once they are no longer taking payments (the contract has ended) I cancel the old DDs in Natwest.  

That was about 2 years ago.  Last week having had the NatWest account dormant for about 6 months I've decided to shut it down by using CASS to migrate to starling.  Double checked pre-switch that there were no active DDs in Natwest (which there weren't) just to be sure I knew what was (or wasn't) coming into Starling. Anyway, migrated successfully.  First issue presents itself - Starling have somehow gotten a list of all my old cancelled DDs from Natwest and set them back up as live DDs.  Not a problem I think and I cancel them all in the starling app.

However this is where the weirdness kicks in... I did have a HSBC credit card, about 3 years ago, that has been dead for coming up to 2 years now.  The HSBC DD was migrated to starling as a live DD, I cancelled it, and then around midnight they re-requested it to starling.  Same happened twice now - wake up to "Your HSBC DD is confirmed" notification in starling app.

So... given this DD is for a card that was closed some years ago.  Who do I call to stop HSBC setting up a DD with Starling? Should I start with starling (I don't have the details anymore to contact HSBC but I could try and derive the card number from the DD reference field!)

Thanks for any help offered!! Not sure if this is common practice or not

Edit: the switch officially completes today (22 July), so I might try again with cancelling HSBC DD today in the hope they won't recreate it at midnight tonight!

withaspritz

In fact, based on this https://www.directdebit.co.uk/DirectDebitExplained/Pages/Cancellingpayments.aspx it looks like HSBC should obtain my consent before re-activating.  I might try again tonight as planned as perhaps the in progress (until today) switch has been treated as authority.

Money shouldn't be collected from your account after you have cancelled the Direct Debit and, under the Scheme rules, an organisation would have to obtain your authority to reinstate a cancelled Instruction.

PRAISETHESUN

Any complaints regarding the switch process should be directed towards your "new" bank. Wait until the switch completes before trying to cancel any DDs on your new account though, doing so before completion can sometimes cause issues. Sounds like a bit of a glitch to me but it should simply be a matter of cancelling any spurious DDs that get created. It's unlikely HSBC will try to take money for a closed account - if they do then complain to Starling under the DD guarantee and it'll get refunded.

withaspritz

PRAISETHESUN said:

Any complaints regarding the switch process should be directed towards your "new" bank. Wait until the switch completes before trying to cancel any DDs on your new account though, doing so before completion can sometimes cause issues. Sounds like a bit of a glitch to me but it should simply be a matter of cancelling any spurious DDs that get created. It's unlikely HSBC will try to take money for a closed account - if they do then complain to Starling under the DD guarantee and it'll get refunded.

Clear as day, thanks for the quick reply. Will try again tonight and if not will go to Starling!

pbartlett

probably a silly question, but are you sure the cc is closed ...?  I mean, you may think it's closed, but ...

Thrugelmir

withaspritz said:

 Who do I call to stop HSBC setting up a DD with Starling?

They won't.