Authorised Payment Institutions - who to trust?

Heedtheadvice

Recent experience with a bank account where two Direct Debits on my account were not" transparent" - I could not tell for whom a DD debit amount was taken. According to the bank it was a collection agency! I assumed that was an Authorised Payment Institution! That necessitated a bit of cancellation/refund by my bank and then a bit of searching etc under the DD scheme. That makes me a little nervous of Authorised Payment Institutions, not that I am particularly nervous about the DD scheme but all the hassle involved to manage one when it is apparently not authorised by me and it was unclear who the payment went to.

I have recently been asked to allow a DD (from a known organisation) via go-cardless.

Should I be wary? There are some adverse reviews from their customers on review sites  ( I would not be a customer of go-cardless of course)so, do their Direct debits give full information?

I am quite security conscious and like to keep my affairs private but their clarity of their privacy statement (lack of up front specific details) about data sharing is not great IMHO so not good for starters.

Can anybody add comments or more insight, please?

Do not want to do them a disservice so real experience or potential pitfalls info would be good to receive.

jimjames

You set up a DD, it's entirely your choice. Why would you want to "allow" a DD for someone you don't deal deal with? I don't understand why you are setting one up if you're unsure. You either deal with the company or go elsewhere with your business but what exactly is the DD in relation to?

General_Grant

jimjames said:

You set up a DD, it's entirely your choice. Why would you want to "allow" a DD for someone you don't deal deal with? I don't understand why you are setting one up if you're unsure. You either deal with the company or go elsewhere with your business but what exactly is the DD in relation to?

I'd guess that the people the OP was dealing with can't collect the DD themselves and therefore wanted to use the services of a third party organisation which had satisfied the appropriate authorities that they were trustworthy.  

born_again

Well giving you are setting up a DD with a company who may use a 3rd party (go cardless) you should at least remember that you have set one up.

That is the way to look at it. Have I been asked to set one up is a simple Yes/No question. So if one appears & you have not been asked to set one it the answer is simple.

The information on the DD is provided by the company setting it up. 
So just checked my account and I have one via GC.
It shows as GC re igloo energy (now defunct 🤣 )