Notice of direct debit payment

squirrelpie

Not quite sure where to post this question ...

What notice am I supposed to be given when a direct debit is about to be taken?

I have a magazine subscription that is paid by direct debit. It's paid from an account that just has enough money in it to make expected payments. The magazine tried to collect a payment recently without notifying me in advance, so the payment was rejected for lack of funds.

I asked them to give me at least a day's notice but they said they can't do this. This seems unreasonable to me. Are there any regulations etc that require them to tell me in advance how much they're going to take and when?

A link to an authoritative source for the rules would help me if there is one.

Aylesbury_Duck

squirrelpie said:

Not quite sure where to post this question ...

What notice am I supposed to be given when a direct debit is about to be taken?

I have a magazine subscription that is paid by direct debit. It's paid from an account that just has enough money in it to make expected payments. The magazine tried to collect a payment recently without notifying me in advance, so the payment was rejected for lack of funds.

I asked them to give me at least a day's notice but they said they can't do this. This seems unreasonable to me. Are there any regulations etc that require them to tell me in advance how much they're going to take and when?

A link to an authoritative source for the rules would help me if there is one.

I'm not aware of any obligation that they tell you each month.  Some service providers do, but not all.  As I understand it, you sign up to the DD and implicitly agree the date and frequency of payments at that stage.  After that, it's up to you to manage.

kaMelo

Whatever the length of period they use notification of when it will be taken and how much it will be is mandatory, this notification should be sent via your agreed method of communication (email,text,letter etc)

I think the absolute minimum notice period is three days however many are longer, the majority of companies seem to be ten days notice of payment date and amount. As for a link ....  I'll keep looking.


Edit.
Notification can take two different paths,  notification of all payments due and date of collection at the start of your agreement. Good for known regular payments such as TV licence. Or it can be monthly notification of amounts and dates, for example credit card payments where the monthly amounts due cannot be known beforehand.

As you are talking about a magazine subscription I would imagine it's the former, where the amount is known so notification is given at the start of the subscription. As such there would be no monthly notification given.

smashinglynaive

Aylesbury_Duck said:

squirrelpie said:

Not quite sure where to post this question ...

What notice am I supposed to be given when a direct debit is about to be taken?

I have a magazine subscription that is paid by direct debit. It's paid from an account that just has enough money in it to make expected payments. The magazine tried to collect a payment recently without notifying me in advance, so the payment was rejected for lack of funds.

I asked them to give me at least a day's notice but they said they can't do this. This seems unreasonable to me. Are there any regulations etc that require them to tell me in advance how much they're going to take and when?

A link to an authoritative source for the rules would help me if there is one.

I'm not aware of any obligation that they tell you each month.  Some service providers do, but not all.  As I understand it, you sign up to the DD and implicitly agree the date and frequency of payments at that stage.  After that, it's up to you to manage.

Correct.

Notice is only required if there is a change to the amount or payment date. If it is a simple recurring transaction for the same amount every month on the same day, the initial notice is valid essentially forever.

user1977

squirrelpie said:

I asked them to give me at least a day's notice but they said they can't do this. This seems unreasonable to me. 

Surely you already knew when the payment was due and how much it would be? They don't need to offer a reminder service. Different if the amount and/or date is variable. 

born_again

Are you sure this is a DD and not a recurring card payment?

Direct Debit Guarantee

• The Guarantee is offered by all banks and building societies that accept instructions to pay Direct Debits
• If there are any changes to the amount, date or frequency of your Direct Debit the organisation will notify you (normally 10 working days) in advance of your account being debited or as otherwise agreed. If you request the organisation to collect a payment, confirmation of the amount and date will be given to you at the time of the request
• If an error is made in the payment of your Direct Debit, by the organisation or your bank or building society, you are entitled to a full and immediate refund of the amount paid from your bank or building society
• If you receive a refund you are not entitled to, you must pay it back when the organisation asks you to
• You can cancel a Direct Debit at any time by simply contacting your bank or building society. Written confirmation may be required. Please also notify the organisation.

So if it was a Annual payment & your were notified last year of the frequency of payments then they have it covered.

DD's are not a manual payment, they will be automated. So it is not unfair that they can not tell you when it's due the day before.

squirrelpie

Thanks for all the comments. It's a pity nobody has managed to give me a link to any information. To answer some of the points:

(1) It's not a regular monthly payment; it's a permanent subscription and can therefore vary over time

(2) Yes I'm sure its a direct debit

(3) No I didn't know when the payment was due. I don't believe they have told me. They didn't when I signed up in October and haven't since.

(4) Everything else I pay by direct debit manages to send me an email before payment is taken

smashinglynaive

squirrelpie said:

Thanks for all the comments. It's a pity nobody has managed to give me a link to any information. To answer some of the points:

(1) It's not a regular monthly payment; it's a permanent subscription and can therefore vary over time

The fact that it can vary over time isn't really relevant.  Notice is only required to be given when it does vary.

I find it hard to believe that you were not informed of the payment schedule when you signed up. 

Re: Other companies.  Not really relevant what other companies choose to do. My opticians for example never send me a bill.  Sky for example generates bills on their portal but they certainly don't email me anything to say the bill is there.  Very few companies come to think of it have ever sent me a reminder to say they're about to take money off me. 

cx6

Squirrels have family too ...

born_again

squirrelpie said:

Thanks for all the comments. It's a pity nobody has managed to give me a link to any information. To answer some of the points:

https://www.directdebit.co.uk/DirectDebitExplained/pages/directdebitguarantee.aspx

kaMelo

squirrelpie said:

Thanks for all the comments. It's a pity nobody has managed to give me a link to any information. To answer some of the points:

(1) It's not a regular monthly payment; it's a permanent subscription and can therefore vary over time

(2) Yes I'm sure its a direct debit

(3) No I didn't know when the payment was due. I don't believe they have told me. They didn't when I signed up in October and haven't since.

(4) Everything else I pay by direct debit manages to send me an email before payment is taken

1. In what way does the payment vary, magazines are usually the same price every month. Obviously there will be an increase at some point to allow for inflation and when that happens then they will be required to notify you of the change. 

3. If you are talking about October 2021 then you should have received a notification of payments due, if you don't think  you did then complain to them about it. If they didn't then they're at fault, if they did they should be able to supply you with a copy of it.


4. How do you pay your TV licence?  I get a notification once a year, not month to month.


As for a link, try the direct debit website.
https://www.directdebit.co.uk/DirectDebitExplained/Pages/DirectDebitGuarantee.aspx