Direct Debits for switching newbie 13 October 2022 at 9:52AM in Budgeting & bank accounts 13 replies 1K views

Cambsalex

Hi all,

I’m looking at switching accounts for the bonuses and have been reading up on this forum to increase my knowledge. I’ve set up two accounts purely for switching purposes but I am having trouble understanding what direct debits are best to use.

I can transfer a couple of my active bills I pay but was hoping to find some quick and easy £1 DDs to set up to avoid having to transfer money to cover these existing bills. 

Does anyone have any suggestions of the best ones to set up that will be active quickly so I can start switching?

thank you so much in advance! 

Daliah

Over on the Savings & Investments board, there’s a thread about savings accounts accepting DDs 

[Deleted User]

Ecology allow them but they will take maybe 4-5 weeks to setup the account as you have to print the DD mandate and mail it

Plum as an example are a very quick D to setup
Use old credit cards, mobile phone etc for a quick DD - just make sure you put money into the account to cover bills

grizzlegrizzle

Plum DDs are usually active in one week. Moneybox is a similar 'saving' app but I don't have experience of that one.

PayPal is usually my other go to DD for switching (and would normally take a payment in approximately one week) but the app seems to be having issues at the moment, as reported by several forum members too.

I've found magazine subscriptions paid by DD appear quite quickly. There are usually deals for the first few issues for £1 e.g. Radio Times. You have to remember to cancel the subscription of course but it can be useful.

Charity donations usually take a little longer to take the first payment but there are several that will allow you to set up a £1 or £2 monthly direct debit. You'd want to keep that going longer so that it doesn't cost the charity to set up the direct debit only for you to cancel it after a payment or two. 

Players4you

grizzlegrizzle said:

Plum DDs are usually active in one week. Moneybox is a similar 'saving' app but I don't have experience of that one.

PayPal is usually my other go to DD for switching (and would normally take a payment in approximately one week) but the app seems to be having issues at the moment, as reported by several forum members too.

I've found magazine subscriptions paid by DD appear quite quickly. There are usually deals for the first few issues for £1 e.g. Radio Times. You have to remember to cancel the subscription of course but it can be useful.

Charity donations usually take a little longer to take the first payment but there are several that will allow you to set up a £1 or £2 monthly direct debit. You'd want to keep that going longer so that it doesn't cost the charity to set up the direct debit only for you to cancel it after a payment or two. 

Is that Plum savings? I havent seen that one. In need of a quick direct debit set up so that I can take advantage of the TSB, closing on 31/10

grizzlegrizzle

It's Plum Fintech. Billed as 'Plum: Smart Investing and Saving'. 

Cambsalex

grizzlegrizzle said:

Plum DDs are usually active in one week. Moneybox is a similar 'saving' app but I don't have experience of that one.

PayPal is usually my other go to DD for switching (and would normally take a payment in approximately one week) but the app seems to be having issues at the moment, as reported by several forum members too.

I've found magazine subscriptions paid by DD appear quite quickly. There are usually deals for the first few issues for £1 e.g. Radio Times. You have to remember to cancel the subscription of course but it can be useful.

Charity donations usually take a little longer to take the first payment but there are several that will allow you to set up a £1 or £2 monthly direct debit. You'd want to keep that going longer so that it doesn't cost the charity to set up the direct debit only for you to cancel it after a payment or two. 

This is incredibly helpful thank you. I have set up a plum DD and am waiting for this to appear and will try out your other suggestions also! Thank you very much! 

Players4you

Cambsalex said:

grizzlegrizzle said:

Plum DDs are usually active in one week. Moneybox is a similar 'saving' app but I don't have experience of that one.

PayPal is usually my other go to DD for switching (and would normally take a payment in approximately one week) but the app seems to be having issues at the moment, as reported by several forum members too.

I've found magazine subscriptions paid by DD appear quite quickly. There are usually deals for the first few issues for £1 e.g. Radio Times. You have to remember to cancel the subscription of course but it can be useful.

Charity donations usually take a little longer to take the first payment but there are several that will allow you to set up a £1 or £2 monthly direct debit. You'd want to keep that going longer so that it doesn't cost the charity to set up the direct debit only for you to cancel it after a payment or two. 

This is incredibly helpful thank you. I have set up a plum DD and am waiting for this to appear and will try out your other suggestions also! Thank you very much! 

I have set up a plum DD but it gives me the impression that its a one off payment. Is this the case and if so doesnt it have to be a regular monthly DD that switches?

[Deleted User]

Players4you said:

Cambsalex said:

grizzlegrizzle said:

Plum DDs are usually active in one week. Moneybox is a similar 'saving' app but I don't have experience of that one.

PayPal is usually my other go to DD for switching (and would normally take a payment in approximately one week) but the app seems to be having issues at the moment, as reported by several forum members too.

I've found magazine subscriptions paid by DD appear quite quickly. There are usually deals for the first few issues for £1 e.g. Radio Times. You have to remember to cancel the subscription of course but it can be useful.

Charity donations usually take a little longer to take the first payment but there are several that will allow you to set up a £1 or £2 monthly direct debit. You'd want to keep that going longer so that it doesn't cost the charity to set up the direct debit only for you to cancel it after a payment or two. 

This is incredibly helpful thank you. I have set up a plum DD and am waiting for this to appear and will try out your other suggestions also! Thank you very much! 

I have set up a plum DD but it gives me the impression that its a one off payment. Is this the case and if so doesnt it have to be a regular monthly DD that switches?

Plum have a weekly DD from your account, you can set it down to £2 a week or similar. Make sure you turn off all the robo saving stuff or it'll raid your account every week on top of the scheduled one

greenery

I have a query related to this thread. I set up 2 direct debits on an account in order to switch it to nationwide. They both appear to be set up i.e., they are listed in my direct debits but the 1st payment on each dd is not due yet. 
I have already initiated the switch but reading some of the replies on this thread, I now wonder if I should have waited until after the first payment?

grizzlegrizzle

A lot of people do like to wait but if you take a look on the Nationwide switch thread there are replies from forum members who have spoken to Nationwide - they say that any active direct debit will count and by active Nationwide count any DD that shows on the account i.e. it's not necessary for the payment to have been taken. Hopefully that holds true.