Credit Card company have double-dunted my current account balance - fee's incurred. 24 November 2022 at 11:27AM in Credit cards 13 replies 521 views

Gaberdeen

Good Morning,

I've been with Tesco Bank for over 10 years as a "clear every month" customer and have proudly never had to pay any interest on purchases in the last 10 years.

Last month, I came very close to my credit limit and opted to pay off the balance fully early so there would be no risk to breaching my limit (£12 fee) - this went without a hitch until this month, where the day after I paid off the balance of my statement, Tesco tried to DD my current account for the exact same amount - effectively charging me double what my balance was.

My Bank immediately did a DD recall due to "insufficient funds" and have hit me with a £4 penalty.

I am really not very happy about this and have complained to Tesco.

Where do I stand with recouping the fee from Tesco? As a customer of 10 years with an unblemished credit record I would assume they would take responsibility for their error.

Has anyone else experienced this issue who can shed light on what I can reasonably expect?

TIA

daveyjp

Making a payment the day before is probably too late for the dd instruction to be changed by Tesco. 

cymruchris

Just to clarify - do you mean that you paid off your statement balance 24 hours before the DD attempted to take the same full payment? I'm not quite sure if that's what you're referring to? But if so, then if you make a payment to your credit card account less than 3 days before a direct debit is due to be taken with most banks, the direct debit will still be taken. The process starts before the day it's collected. 

Gaberdeen

I should clarify - the DD never comes off on the same day of the month- it specifically says on my app that it is supposed to come off on the 28th but it seems arbitrary when it actually does. (it came off yesterday for example, which is not the 28th, clearly)

Because I've never run close to my credit limit before, I've never sought to make early payments 

Ebe_Scrooge

This is not unusual - not just for Tesco, but for most credit cards.  If you have a DD set up and you make a manual payment close to the scheduled DD date (I think it's usually within 4 days), then the DD will still be taken for the full amount.

Gaberdeen said:

the day after I paid off the balance of my statement, Tesco tried to DD my current account for the exact same amount

I don't see that you would have gained much anyway by paying manually the day before the DD was due?

Gaberdeen said:

Where do I stand with recouping the fee from Tesco? As a customer of 10 years with an unblemished credit record I would assume they would take responsibility for their error.

It's not an error as such, it's the way that most CC systems work.  But it's always worth a polite phone call, most CC companies are pretty accommodating about making goodwill gestures for one-off errors.  But in the grand scheme of things, a £4 penalty is not really the end of the world.

I would suggest in future that if you want to make a manual payment in addition to a DD, try and do it at least a week before the DD is due.

MattMattMattUK

Gaberdeen said:

I should clarify - the DD never comes off on the same day of the month- it specifically says on my app that it is supposed to come off on the 28th but it seems arbitrary when it actually does. (it came off yesterday for example, which is not the 28th, clearly)

Because I've never run close to my credit limit before, I've never sought to make early payments 

The Direct Debits are batch processed a few days before the date that they are deducted from your account, if you make a payment during that period it will not be accounted for. The general guide is that any payment made within five working days of the automatic payment date will not be accounted for and the payment will be taken as scheduled.

Gaberdeen said:

My Bank immediately did a DD recall due to "insufficient funds" and have hit me with a £4 penalty.

I am really not very happy about this and have complained to Tesco.

Where do I stand with recouping the fee from Tesco? As a customer of 10 years with an unblemished credit record I would assume they would take responsibility for their error.

Unfortunately the fault is yours, they may offer a gesture of goodwill, but they are not in any way obliged to.

molerat

Tesco statements are quite clear on which date the DD will be taken which is before, unlike some cards, the due date.

As above, getting anything refunded will be down to good will as you are the one who made the error, not Tesco.

born_again

Have a word with your bank. Explain the situation & they might waive the £4 fee. 

Marchitiello

As others have said, few bullet points:

- DD are set in advance. Tesco t&C will specify the timeline. Also the statement (not the app) will have the set date of the DD being taken (part of the DD guarantee requirement)

- as others have said, if it is genuinely the first time, most banks will refund the fee as a gesture of goodwill.

- please note that some Credit Card companies actually disregard early repayments when a DD is in place altogether, once the statement is produced. This also change over time (Lloyds first allowed for early repayments, then changed t&c and started disregarding it and take the DD amount as set when the statement was produced, then at some point changed back to allow early repayment to automatically amend the DD as far as funds are cleared 3-5 days before DD date.

eskbanker

Gaberdeen said:

Last month, I came very close to my credit limit and opted to pay off the balance fully early so there would be no risk to breaching my limit (£12 fee) - this went without a hitch until this month, where the day after I paid off the balance of my statement, Tesco tried to DD my current account for the exact same amount

Gaberdeen said:

I should clarify - the DD never comes off on the same day of the month- it specifically says on my app that it is supposed to come off on the 28th but it seems arbitrary when it actually does. (it came off yesterday for example, which is not the 28th, clearly)

I'm struggling to follow the chronology here - last month you opted to pay it early manually but then, after it had gone without a hitch, this month an attempt was made to take the DD yesterday (23rd) the day after you paid (so 22nd)?

penners324

Doesn't your bank show you which Direct Debits are due to come out the following day?