RBS credit card - changing Direct Debit payment date shambles

OceanSound

Heads-up. The clue is in the title. 

Utter nightmare attempting to change the direct debit date collection date from the end of the month to around 21st of the month. 

Used the app for support. It said: 

"You can set up or amend a Direct Debit to your Royal Bank of Scotland

Credit Card using the mobile app.".

However, there is only an option to cancel the direct debit. No option to amend. 

I then chatted to a support agent and told them it was specifically about the RBS Mastercard credit card. First support agent told me to contact the business and ask them. I had to point out that they are the business. 

They then put me through to the credit card team. That team asks me to 'describe my query' even though all details were provided before. I then tell them I want to lodge a complaint. Support then sends me a link to a website where a form needs to be filled. I tell them this is not a requirement and provide details of the complaint within chat. 

Complaint is accepted and RBS has paid me £100 in compensation. Their reply apologises and says the statement date has been changed to 27th of the month and that the payment is due exactly 25 days after the statement is produced. They've said now my due date will be between 21st and 24th of each month. 

My last statement has due date as 29th November and confirms that minimum payment of £30.29  will be collected on 29 November or soon after. 

Because RBS support has now said payment is due between 21st and 24th of each month I contacted support via email well in advance and asked them if I need to make a manual payment. No response was received. Note that although my initial support query was about the direct debit, their reply made no mention of a direct debit. THey simply left it out. Probably weren't sure themselves. That's how come I contacted them via email to ask.

Today when I log in to the app it say's 'You've missed your card payment of £30.29. To avoid further fees and possible impacts to your credit file, please make a payment now. If you're unable to pay, tap help to understand your options' 

So I've made the payment of £30.29 now directly from RBS current account. 

Looks like they will report this to the credit reference agency as a missed payment, I'll have to contact RBS support again to ask to have it corrected. 

As most of these systems are automated, next statement will probably show a fee and I will lose the 0% purchases offer. Again, this will need to be raised with support to have it corrected. (I don't know if this will happen as I made the payment immediately)

If you're in a similar situation, be careful. If you don't receive a reply from RBS, make a manual payment immediately to cover that month's payment. my latest statement downloaded today which has date 27 November (tomorrow? - although I can download it today)
says minimum payment £60.58.

it also says 'your nominated bank account will be debited with the minimum payment of £60.58 on 22 December 2022 or soon after.

Wonder if canceling the direct debit, then setting it up again would've been better ? Of course, until it is setup paying the card manually. 

RBS does have some history with shambolic DD setups: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4943293/ombudsman-rbs

surreysaver

Probably going about it the wrong way. Its the statement date you want to change. Try that.

OceanSound

surreysaver said:

Probably going about it the wrong way. Its the statement date you want to change. Try that.

Please  re-read the op. They HAVE changed the statement date. It  now has date of 27.

DIRECT DEBIT was not collected though.

born_again

DD's often do not collect 1st month after a change of statement. 

kaMelo

This is quite usual, once a credit card statement has been produced there is no way to change the collection date of the direct debit, the terms of the account prevent it.
 Any change to the DD after a statement is produced will only take affect on the next statement to be produced, it also cancels the DD in place for the current statement meaning a manual payment will be required for the current statement.

This is hardly ever, if at all, spelt out to a customer that, when making changes to an existing DD you will need to make a manual payment for the existing statement, most customer service agents don't know this either. Should any charges be added to your next statement or loss of promotional rate get on the phone and give them what for, they should remove any charges and reinstate any lost offer.

born_again

They should be aware as the teams dealing with change of statement date will not be front line call center staff. So it is part of our procedure for these team to set up a manual payment on the date of the DD to cover the payment, as customer wants.

kaMelo

born_again said:

They should be aware as the teams dealing with change of statement date will not be front line call center staff. So it is part of our procedure for these team to set up a manual payment on the date of the DD to cover the payment, as customer wants.

They maybe should be aware but they're usually not.
The customer had a DD in place, they want to change it so a new DD is put in place but will only be taken after the next statement is produced, this leaves the current statement with no payment method in place.
A one off DD to cover the current statement is possible I suppose but like all DD's is subject to regulatory requirements of notice of a direct debit being set up and the amount to be taken. There simply may not be enough time for all that to happen. 

What should happen is the customer service agent tells the customer that as they have changed the direct debit the current statement will not be collected via DD and the customer needs to pay this via other means such as a debit card payment or bank transfer. The reality is this doesn't usually happen and the customer ends up in the position of the OP.

OceanSound

born_again said:

DD's often do not collect 1st month after a change of statement. 

It's due to this doubt that I contacted rbs support to ask if I need to make a manual payment. 

Just for background. I initially contacted support about this on 2 November. But because of the back and forth about first being told to 'contact the business', it dragged on. My complaint was on 9 November. Their response to my complaint (via email) was on 14 November. I replied to their email the next day (15 November) to ask if I need to make a manual payment. No reply. Soon after posting this thread I sent a follow-up email (on 26 November) asking if they received the previous email. Again no response by 28 November. So I lodged a Subject Access Request (SAR) requesting email messages they've sent me and I've sent them.

As if by magic the next day (29 November) I received a response from the same staff member that handled my complaint saying he can confirm my next direct debit date will be 22 December 2022 and that he has seen that  I've made a manual payment on 26 November.

However, contrary to what he has said, when I logged in to the App today I can see that a direct debit payment of £30.29 has been taken from my current account yesterday (29 November)!!

I had contacted support via app on 26 November to report the 'missed a payment' message on app. Told them about the direct debit guarantee and that any mistakes that would leave me out of pocket would need to be rectified. Staff member responded and said she can see I have made a manual payment and that I won't be charged a late fee. She also said if the direct debit scheduled for 29 November was to go through then get in touch, for a refund of that payment.