📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!

Octopus - Variable Direct debit

tunde10
tunde10 Posts: 216 Forumite
Part of the Furniture 100 Posts
Just moved to Octopus. They are taking my first payment by direct debit tomorrow which is fine.

I always prefer to pay by variable direct debit (monthly).

I went to the edit payment section and i can't see this option currently. Do they offer this & if so how long before i can move to this? 

«1

Comments

  • MWT
    MWT Posts: 10,072 Forumite
    Fifth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Just give them a call and ask to move to variable DD, you can't do it online but it shouldn't be a problem if you call...
  • EssexHebridean
    EssexHebridean Posts: 24,303 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    They initially set me up as variable and then I changed my mind during the phone call when I first joined them - it was the work of seconds to switch me back again! 
    🎉 MORTGAGE FREE (First time!) 30/09/2016 🎉 And now we go again…New mortgage taken 01/09/23 🏡
    Balance as at 01/09/23 = £115,000.00 Balance as at 31/12/23 = £112,000.00
    Balance as at 31/08/24 = £105,400.00 Balance as at 31/12/24 = £102,500.00
    £100k barrier broken 1/4/25
    SOA CALCULATOR (for DFW newbies): SOA Calculator
    she/her
  • tunde10
    tunde10 Posts: 216 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts
    Thanks, i'll call/email them after my first payment goes through.
  • MWT
    MWT Posts: 10,072 Forumite
    Fifth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    tunde10 said:
    Thanks, i'll call/email them after my first payment goes through.
    Call if you can, email may take a couple of weeks, but if you are not in a rush it will get sorted eventually...

  • t0rt0ise
    t0rt0ise Posts: 4,454 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    I did it by email before the first payment was due. 
  • tunde10
    tunde10 Posts: 216 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts
    MWT said:
    tunde10 said:
    Thanks, i'll call/email them after my first payment goes through.
    Call if you can, email may take a couple of weeks, but if you are not in a rush it will get sorted eventually...


    Thanks, not in a rush as they've already taken the advance D/D. I scheduled the next payment for 22 April so more than enough time.
  • Qyburn
    Qyburn Posts: 3,508 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Fourth Anniversary Name Dropper
    edited 7 March 2023 at 1:03PM
    I'm on variable DD with Octopus. One disadvantage is it's not necessarily just one payment per month as they generate a bill and associated DD whenever anything changes and at other apparently random times.  For example in my case they billed on 29th Sep and October, with in each case a separate additional bill to complete the calendar month.

    We got this sorted eventually for December. Then off the rails again in January with one bill covering the time before the Smart Meter install and a second one for the rest of the month. Changing to Tracker resulted in four bills in February, one when they asked for a meter reading, one when the tariff actually changed two days later, one on the 20th for no apparent reason, then a final one to complete the month. 

    So they took three DDs in February, would have been more if we weren't now in credit thanks to the £67 and £200 subsidies.
  • tunde10
    tunde10 Posts: 216 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts
    I think with a smart meter, you would probably avoid the multiple bills in a month.
  • EssexHebridean
    EssexHebridean Posts: 24,303 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    tunde10 said:
    I think with a smart meter, you would probably avoid the multiple bills in a month.
    I think Qyburn's 4 bills were after their SM install? 
    🎉 MORTGAGE FREE (First time!) 30/09/2016 🎉 And now we go again…New mortgage taken 01/09/23 🏡
    Balance as at 01/09/23 = £115,000.00 Balance as at 31/12/23 = £112,000.00
    Balance as at 31/08/24 = £105,400.00 Balance as at 31/12/24 = £102,500.00
    £100k barrier broken 1/4/25
    SOA CALCULATOR (for DFW newbies): SOA Calculator
    she/her
  • 5tunde10 said:
    I think with a smart meter, you would probably avoid the multiple bills in a month.
    Unless Octopus has been able to recover missing smart meter data for those of us on a t-o-u tariff. I got a bill last week for £0.55 with data recovered from 16th March 2022. 
Meet your Ambassadors

🚀 Getting Started

Hi new member!

Our Getting Started Guide will help you get the most out of the Forum

Categories

  • All Categories
  • 350.4K Banking & Borrowing
  • 252.9K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
  • 453.3K Spending & Discounts
  • 243.4K Work, Benefits & Business
  • 598K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
  • 176.6K Life & Family
  • 256.5K Travel & Transport
  • 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
  • 16.1K Discuss & Feedback
  • 37.6K Read-Only Boards

Is this how you want to be seen?

We see you are using a default avatar. It takes only a few seconds to pick a picture.