Direct Debit - Reasonable notice to change date of collection

AFallon_2

How prominent should the change of date be for a Direct Debit?

I have been receiving a monthly invoice every month for the last 9 years, usually arriving during the first few days of the month. The amount charged is always the same - £14.45 - and towards the bottom of the invoice in small 'normal' typeface is a note to confirm "The amount shown will be collected by direct debit on or just after <23rd>, <month, year>."

I have just been on my online banking to notice the Direct Debit has been called for today, the 21st December, 2 days earlier than expected!

I have not received any letter giving notice of a change of date BUT upon examining this month's invoice without any prominent notice it states the Direct Debit will be collected on or just after <21st December 2007>.

YES, my fault for not noticing the date had changed. I always quickly check the amount is the same and then file the invoice.

Should the change of date been notified to me in a more prominent/bold/clear way?

(All my other Direct Debits are collected during the last week of the month and therefore I arrange to move money from my deposit account to my current account shortly before the 23rd of each month to cover all the payments. I now wait to see if my bank will bounce this "early" direct debit because I did not place sufficient 'cleared' funds in the current account the day before!)

dunstonh

Should the change of date been notified to me in a more prominent/bold/clear way?

No. The invoice is a key document and payment date quoted on there is sufficient. Its a standard way of doing things.

BenL

As long as the invoice was sent to you 10 days before advising of the date of payment they can take it.

BACS (the Direct Debit scheme organisers) have a calender on their website advising collectors of what day they need to do transactions to ensure they get the money due to the xmas shutdown of processing.

Sorry

saxmund

23rd is a Sunday. Normally it would be collected the day after, but in this case they have elected to collect it the working day before. This may be because of Christmas, or it might be this company's policy to collect early if payment dates fall on a non-working day.

If you're running your account to within £15 that sounds quite dangerous to me - you're not making any allowances for forgotten DD's or "surprises". I'd make sure I kept a couple of hundred spare, or at least arranged an overdraft so I could dip unexpectedly into the red without it causing problems. I now have a current account paying 6% on balances up to £2,500 which means I no longer need to bother switching between accounts as much as I used to.

Debs14

Can anyone tell me if they've tried to have all their direct debits and standing orders coming out of their account on the same day? It seems to make sense to me but will companies allow you to change the date or do you have to make an interim payment to alter it?:j

scott_lithgows

Debs14 wrote: »

Can anyone tell me if they've tried to have all their direct debits and standing orders coming out of their account on the same day? It seems to make sense to me but will companies allow you to change the date or do you have to make an interim payment to alter it?:j

Never had a problem moving them forward in the month,its a good idea if you get paid late in the month and clear your d/ds in the early part of the following month.

jonesMUFCforever

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