Old ‘Inactive’ Direct Debits - Should They Be Deleted?

MTMabowels

I note that there are old Direct Debits in our bank account that were once used by various companies to pay for items.  They are no longer active. That is, they are for items that are fully paid for and, for some considerable time now, the companies that set them up have ceased taking money from our account using them.

Would it be prudent to delete them or would it be wiser to let sleeping dogs lie? 

TadleyBaggie

If I'm 100% certain a DD is now "done", I always delete them. Why wouldn't you?

boingy

I'd delete them

eskbanker

MTMabowels said:

I note that there are old Direct Debits in our bank account that were once used by various companies to pay for items.  They are no longer active. That is, they are for items that are fully paid for and, for some considerable time now, the companies that set them up have ceased taking money from our account using them.

Which bank and how old are they?

The idea is that dormant direct debit mandates should be removed by the bank:

Why is the dormancy period rule in place?

The dormancy period rule was introduced as a safeguard to protect payers from Direct Debit Instructions being live on their account indefinitely. So if you should forget to cancel a Direct Debit it will be removed from the bank’s or building society's system after the dormancy period has lapsed.

but it's also suggested that the 24 month period is a minimum:

What happens when a Direct Debit is inactive?

This is covered by the dormancy period rule. All banks or building societies hold details of Direct Debit Instructions on file for a minimum period of 24 months from its lodgement date, in the event of no collections, or from the date of the last payment. After the dormancy period has passed, the bank or building society will remove details of the Instruction from their system. Before claiming further Direct Debit payments the organisation must obtain a new Direct Debit Instruction or your authority to continue collecting. If this is not done your Direct Debit payment may be returned by your bank or building society.

https://www.directdebit.co.uk/faqs/inactive-direct-debits/

MTMabowels

It’s the Halifax. There are two. One listed as ‘Last paid’ on 1 November 2018, the other 21 October 2019.
It looks like I can delete them myself easily enough. I will make a thorough check before I do however.

MTMabowels

They were both obsolete. It seems just an oversight by the bank that they weren’t deleted in the same manner as other related DDs either side of them chronologically.  I have now deleted them.

Thanks for your comments.

boingy

eskbanker said:

The idea is that dormant direct debit mandates should be removed by the bank:

About six months ago I used the CASS service to switch from Co-op to Virgin and some of the DDs and Payees that moved across had been dormant for at least 15 years, some of them relating to utilities for our previous house! Needless to say I spent a good few minutes checking and deleting them - 4 or 5 DDs and more than a dozen companies and people that I had paid by bank transfer at some point in the past. I was a bit surprised...

MTMabowels

Just one other thing.  I found finding and deleting the DDs far easier on the desktop version of my bank’s website.  I found the mobile version was practically useless for this sort of thing. But that may be just my bank.

badger09

MTMabowels said:

Just one other thing.  I found finding and deleting the DDs far easier on the desktop version of my bank’s website.  I found the mobile version was practically useless for this sort of thing. But that may be just my bank.

In the Halifax mobile app:
open your account.
click on the 3 dots top right of screen.
under Pay in & out, there’s a heading Direct Debits and Standing Orders, click on that then delete the obsolete ones. There’s a warning message when you select one, you you get chance to change your mind