How do you pay British Gas online now

WTessaW

British Gas have moved me to their new accounting system.  On the latest bill I have a new account number & there is no detail for how to pay by faster payment.  Looked at my bank for a new payee and my new 9 digit reference doesn't fit with the verified British Gas payees.  It looks as though I have to phone up and pay by debit card which is daft.  Anyone know what the new bank details are for paying online?

Gerry1

Welcome to the forum.

Paying by debit card costs significantly more.  You'd be better off by changing to Direct Debit.

I've resisted the temptation to give my own sort code and account number.  If you can't find the details on the official BG website it's best to call them.

la531983

he or she may already be on DD, and just wants to top it up.

Example: myself.

Gerry1

la531983 said:

he or she may already be on DD, and just wants to top it up.

Example: myself.

You must be a very valued customer, preferring to donate to hard-up BG the 5% interest you could earn on an instant sccess savings account !

la531983

Gerry1 said:

la531983 said:

he or she may already be on DD, and just wants to top it up.

Example: myself.

You must be a very valued customer, preferring to donate to hard-up BG the 5% interest you could earn on an instant sccess savings account !

Well not to BG, but to Octopus. They are happy to take a fiver on DD and I top it up myself on a card to get 1% cashback with Chase.

So no donations to hard up British Gas here. I have enough in savings accounts, but thank you for the concern.

Gerry1

la531983 said:

Gerry1 said:

la531983 said:

he or she may already be on DD, and just wants to top it up.

Example: myself.

You must be a very valued customer, preferring to donate to hard-up BG the 5% interest you could earn on an instant sccess savings account !

Well not to BG, but to Octopus. They are happy to take a fiver on DD and I top it up myself on a card to get 1% cashback with Chase.

That's a good wheeze, I'll have to try it as I'm with both of them.

Unlike BG, Octopus and Chase really know what they're doing, they have extremely good apps and brilliantly clear statements.

Xbigman

la531983 said:

Gerry1 said:

la531983 said:

he or she may already be on DD, and just wants to top it up.

Example: myself.

You must be a very valued customer, preferring to donate to hard-up BG the 5% interest you could earn on an instant sccess savings account !

Well not to BG, but to Octopus. They are happy to take a fiver on DD and I top it up myself on a card to get 1% cashback with Chase.

So no donations to hard up British Gas here. I have enough in savings accounts, but thank you for the concern.

           
There's no need to even pay £5. Just go over to variable DD and make sure you are always in credit. I get DD rates whilst not having actually had a DD taken since Sept 1st last year (the £400 from the govt. helped there). I pay by Tesco credit card and get Clubcard points. Cleared each month so never pay interest.


Darren

ArbitraryRandom

Gerry1 said:

la531983 said:

Gerry1 said:

la531983 said:

he or she may already be on DD, and just wants to top it up.

Example: myself.

You must be a very valued customer, preferring to donate to hard-up BG the 5% interest you could earn on an instant sccess savings account !

Well not to BG, but to Octopus. They are happy to take a fiver on DD and I top it up myself on a card to get 1% cashback with Chase.

That's a good wheeze, I'll have to try it as I'm with both of them.

Unlike BG, Octopus and Chase really know what they're doing, they have extremely good apps and brilliantly clear statements.

I used to do the same with the Lloyds reward account (terms since changed) and it used to cover the VAT each month, so definitely worth checking the most efficient arrangement every few years - plus you can line it up with cashback for switching bank accounts for an extra bonus  

WTessaW

Thanks for comments.  Its actually my father's account - easier to just say it was mine. It took a while to get him used to watching me doing a faster payment to pay a bill (I have third party access on his account) rather than writing a cheque for him to sign.  He got stung with direct debits - I found they were sitting on a £300 credit balance at one point - he refuses DD now. He liked the fact that the bank confirmed that the bank account was valid & he could see his bank statement immediately after I had done the payment.  New system paying by debit card will be more long winded - just seems unnecessary.

twopenny

I paid FP with a paper bill and debit card after they gave me a new account number and site.

Take your old one along as well and see what the bank say. Bet they've come across it before.

The account isn't working online still so I wouldn't want to risk paying that way.

You could ring and ask, I found online chat fairly useless for results.

If it's your dad is he signed up to Priority Services? It's worth doing. Freephone number that is answered and they take all the time to deal with your questions.........like going back decades

Hoenir

WTessaW said:

  It looks as though I have to phone up and pay by debit card which is daft.  Anyone know what the new bank details are for paying online?

From the company's perspective faster payments is the uneconomic method. As your payment will end up in an  account with thousands of other transactions. Will then require manual processing to be allocated to your gas account and the bank account itself reconciled. Whereas by phone and debit card the entire transaction is seamlessly dealt with in a matter of minutes.