App for viewing upcoming direct debits

martyp

Hi all,

I can't seem to find something in the Play store that fits the bill as such.
I just like the idea of an app that shows upcoming direct debits and standing orders etc. In a calendar view or when they'll be going out.
The problem I've found with bill apps etc. Is I suspect they're not intended for UK arrangements and don't take into account weekends and bank holidays and changing the payment date accordingly so will show a bill going out on a Sunday etc.

I'm considering the Snoop app at the moment so unsure if that might help?

Desmond_Hume

How much of an issue is this really causing? I use Reminders on my phone to show when bills are due to go out (I like ticking a box to say “done”).  I have three showing today but, I know they’re tomorrow as it’s a Sunday. And that’s fine. When they go out tomorrow, I’ll tick the box. 

blue.peter

I'm not sure quite what you're trying to achieve here.

The paying bank doesn't know when a DD will be paid or the amount to be collected until the payee raises the request. So they can't tell you.

The payee will (or should) know, and I'd expect them to tell you. I know all of my DDs, both date and amount, before they collect. Indeed, my energy supplier sends me a (wholly unnecessary) email every month to tell me what and when they'll be collecting.

For what it's worth, I use AceMoney to record all of my transactions in every account. DDs and standing orders are set up in the Schedule page, so that they appear automatically in each account, in the correct chronological order, before they happen. This includes the DDs that pay off my credit cards each month, but, since the amounts vary, I need to set them up separately every month.

AceMoney runs on my PC, so that doesn't seem appropriate for your needs: it seems that you want something that'll run on your phone. There used to be a phone app called Easy Money (shades of King Crimson there ), but I don't know if that's still available. Looking further back, I used to use RMR Bank on a Psion Series 5.

In the dim and distant past, I used to use pen and paper. That should still work.

I really don't see why weekends and public holidays are an issue. So what if you do plan on a payment going out a day or two early? Surely all that matters is that the money's in your account when it's needed. What am I missing?

Rob5342

Monzo shows upcoming direct debits, they are always shown the day before they are taken and sometimes several days before.

Alternatively if you look at the direct debts in your banking app you can see the last payment amount and date and get a good idea of when the next will be.

EarthBoy

martyp said:

Hi all,

I can't seem to find something in the Play store that fits the bill as such.
I just like the idea of an app that shows upcoming direct debits and standing orders etc. In a calendar view or when they'll be going out.

Doesn't your bank do this for you? With Lloyds and Halifax you can view upcoming payments, which lists all your direct debits and standing orders for the next month. The direct debits are only estimated, on the presumption they will be the same amount and on the same date as last month, but that's as accurate as it's possible for the bank to be.

Barclays has a Regular Payments Calendar which shows a dot on the date of each upcoming payments, and you just have to tap that date to see what the payments are.

martyp

Desmond_Hume said:

How much of an issue is this really causing? I use Reminders on my phone to show when bills are due to go out (I like ticking a box to say “done”).  I have three showing today but, I know they’re tomorrow as it’s a Sunday. And that’s fine. When they go out tomorrow, I’ll tick the box. 

Nothing major really, it would just be useful if there was an app that took weekends and bank holidays into account when I have a recurring payment on the same day each month. I can of course change it each month myself but would be easier if an app could automatically move the payment to the next working day.

martyp

Thanks for the suggestions. The reason is that I only have enough money in my account for the next direct debit and keep as much as I can in easy access savings. At the moment I just have alarms set to remind me to transfer the money in the day before the direct debit goes out so that it's in my savings account gaining interest for as long as possible.

martyp

EarthBoy said:

martyp said:

Hi all,

I can't seem to find something in the Play store that fits the bill as such.
I just like the idea of an app that shows upcoming direct debits and standing orders etc. In a calendar view or when they'll be going out.

Doesn't your bank do this for you? With Lloyds and Halifax you can view upcoming payments, which lists all your direct debits and standing orders for the next month. The direct debits are only estimated, on the presumption they will be the same amount and on the same date as last month, but that's as accurate as it's possible for the bank to be.

Barclays has a Regular Payments Calendar which shows a dot on the date of each upcoming payments, and you just have to tap that date to see what the payments are.

I'll check, I use Nationwide and Natwest with direct debits coming out of both.

gt94sss2

HSBC also shows pending payments due and estimated.

boingy

martyp said:

Thanks for the suggestions. The reason is that I only have enough money in my account for the next direct debit and keep as much as I can in easy access savings. At the moment I just have alarms set to remind me to transfer the money in the day before the direct debit goes out so that it's in my savings account gaining interest for as long as possible.

My suggestion would be not to try to time this stuff so precisely. Banks can have glitches and DDs can come out on a different day sometimes. Also, your transfer might fail or you might forget. You might lose your phone. The app/website might crash etc. The last thing you want to do is have an account becoming accidentally overdrawn for a day or two so it's worth keeping a small buffer of cash in that account. It really does not cost you much in lost interest - about a fiver per year for every £100 that is not in a savings account, assuming an interest rate of about 5%.

Or, as an alternative, pay your DDs from a current account that pays a bit of interest. Kroo pays 4.35% at present. Virgin pay 2% on up to £1000.

Emmia

Rob5342 said:

Monzo shows upcoming direct debits, they are always shown the day before they are taken and sometimes several days before.

Alternatively if you look at the direct debts in your banking app you can see the last payment amount and date and get a good idea of when the next will be.

HSBC does the same in the app, you can see the direct debits, that have gone out, and those still to be paid over the whole month. 

You can also edit the expected values if you know they'll differ from what's shown - for example I prefer to pay my credit cards off manually at the start of the month, so I adjust the expected DD number down to £0.01 (HSBC won't let this be zero).