advice on Direct debit before I storm off to the bank with all guns blazing

borgbaiter

hi

The Direct Debit Guarantee

• If the amounts to be paid or the payment dates change, the organisation collecting the payment will notify you normally 10 working days in advance of your account being debited or as otherwise agreed
• If an error is made by the organisation or your bank or building society, you are guaranteed a full and immediate refund from your branch of the amount paid
• You can cancel a Direct Debit at any time by contacting your bank or building society. We also recommend you notify the organisation concerned.

it says you "can" cancel a DD at any time by contacting your bank. it only "recommends" you notify the organisation. so i feel if this isnt done a complaint to the FO is in order.


Borgbaiter

YorkshireBoy

borgbaiter wrote: »

it only "recommends" you notify the organisation.

But the DDI letter, and accompanying DD guarantee, sent to you by the originator clearly ends...

"Please also send us a copy of your letter (to your bank)"

That's not a recommendation...it's a request.

advantix

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

But the DDI letter, and accompanying DD guarantee, sent to you by the originator clearly ends...

"Please also send us a copy of your letter (to your bank)"

That's not a recommendation...it's a request.

Again, i have never sent a letter, not even to the bank. Just cancel online.

(As an aside, it is a request, doesn't mean you have to do it. I can request that everyne who posts in any thread i post in sends me £10, doesn't mean you have to do it!)

YorkshireBoy

advantix wrote: »

(As an aside, it is a request, doesn't mean you have to do it)

"Please mind the step" is a request (worth doing?), but also has an implied warning attached.

One of the main reasons for notifying the originator is that when you cancel a DD with the bank, the bank sends the information back to the originator under ADDACS. This may take time to action by the banks/originators. For example, I cancelled an M&S credit card DD online with my bank [I didn't bother notifying M&S because I knew the card was closed] in January, and M&S only wrote to me this week letting me know they'd been informed by my bank that the DDI was cancelled...around 7 weeks later.

Informing the originator personally just speeds things up and, as in the case of the OP, would make life a whole lot less stressful...especially since she only gave 5 days (and possibly not 5 working days) notice and that may not be enough time for the ADDACS system to kick in. The originator therefore simply represented the (previously agreed by the customer) AUDDIS instruction, thinking (because they hadn't been told otherwise) that maybe the reason for the refusal was simply a case of insufficient funds available.

http://www.bacs.co.uk/BACS/Businesses/Direct+Debit/Services/ADDACS/

borgbaiter

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

"Please mind the step" is a request (worth doing?), but also has an implied warning attached.

One of the main reasons for notifying the originator is that when you cancel a DD with the bank, the bank sends the information back to the originator under ADDACS. This may take time to action by the banks/originators. For example, I cancelled an M&S credit card DD online with my bank [I didn't bother notifying M&S because I knew the card was closed] in January, and M&S only wrote to me this week letting me know they'd been informed by my bank that the DDI was cancelled...around 7 weeks later.

Informing the originator personally just speeds things up and, as in the case of the OP, would make life a whole lot less stressful...especially since she only gave 5 days (and possibly not 5 working days) notice and that may not be enough time for the ADDACS system to kick in. The originator therefore simply represented the (previously agreed by the customer) AUDDIS instruction, thinking (because they hadn't been told otherwise) that maybe the reason for the refusal was simply a case of insufficient funds available.

http://www.bacs.co.uk/BACS/Businesses/Direct+Debit/Services/ADDACS/

hi

am i right in thinking this is a service for banks? if so i dont see its relevence to the DD Guarantee.

Borgbaiter

shelovestobuystuff

MarkyMarkD wrote: »

If you owed the money due, you were obliged to pay them by some other means if you wanted to cancel the DD.

You can't simply default on your debts by cancelling DDs at the bank.

Even if you cancel the DD online with your originator, you didn't arrange another method of payment.

Why should you attempt to default on your debts and not do anything about it?

Why didn't you simply get an authorised overdraft for £100 or whatever (or an increase in your limit, if that was the case)? You say the amount was only £6.

Some people like to jump to conclusions:p
It wasn,t a debt.
I am over insured and it was simply some additional personal medical insurance from American Life that I could do without.It was set up over the phone and I never recieved anything regards the d.d.in the post.It was a monthly thing which I could cancel at any time(but by cancelling I dont get the premiums returned which I would get in full if I kept paying monthly until I am 40 years old).I have never had to claimed against it and have been paying it for 6 years.
I couldn,t find any paperwork from them to contact them so cancelled in the bank first then found their details and told them too.

shelovestobuystuff

MarkyMarkD wrote: »

I should be clearer.

If you cancel a DD, the originator is not allowed to reinstate it without your permission. Therefore any amounts collected after a DD was reinstated (or indeed, after a DD was cancelled and before it was reinstated) could be reclaimed under the DD guarantee.

But the fact remains that the OP owed this money and should have paid it. Cancelling a DD isn't a valid strategy for managing your liabilities. Extending an overdraft limit by £10 would have done the job far better here.

Still jumping to conclusions.

shelovestobuystuff

I did ask for the overdfart limit to be increased first but they just said it wasn,t scheduled to be revised until June so would not increase it at all.I then cancelled the d.d.in the branch immediately.I then decided not to renew the instruction and to cancel the insurance all together.
Banks:mad:
Oh and the appointment I was given yesterday to see the bank manager about this today was cancelled.they phoned,at least they did phone,just as I was leaving for the 11am appointment.Managers diary was apparantly double booked by mistake.So I will have to go in to the branch again on Monday.

MarkyMarkD

YorkshireBoy AFAIK originators are told the reason the DD is rejected is "mandate cancelled" or "no mandate held". So they wouldn't have believed the rejection was due to lack of funds. It was definitely wrong for them to reinstate the DD.

Shelovestobuystuff I'm not jumping to conclusions - you don't understand what a debt is. If you agree to pay an insurance premium, then on the due date it becomes a debt that you owe the insurer. And if you don't pay it, it becomes an overdue debt.

"Debt" doesn't mean it is money you borrowed in the form of a loan.

shelovestobuystuff

I managed to see the manager very briefly only to be given the same script that is recorded on the banks telephone message re refunds of charges.
Something along these lines-"The bank currently has a test case going through court and all communications or enquiries re refunds of charges are on hold until the result of this test case is known."
Even though it was a bank error I still have to wait until this test case has ended,apparantly could be another 2 years???
Nonsense and stupid excuses.I have transfered my Lloyds credit card and closed my Lloyds bank account as they are terrible to deal with.