Banks failed to switch Direct Debit

pthompson

Hi,

On opening a new current account [1] I opted to have all the Direct Debits from my old bank [2] transferred across (it was just a case of ticking a box on their application form).

A credit card [3] bill that I've always paid in full by DD, however, has been returned as unpaid. Apparently they had tried to collect from my old bank -- but that DD (along with my other 16 DD's) has been automatically cancelled as part of the DD switch to my new bank.

The cc company claims I should have informed them of my new bank details so they could set up a new DD, and has charged me a late payment fee of £12, added interest and are marking a "default" on my credit file.

Interestingly, my new bank has not set up the DD facility for that credit card -- they say the cc company didn't respond to their request to do so as part of the transfer process.

Anyone have any idea what went wrong here, and who is at fault?

Should it really have been my responsibility to explicitly inform the cc company of my new bank details? I didn't do that with the other 16 DD's -- and they switched over fine.

Am I liable for the late fee and interest? Is there anything I can do to clean the "defaut" from my credit file?

Thanks,

- Paul.

[1] Coventry BS
[2] Nationwide
[3] CapitalOne

olly300

It's probably CapitalOne.

The only time I tried to use a switching service I found that three companies, one of them was TalkTalk, refused to transfer the payment to the new bank. When I telephoned and asked they said it was due to "security issues". Basically they don't have the processes to do this and many other things due to their poor customer service. (I had to make a formal complaint to get money back from my account that was in credit when I closed it.)

Now if I'm switching direct debits I do it myself. That way I don't have the hassle that some company who have poor customer service won't do it and cause me problems.

pthompson

Thanks for the reply.

What annoys me most is that the original DD with Nationwide was cancelled before the new one (with Coventry) was set up.

There seems to me to be something wrong with the switching system if that kind of thing can happen.

Do you think I have a valid claim against either of them for the fees & interest imposed by the CC company?

Thanks,
- Paul.

dunstonh

Capital one at fault. After all they originate the request and they are in control of the details. Not the banks.

ukdutypaid

Yep I had this.. The switching offered by the banks is a bit of a misnomer and somewhat disingenuous to say the least, for it lules one into a false sense of security.

Whilst the new bank CAN alter SO's, it can only make the REQUEST of the payee for DD's that they change their details. However, they have no control over whether they will or not.
Everything went over for me, but for the Council Tax, to the point of them wanting it all in one go, rather than by installments!

pthompson

It turns out that Nationwide was to blame for cancelling the Capital One Direct Debit...

After several phone calls to the 3 organisations involved (including one in which the Nationwide agent just insisted point blank that it "must have been me" then ending the call abruptly when I kept insisting I hadn't), I threatened each with escalating to the FOS.

That got them communicating with each other, and Nationwide eventually admitted they had accidentally cancelled it along with the other 16 that Coventry had asked them to cancel.

Nationwide has apologised and offered to reimburse my Capital One late payment fee/interest. Should I settle for that, or insist on some kind of compensation over and above? Is there anything I can do to repair the damage to my Credit File?

Thanks for your thoughts on this.