BT recurring continuous authority

euphrosene

I have been paying a monthly (paperless) bill to BT by recurring continuous authority via my credit card in the mistaken belief that it was saving me money.

Not so. Only direct debits get the money saved.

Why - if they are still collecting in the same way?

Any advice gratefully received.

Euphrosene

Heinz

Welcome to the MSE forums euphrosene.

CPAs on credit or debit cards are dangerous (Martin advised against them as long ago as 2004 - see HERE).

Martin recommends DD as a way to save money - see HERE.

Seiken

CCRA's are subject to a processing fee as it costs BT money to process a credit or debit card transaction, allegedly. How much it costs, I honestly couldn't tell you. It will cost you £4.50 a quarter however. CCRA is different from D/D in that you are charging to your credit or debit card not your bank account, and this means different charges are incurred by BT and as a result, yourself. You'd be better off on D/D as you will then get the coupled paper-free discount which will be £1.25 per month for the paper free and £1.50 per month for the D/D giving you a saving of £33 a year per month as of April 1st.

euphrosene

Thanks and apologies for not responding earlier. I did not have my profile set up to receive messages!

Anyway, I am not a fan of direct debit, even if it does save me money. Too many problems in the past have made me wary of them.

Cheers and thanks again. Euphrosene

normanmark

euphrosene wrote: »

Anyway, I am not a fan of direct debit, even if it does save me money. Too many problems in the past have made me wary of them.

Problems? Only one i can see is that the amount being taken out is not agreed on the consumers side, however if a mistake happens & too much money has been taken out (or the company has not notified you of this within 10 days) you're entitled to claim the money back in full from the bank immediately.

Direct Debit offers not only a cheaper bill, but a hell of a lot more protection than any other payment method around!