A & L DDebit paid 4 days in advance??

PrestonPete

Just checking through my online account to budget for the rest of the month and it appears 3 of my direct debits are recorded as last paid on 25th March - how can this be as it's only the 21st today - even with the Easter break surely these payments shouldn't be showing as already paid?? - without cross checking with the statment it led me to think I had more money available than actually is the case.

Is this standard practice to encourage ppl to become overdrawn? or a one off?

Cheers...

kkpolobear

i'm with a & l and if mine is due on a b/h mine comes out the next working day

jonesMUFCforever

They are dated Tuesday because that is the next working day and when they will leave your account for real.
People who have monies in their accounts to meet their D/D are not penalised but those who don't will, because putting in money to the account on Tuesday morning will be too late.
If you were any mandated credits on Tuesday then they as well would be showing on your account today.

PrestonPete

Thanks,

Just checked but this is still not showing on my actual account - I find this a very strange practice, as A&L give a balance as soon as you log in - clearly this is no longer accurate if they are pre-dating payments and therefore making it imperitive that the acount needs to be double checked with the statement...

Think I will make them aware of the potential confusion (if thay aren't already aware)

Thanks again....

ShelfStacker_3

A&L deduct the amounts of due Direct Debits from your available balance the day before. Your actual balance is unaffected, although they do require the money to be there the day before they deduct it.

In practise, it's always better to keep money aside so that if this sort of thing does occur, you're prepared for it, or even better arrange an overdraft facility. There are very few banks that don't need the money in the account the day before, it might be worth finding one.

dzug

A&L Direct Debits always appear in the direct debit list on the working day before they are due as going out the next day - it's nothing to be alarmed about. They are not paid - they are going to be paid.

MarkyMarkD

As others have said, it's not a bad thing but a good thing.

You have advance warning that the DDs will leave, one working day before they actually do, giving you time to fund your account to meet the payments due.

They aren't "pre-dated" as has been stated. They are dated with the correct payment date, but that date is in the future.

Treat it as advance notice, not advance debiting, and you'll be understanding it correctly.

robertjonesuk

please remember that in order to pay for direct debits you must have CLEARED funds in your account at least 24hrs before the DDI is taken, so if a ddi is to be taken on sunday the money should be there on friday (still ddi shall be dated with mondays date).
please remember that ddi are not sent by the bank, but are called by the actual company (i.e. phone operator etc.)

MarkyMarkD

Not 24 hours before it's taken, robert. By close of business the banking day before. So Thursday close of business is fine for a DD processed Friday first thing in the morning.

But your reminder is helpful.

advantix

robertjonesuk wrote: »

please remember that in order to pay for direct debits you must have CLEARED funds in your account at least 24hrs before the DDI is taken, so if a ddi is to be taken on sunday the money should be there on friday (still ddi shall be dated with mondays date).
please remember that ddi are not sent by the bank, but are called by the actual company (i.e. phone operator etc.)

I can see the logic in this but, as long as i pay in money into my bank before 3:30pm on the day the DD / SO / Payment is due out then it is ok. They operate a CREDIT BEFORE DEBIT system. Having said that i always make sure there is funds available the day before but i have had instances recently (due to redundancy) where i have had to nake last minute payments in to the account. The bank confirmed that they operate CREDIT before DEBIT system and as long as the money is paid in before 3:30 pm the day the payment is to be made then it is ok.

oldagetraveller

Smile have done the same, 4 x DD payments dated 25/08/08 showing in my DD list. However, they have NOT been debited from my account as the OP's have probably not.
So as long as there's sufficient funds to cover these on Monday (for Tuesday) then I can't see the problem?