Why Don't People Use Direct Debit??

Snooze

exel1966 wrote: »

Direct debits can be taken the last banking day of the week (Friday) if the payment due date falls on a Sat/Sun/Bank Hol monday. When agreeing to a DD this information should be made available to you. Not all companies operate to this though.

Is this just your opinion? If not could you please provide an official source to back it up.

The official BACS website shows on the 'direct debit guarantee' FAQ page (note the highlighted bit):

An incorrect amount has been taken or a payment has been taken on the wrong date

A Direct Debit Instruction should be set up as outlined in How to set up a Direct Debit. When the arrangements are in place you should receive advance notice confirming when the payments will be taken and how much they will be – it is advisable to check this to confirm the details are correct.
If a Direct Debit payment has been taken which is not in accordance with the advance notice received i.e. too much has been taken or the payment has been taken on the wrong date (the organistion must take the Direct Debit payment on or within three working days after the specified date as advised in the Advance Notice), you are entitled to an immediate refund of the amount debited from your bank under the Direct Debit Guarantee. Either contact your bank by phone or write to them (use the link below to download a standard letter template in Word format for this purpose).

:cool:

Rob

exel1966

Snooze wrote: »

Is this just your opinion? If not could you please provide an official source to back it up.

The official BACS website shows on the 'direct debit guarantee' FAQ page (note the highlighted bit):



:cool:

Rob

The relevant part being : If a Direct Debit payment has been taken which is not in accordance with the advance notice received

As I said above, you should be advised in advance if this is the case. If you have been advised/agreed then it can be taken.

Step 3 - Check the advance notice details

The organisation will give you advance notice of collection dates and amounts before the first collection, whether you set up a Direct Debit by telephone, internet or completing a paper Instruction. Check these details are correct. Should you wish to query any of the details contact the organisation straight away.

Snooze

exel1966 wrote: »

The relevant part being : If a Direct Debit payment has been taken which is not in accordance with the advance notice received

As I said above, you should be advised in advance if this is the case. If you have been advised/agreed then it can be taken.

Step 3 - Check the advance notice details

The organisation will give you advance notice of collection dates and amounts before the first collection, whether you set up a Direct Debit by telephone, internet or completing a paper Instruction. Check these details are correct. Should you wish to query any of the details contact the organisation straight away.

But that isn't what you said earlier, is it! :

exel1966 wrote:

Direct debits can be taken the last banking day of the week (Friday) if the payment due date falls on a Sat/Sun/Bank Hol monday.

...which is not true as I've proved with the above extract.

All the DD mandates I've seen always say "on or after" x date which means that the bank is at fault for honouring them if the company calls for the money before the due date and you haven't received any notification of any dates changes.

Rob

exel1966

Then I'm afraid you haven't seen all DD mandates as some clearly tell you about taking payment in advance i.e the friday. If people choose to ignore that then they may run into problems.

It is what I said earlier, you just have't understood it or the DD guarantee.

The part you have pasted from the BACS website is applicable when funds have been taken NOT in accordance with what has been agreed by you and the other party. By accepting the DD with the third party you agree to them taking the payments on the conditions they have pre-notified you of.

If the 3rd party HAS NOT advised you of this in advance then YES the DD guarantee becomes valid.

Snooze

exel1966 wrote: »

Then I'm afraid you haven't seen all DD mandates as some clearly tell you about taking payment in advance i.e the friday. If people choose to ignore that then they may run into problems.

It is what I said earlier, you just have't understood it or the DD guarantee.

The part you have pasted from the BACS website is applicable when funds have been taken NOT in accordance with what has been agreed by you and the other party. By accepting the DD with the third party you agree to them taking the payments on the conditions they have pre-notified you of.

Yes I agree and apologies to you if DDs with dynamic dates are the norm these days (are they?). Like I say, I can only speak of the mandates that I have myself (12) and those of my family members and they all show 'on or after'. I've never seen a mandate that says they can take the payment before the due date if the due date happens to be a weekend or b/h, but apparently you do - which companies are they so we all know who to watch out for?

Rob

Boggles1234

I fully agree with the idea of using a DD for the minimum and then using another payment method to make a further payment each month.

However, you do need to time the payments correctly. If you make an additional payment before the DD has gone, they don;t always take the DD as you have already paid the minimum amount if that makes sense.

I know Egg have done this once or twice to me.

exel1966

I'm trying to find online details for The John Lewis Partnership credit card run by HSBC (i think) as this is one which operates this exact policy.

chuckley

some folk cant as theyve had bad accounts with banks so pay by DC instead, so banks dont take the amount u owe to said companies, therefore leaving u pennyless for a month or more....

YorkshireBoy

exel1966 wrote: »

I'm trying to find online details for The John Lewis Partnership credit card run by HSBC (i think) as this is one which operates this exact policy.

As I was skim reading the thread I was thinking of Capital One, but I don't now have an active card, therefore no statement to look at.

ISTR it states "within 3 days of xx/xx/xx", which would imply 3 days either side of xx/xx/xx.

YorkshireBoy

Snooze wrote: »

I may be wrong but as far as I know any direct debit that is honoured before the agreed date on the mandate is not your problem and the bank must refund any charges that are incurred as a direct result of it.

I believe 'consequential losses' are not covered under the DD guarantee.

If the bank won't reimburse them (as goodwill) you should approach the DD originator for the same goodwill. If they refuse, then you may have to go down the official complaint route with the originator or consider small claims court action against the originator.