Company Cancelled My Direct Debit

LordOslek · 12 April 2018 at 11:28PM

I apologies if this is in the wrong forum, I figured this was the best place to post this.

I am just looking for some advice on a situation that has happened recently.

I rent through a housing association and was informed today that my rent account was in arrears, when I queried this, they informed me that the direct debit had been cancelled at the end of Feb and so the rent for March and April had not been paid.

I have checked with my bank and they can confirm that it was the HA that cancelled the direct debit, but the HA can give no reason as to why it was cancelled, they say the account simply stops at the end of Feb, there are no notes or flags on their system as to why, so I am at a loss.

Where do I stand on this, I admit I didn't realise the rent never went out in March, but surely I should have been informed someway that the direct debit had been cancelled.

Can anyone offer any advice on what I can do?

Thank you for your time.

MobileSaver · 13 April 2018 at 6:58AM

LordOslek wrote: »

Can anyone offer any advice on what I can do?

Pay the rent you owe immediately before the HA decide to take further action?

Also raise a formal complaint so there is a paper trail should it ever happen again.

marliepanda · 13 April 2018 at 7:59AM

Banks always say that. They have no idea why on Earth it stopped.

We have accounts which track direct debits being bounced back to us and after the second one the DD is cancelled as it is bouncing. The banks always deny all knowledge of us asking for the two bounced ones and say we simply cancelled it out of thin air. Why would a company think !!!8216;let!!!8217;s deprive ourselves of some money!!!8217;

It!!!8217;s as much your fault for not realising you had a nice rentsized boost to your normal bank account funds

bertiewhite · 13 April 2018 at 8:09AM

I would certainly know if my mortgage hadn't gone out of my bank account for a single month, not to mention 2 and I wouldn't need the mortgage company to tell me that.

Pollycat · 13 April 2018 at 8:19AM

LordOslek wrote: »

I apologies if this is in the wrong forum, I figured this was the best place to post this.

I am just looking for some advice on a situation that has happened recently.

I rent through a housing association and was informed today that my rent account was in arrears, when I queried this, they informed me that the direct debit had been cancelled at the end of Feb and so the rent for March and April had not been paid.

I have checked with my bank and they can confirm that it was the HA that cancelled the direct debit, but the HA can give no reason as to why it was cancelled, they say the account simply stops at the end of Feb, there are no notes or flags on their system as to why, so I am at a loss.

Where do I stand on this, I admit I didn't realise the rent never went out in March, but surely I should have been informed someway that the direct debit had been cancelled.

Can anyone offer any advice on what I can do?

Thank you for your time.

Re the bit in bold - are you asking if you are still liable for the rent?
The answer should be obvious.

I would pay the outstanding rent without further delay and set up another DD.
And start checking your bank statement and balance more often and more closely.

LordOslek · 13 April 2018 at 2:17PM

Just to clear up a couple of points;

1. I work 12hr days (14hrs if you include travel) 6 days a week to provide for my family, so what little time I have spare I spend with my wife and son.

2. I noticed April hadn't been paid and was going to query them about it as the amount had changed and assumed it would take a few days.

3. I have no issue paying what is owed, but it's only looking back that I have noticed the extra money in our bank.

I was only asking if anyone had any advice on what can be done as I find it really hard to believe that the system would just suddenly cancel an active direct debit for no reason, it had never bounced and came out the same date each month for a year with no issues.

Mobilesaver - thank you for the sensible reply, I will be raising a formal complaint with them, just needed to know if there was any advice anyone could offer.

Bertiewhite/marliepanda - thanks for those "helpful" replies. I never denied it wasn't my fault, I was just looking for advice.

unholyangel · 13 April 2018 at 5:42PM

LordOslek wrote: »

Just to clear up a couple of points;

1. I work 12hr days (14hrs if you include travel) 6 days a week to provide for my family, so what little time I have spare I spend with my wife and son.

2. I noticed April hadn't been paid and was going to query them about it as the amount had changed and assumed it would take a few days.

3. I have no issue paying what is owed, but it's only looking back that I have noticed the extra money in our bank.

I was only asking if anyone had any advice on what can be done as I find it really hard to believe that the system would just suddenly cancel an active direct debit for no reason, it had never bounced and came out the same date each month for a year with no issues.

Mobilesaver - thank you for the sensible reply, I will be raising a formal complaint with them, just needed to know if there was any advice anyone could offer.

Bertiewhite/marliepanda - thanks for those "helpful" replies. I never denied it wasn't my fault, I was just looking for advice.

There could be a dozen reasons - perhaps its not a DD and is a SO that expired. Perhaps they tried to take it a few days early. Perhaps someone else ringfenced an amount before debiting a 2nd amount (which you didn't notice as it would have been clear again in a few days) and the DD failed.

Ultimately though, the end result was still the same. I think thats possibly why people assumed you must be looking for a way to avoid paying (well that and also because thats usually what posters are asking!).

Personally we have an account specifically for bills. I transfer money in every month and check it around once a week, looking over the previous months payments and whats came off so far this month. It makes it really easy to spot when a payment isn't taken as at a glance I know within £5-10 how much should still be in there. I also transfer some into various savings and investments and I know whatevers left is mine to play with as I wish.

Company Cancelled My Direct Debit

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