MSE News: Direct debit payments could save you £435 a year
Comments
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I think you might be 'looking at this from the wrong end of the telescope'.
With most companies the 'normal' or 'regular' price is for the 'pay on receipt of bill'. In the case of gas and electricity with quarterly billing this means you get 3 months credit.
Because it suit companies to have regular cash flow and the accounts are simpler to administer, they offer a discount on the regular price.
You have a choice - pay on receipt of bill and pay the full price, or chose to have a sizeable discount for paying by direct debit.
The discounts normally dwarf any lost interest - so surely any money saver will elect for payment by DD.
Also some bills are paid in advance e.g. Council Tax, Phone line rental and payment by DD enable you to spread this out.
For me the sheer convenience of paying by DD(and saving in postage etc) means I pay by DD even if there is no discount.
Your reasoning *may* be acceptable for utilities such as gas and electric but Sky, Mobiles, Cable are monthly and are collected by Direct Debit or money has to be received manually by a "due date". In this instance both methods of payment are receiving a period of "credit". It is grossly unfair to charge extortinate fees of say £3.00 if you pay by Bank Transfer which actually costs nothing. Also it does not cost £3.00 to process a cheque. My Uncle runs a small business and his bank charge 68p to pay a cheque in. Large companies like Sky I would imagine would have generous "deals" on their banking arrangements.
Like I say I totally refused to pay Vodafone's Non Direct Debit charge and they clearly valued my custom enough to waive it. I do not pay anything by Direct Debit.0 -
Also, paying my council tax with a cashback credit card (instead of DD) saves me 1%.Guy_Anker_ wrote:Yet it doesn't always pay to use direct debit to pay certain bills in installments.
For instance, paying for car or home insurance every month rather than in one go can cost more. Not paying your TV licence in one go can also mean higher charges.0 -
EmehEm2005 wrote: »As far as I can see there are no extra charges for paying by various different methods, but you may have to pay the full fee of £145.50 at, for example, a PayPoint outlet or by phone with a debit or a credit card.
See links below for further information
https://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/pay-for-your-tv-licence/payment-methods/
http://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/pay/payment-methods/viewpaymentcontent.aspx?id=pay1&iqdocumentid=pay1
http://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/about/media-centre/news/tv-licensing-invites-18-million-customers-to-pay-NEWS11/
From the second link above:
So annual and monthly cost the same, but quarterly costs a fiver a year extra.By paying quarterly the majority of your licence is paid for on a pay-as-you-go basis. This differs from our other instalment schemes, where at least half of the licence fee is collected in advance. As a result, quarterly payments incur a small premium of £1.25 per quarter which is included in your payment.Eco Miser
Saving money for well over half a century0 -
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I pay most things by direct debit except for my Water and council tax. With water they offer no incentives and with council tax I pay monthly via credit card. There is no extra charge and as the card is a cash back card I get 1% cash back every March.0
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"I think Non Direct Debit charges should be outlawed. You do not have multiple charges for items in shops. You do not have separate prices of items for paying by cash, credit card or debit card. Granted some places to levy a charge for credit cards but I am talking in the main."
Virgin Media are the worst offender. They charge £5/month for customers who don't pay by DD on the grounds that it costs them more. IKEA charge for credit card payments, claming there is a charge to them, they charge a whopping 50p. Who is right? I don't know because Virgin Media won't tell me. They claim it costs more than £5/month to process payments, but with no info how can you query this? I believe they arrive at the figure by including the fact that non dd customers are statistically more likely not to pay, and these leads to additional costs for the company. But if this is accepted I'm paying for other non-payment.
I think all such charges should be outlawed unless there is some independant body who can (honestly) check if the charges ARE justified. We know it doesn't cost that much to accept payments, but OFCOM and the like see no difficulty as long as the charges are clearly stipulated.
They DO appear in the marketting flyers you get but its just a joke. It'll give the price then say oh its this if you don't pay by DD, and this if you want a paper bill. And others are doing the same so competition is failing in thier regard.
The Water company gives me £6 per year discount for DD I think. The council gives me none so I don't use direct debit for that, might cancel the water one too as its too much in thier favour. EG they now only send a six monthly statement, with no cost saving passed on to me the customer.Mixed Martial Arts is the greatest sport known to mankind and anyone who says it is 'a bar room brawl' has never trained in it and has no idea what they are talking about.0 -
JimmyTheWig wrote: »But more and more advertising these days quote prices and the small-print says "for customers paying by direct debit".
Isn't that what all advertising is about. It is much like savings accounts paying "up to 4.8%and you find that the 4.8% is for amounts over £250k and no withdrawls for x years.
The bottom line is that you have 3 choices - pay by DD, pay on receipt of bill or not use the company.0
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