MattN

I had a DD set up to go on the 4th.

Due to an oversight there was no money in the account and the DD was rejected by the bank.

Sorted the problem by paying money in to the account and making a payment to the company via debit card.

All OK. Now I noticed today that they have submitted the DD again and this time it has gone through ... so now they've been paid twice.

I called the bank and said why did they allow it to go through on the 11th when it is set up for the 4th? They came back with the answer the company can reclaim a failed DD and the problem lies with the other party not the bank.

Having never paid a bank charge in my life can see now why people can owe £££ as I only went £100 overdrawn for 3 days have had charges of £84 and if I hadn't paid in an extra chunk of cash these fee's would have doubled from the fact that after a DD has failed the 3rd party can keep trying and the bank can keep rejecting it at a cost £34 a time with no limit.

Question is, should the 3rd party have informed me they were going to try and take the money again?

Chris L

Basically no - it will probably be in the T&Cs for whatever service you've signed up for to pay by DD or it is simply an automated process. It is normal practice for a company claiming money by DD to resubmit the request if the original is rejected. The onus is on you as the account holder to ensure that you have sufficient funds to pay the DD!

Jerome

I refuse to use DD's now. I recently cancelled all of mine and am insisting on standing orders or paying bills over the phone.

DD's have a notional due date, but need to be asked for a few days in advance. If the organisation asks too early, it may come out several days early. My bank admitted there was no limit to how many days early they would process DD's. Some of mine where coming out between 2 and 4 days early.

For small bills this wasn't a major problem, but when rent and loan payments where both coming out 4 days before the due date repeatedly, I decided enough was enough.

DD payments are also variable from the requester, so they could randomly increase the amount they ask for. Standing Orders are controlled by the account holder and can't be varied by the requester.

Nationwide online banking allows me to make regular payments to a particular account, as well as vary/skip payments.

Playsatan

iTrader: (2)

When you sign a direct debit mandate you are effectively saying that the originator can with draw whatever they want, whenever they want. Of course they should stick to the agreed payments and dates but mistakes can be made.

The reason companies like them so much is because it gives them control to claim the right amount from you, like when your phone bill is different every month, and make adjustments without having to get another mandate signed.

If you miss a payment due to lack of funds they will more oftem that not represent it so that is not their fault, more of an awareness issue on your part. What is their fault is that when you called them to make a payment they should have told you that they were going to represent it and not to bother if the funds were now available.

cnj

I had this happen once whne I was changing bank accounts, they tried to claim money from the closed account. They sent letters saying that they would try the DD again within 7 days. I just phoned them and paid them there and then and told them to use the correct bank details next time.
They usually write a letter saying that they will try to present the DD again, or for you to call them.

MattN

cool thanks.