Early Direct Debits Mean getting charged

[alf_child]

I dont know if anyone else has had this problem.

 

I started to notice that the bank would apply for direct debits early. E.G. 7th of every month I have insurance due. I had an account with another company and it would go 7th and this is the date applied for by the insurance company. On the 6th January Lloyds applied for the money. I went into the bank and asked about it and was told it would have been either a weekend or bank holiday (so applied for late) I tried to tell them no it had been taken early but got nowhere. I had the same problem on the 9th February for my sky subscription. it is due to go on the 10th but yet Lloyds attempted to take the money on the 9th. As the money wasn't there for the 8th I was charged £35.00. I still get nowhere with why they take the DD's a day earlier than is supposed to be. :twisted:

[Dammam]

I'd be interested to know what people think about this as I've had the same problem. As far as I'm concerned, you put a date for your direct debits in order to help with your budgeting. If the bank can't process them because the date falls on a non-working day, then surely they should move them to the first available date AFTER the requested date, not before.

[Yyates]

I dont know if anyone else has had this problem.

 

I started to notice that the bank would apply for direct debits early. E.G. 7th of every month I have insurance due. I had an account with another company and it would go 7th and this is the date applied for by the insurance company. On the 6th January Lloyds applied for the money. I went into the bank and asked about it and was told it would have been either a weekend or bank holiday (so applied for late) I tried to tell them no it had been taken early but got nowhere. I had the same problem on the 9th February for my sky subscription. it is due to go on the 10th but yet Lloyds attempted to take the money on the 9th. As the money wasn't there for the 8th I was charged £35.00. I still get nowhere with why they take the DD's a day earlier than is supposed to be. :twisted:

 

I noticed that also when i banked with Lloyds, in fact they could be as much as 5 days difference each month. eg.

 

month 1 dd npower taken 10march

month 2 dd npower taken 5 April

 

month 1 dd BT taken 1 march

month 2 dd BT taken 6 April

 

depending on a weekend etc. did my head in and always put me in the red as i couldn't get the money in quick enough After a while though i bagan to notice the pattern and account for the fluctuation in dates, but as far as i am aware a DD is not supposed to be taken before the date due which in the above cases would of been 10 march and 6 april

[alf_child]

I'm glad to see others (well you know what I mean by glad) have had the same problems. Got really fed up with problems with my other bank so was tbh just going to leave it (how daft am I) but not now.

[BankFodder]

Wasn't there something about this in the new recently in regards credit card companies?

I'm sure that there was.

 

Get a copy of the direct debit instruction. See exactly what you have signed.

If it is clear that the date in unambiguous in that there is noroom given to the bank for flexibility then I would say that they are bang to rights and you may as well get your money back.

Please let us now what you find.

[alf_child]

I wrote my letter to TSB. I actually got a nice letter saying thankyou and we would look into the problem (which I never got from Abbey) so least I knew they'd got the letter.

 

I received a reply on saturday saying they were prepared to refund the charge (£35.00) as they understand it was an oversight on my part - WHERE. They never answered my question why they take direct debits early. I've got the refund but I would really like to know why they do this so going to write back I think and just say thankyou for the refund but you never answered my question.

[Bookworm]

Far too kind.

 

They f*cked up, and patronise by refunding you YOUR money and blaming YOU for THEIR *ahem* mistake? I would be livid!!!

 

I would DEMAND an apology for that, and an admission it was their mistake (stretching, I know) AND an assurance it won't happen again.

 

And yes, BankFodder, there was something in the paper very recently, I wish I could remember where I saw it. I think it was Barclaycard who admitted it.

[richardc]

I have had this problem (in fact, it is what incensed me enough to start my claim) and the explanation I got from the bank is that they don't control the process - the requestor controls it. Well, how about the bank not parting with the money until due date? Cann't do that it's an automated process........

[mancdaz]

I have had this problem (in fact, it is what incensed me enough to start my claim) and the explanation I got from the bank is that they don't control the process - the requestor controls it. Well, how about the bank not parting with the money until due date? Cann't do that it's an automated process........

 

Surely, though, when you sign an agreement for a direct debit you agree to allow the reuestor to request money from the bank. If the requestor applies early due to bank hols etc, then that is the requestors issue. The bank is just being complicit with your instruction to allow the requestor to be paid on request.

A totally different issue if you are talking about a standing order, which originates as a payment from your bank to rhe receiver.

[richardc]

I have had this problem (in fact, it is what incensed me enough to start my claim) and the explanation I got from the bank is that they don't control the process - the requestor controls it. Well, how about the bank not parting with the money until due date? Cann't do that it's an automated process........

 

Surely, though, when you sign an agreement for a direct debit you agree to allow the reuestor to request money from the bank. If the requestor applies early due to bank hols etc, then that is the requestors issue. The bank is just being complicit with your instruction to allow the requestor to be paid on request.

A totally different issue if you are talking about a standing order, which originates as a payment from your bank to rhe receiver.

 

I'm not diagreeing with anything anyone has said. The whole system is iniquitous. I think you'll find that having signed the DD mandate you get letter saying they will collect on or about the xx of each month. Letouts all round for everybody except the poor customer.

[jonah444]

I thought I would share a dilemma, pain in the rear more like it I am having with Lloyd's. For the last couple of months I have noticed they are taking DD's meant for a Monday on a Sunday Afternoon, but craftily dating them for the Monday. So they are actually leaving my account 12 hours early.

 

When I asked why this was occurring they said they chose to do to get through the back log of work from a Friday and Saturday, which made no sense at all. I have said under the DD guarantee they cannot take this early than stated by the originator, they are saying in not so many words 'tough'.

 

Has any else experience this and where do I like you guys and girls put there stand on this?

[AGB]

Yes, this is happenning to me - taking money on Sunday for DDs due on Monday. It has cocked things up many times...I sit down on a Sunday to adjust some DDs and SOs and....CAN'T as they have already been debitted 12 hours early. When I queried this, they said they roll up all the DDs and SOs on a Sunday as there wouldn't be time otherwise...I said "Well how do you manage every other day of the week then!?". No reply. It is not on.

[PKea]

I had this problem with Barclays

Any DD that were due out on a Mondya would leave my account on the Saturday.

I played hell with barclays and got nowhere, so went to the FOS who didnt hold my complaint and agreed with the bank

 

Apparently part of the direct debit instruction is that funds have to be available the day before the transaction, so if it was due out on monday the funds should be there saturday.

My arguement was that it shouldn'ty leave my account until the monday, but the bank wouldn't budge, and the FOS agreed the bank was right.

BUT every time i got a dd going out on the monday barclays cancelled the Dd instruction every time. which got my creditors a bit p'eed off, to the extent they advised me to change bank as others customers have the same problem

 

I have all the documentation from this if anyone is interested

 

Paul

[jonah444]

cheers PKea and AGB, my question is where is it actually stated we must have funds in the account the day before, or is more like on the day it is presented.

 

I was always in the belief that is the day of representation, is this a loophole the banks are exploiting to muck us about and maybe try and charge us.

[lea2001gb]

I had the same with Halifax. I printed out an online statement on the Monday which was 22nd April and there were 3 transactions on there with the date of 23rd and Abbey tried to tell me they didn't take them early as they had no evidence of it. So I told them I had - needless to say, I have heard nothing since

[PKea]

This is my response from the FOS

 

 

Paul

[lea2001gb]

I have written to the FOS before and was basically told that I didn't have a leg to stand on. Don't really see the point of setting up direct debits for a certain date then if they are allowed to take it whenever they want. They even do it with standing orders which I thought was supposed to be for the customer to control.

[alf_child]

This topic was closed on 03/05/19.

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