Banks and Direct Debits

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Banks and Direct Debits

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kevin.vinke

Joined: 19 Dec 2006
Posts: 1304
Location: Niedersachsen, Germany

Posted: Wed Jan 10, 07 2:14 pm Post subject: Banks and Direct Debits

Hi,
I've just come across a situation which in theory might happen to those moving abroad.
In preperation we cancelled all sorts of policies and informed them we were leaving. Included in this long list was our bank who we told to cancell all our Direct Debit (up to the account holder to do) this they did.
We decided to keep the account open (so much easier whne visiting the UK).
To my surprise they wrote today informing me of a ï¿½30 charge for going overdrawn because one of the cancelled Direct Debit had reinstated itself without any signature or authority.
It was for insurance for a CD player from 1992! which had slipped under the radar all these years I hate to think how much we've overlooked over the years.

Any way the moral is keep an eye on your accounts and don't trust the bank to actually do what they've said they would.

cheers,
Kevin

Jb

Joined: 08 Jun 2005
Posts: 7761
Location: 91ï¿½ N

Posted: Wed Jan 10, 07 2:27 pm Post subject:

If you have online banking most bank will show you a list of all the direct debits and standing orders you have in place. Two things are obvious from that, one is that you can cancel them yourself and the second is that just because an agreement has expired the direct debit (or standing order) can remain in force so in theory the recipient could request any amount of money any time long after the service was terminated.

boisdevie1

Joined: 11 Aug 2006
Posts: 3897
Location: Lancaster

Posted: Wed Jan 10, 07 2:38 pm Post subject:
Kevin. I'd get in touch with the bank and point out that they charge that they made was illegal as being far in excess of the cost to them of this. There's another thread around here on the subject of excessive bank charges.

MarkS

Joined: 01 Aug 2006
Posts: 2626

Posted: Wed Jan 10, 07 5:02 pm Post subject:
more to the point - an invalid dd. Thats why I dont do direct debits unless I really have to.

kevin.vinke

Joined: 19 Dec 2006
Posts: 1304
Location: Niedersachsen, Germany

Posted: Thu Jan 11, 07 5:43 am Post subject:

Finaly got speaking to someone who knew what they were talking about and the charge has been dropped.
A promise of getting back to me about how the direct debit could have been reinstated without authority has also been made.
Internet banking is a good idea but this was really meant as a standbye account so a lot of trouble since this would then have to be continuosly monitored and in any case it's the banks job we told them to cancel them all.
I agree it's just a way for the bank to make money but then this is a Northern Irish bank and they get to play by different rules (less so than used to be but..)
I suspect the best thing would be to close the account.

Kevin

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