Processing a debit?

One of the reasons I don't like DDs is that several or more years ago when I was working, payday arrived which was the last day of the month and no cash into the bank.  We were then informed the next day that the company had gone into administration and no pay. 

In the meantime several DDs bounced and the fees amounted to over £300.  The last thing you need when you have no ready money in the account.  It took a lot of begging and pleading to get the bank to reverse the fees and that took about a month.

Although it should not happen again in the future, I am still wary of too many unnecessary DDs on my account, however the posting was about why the CC take 3 weeks to process a debit.

They didn't take 3 weeks to process the payment, you tried to pay 3 weeks early, so they kept that payment on file till your renewal date.

I'm sure the cc and many other organisations have been criticised for taking payment early in the past.

Bailey took my payment a few weeks ago for a product bought which was out of stock, I was not amused, normal practice  I believe is payment made when the order is able to be processed.

With NT and WWT, you get a free gift if you sign up to a DD when you first join. They hope they can reduce their admin costs in not having to chase for payment. However, if later you choose to pay annually by card they'll accept it.

Off topic here sorry . 

Malcolm do you get your moneys worth being a member if these two organisations?

Write your comments here...We did last year but not so much this year. 

We've always paid most regular things by monthly DD, electric/gas/phone/council tax etc. If its a one off like house or car insurance then its paid in full but not on DD as we like to compare prices each year. Credit cards are paid by DD but the whole amount each month. We both keep one eye on the bank accounts with us being away so much, so if anything comes out that shouldn't we are onto it usually within a few days. Wish our boys were as vigilant, both of them have made mistakes with not cancelling car insurance DD's when taking out a new policy, hopefully they will have learnt from that but I wouldn't bet on it 

Write your comments here...I pay my road tax monthly by direct debit so that it's automatically renewed each year. My car insurance is paid monthly by direct debit on my credit card.

One of the reasons I don't like DDs is that several or more years ago when I was working, payday arrived which was the last day of the month and no cash into the bank.  We were then informed the next day that the company had gone into administration and no pay. 

In the meantime several DDs bounced and the fees amounted to over £300.  The last thing you need when you have no ready money in the account.  It took a lot of begging and pleading to get the bank to reverse the fees and that took about a month.

Although it should not happen again in the future, I am still wary of too many unnecessary DDs on my account, however the posting was about why the CC take 3 weeks to process a debit.

They didn't take 3 weeks to process the payment, you tried to pay 3 weeks early, so they kept that payment on file till your renewal date.

I'm sure the cc and many other organisations have been criticised for taking payment early in the past.

Bailey took my payment a few weeks ago for a product bought which was out of stock, I was not amused, normal practice  I believe is payment made when the order is able to be processed.

 

They should have then rejected the payment however they chose to take 3 weeks to process the payment.  Either way next year at renewal time, I will not bother until I get a reminder letter.

MAny organisations who want you to pay by DD offer a monthly option - I wonder why the CC dont do that?

Write your comments here...I pay my road tax monthly by direct debit so that it's automatically renewed each year. My car insurance is paid monthly by direct debit on my credit card.

Do those not cost extra to pay monthly?

I'm not sure but I think there is some additional cost. However, the road tax automatically renews this way. 

My annual membership fee is done online with no involvement of anyone else, In the past I have always gone along with, if I make a payment then irrespective of when it left my bank account, to me it had been spent from the day I made that payment and that sum of money was not available to me anymore. I had no need to care when it would be taken, it was spent.

So what if it was put on hold for three weeks, you renewed, it was spent in your eyes, job done.

That was in my budgeting days but retirement fortunately has been good to me, and I don't budget anymore.

I'm not sure but I think there is some additional cost. However, the road tax automatically renews this way. 

A quick Google seems to indicate that the fee for VED by monthly DD is an extra 5%, I think it could well be quite a bit extra for car insurance too.

While we do use DDs for lots of regular payments, we only do it where it costs the same as, or less than, paying annually.

The VED on our towcar is, unfortunately, huge, but luckily the little Smart Car is free.  

To get, slightly more, back on topic, money not leaving the bank when you expect it to is slightly annoying and can lead to mistakes being made.

While we have quite good pensions, we do need to make our savings work for us, so do not leave more than is necessary in our main account.   I keep track on a spreadsheet of everything that is due to go out each month, some months it is all spent, some months we need to top up the account, but several months have a surplus, so that is sent elsewhere to earn some interest.

At present we have 2 cheques (yes, cheques!) that have not been presented and I have to keep remembering, when looking at whether the bank and I are in agreement, to leave an extra £72 in the account to cover them.  

One has been outstanding for almost 12 months now so may well never be presented, but I cannot assume that.